Thought id update my progress so far lol.
Ive been very busy with school and haven't actually been able to do much with my engine, but some progress has been made... I took the disassembled engine to a machine shop to get some work done. The block has been hot tanked and intermediate shaft bearings replaced, I have to get it bored because it was out of spec, so I purchased some prothe pistons (and a different set of rings). I also had the shop re-size my rods, polish the crank and decided to let them rebuild the head completely. all in all, with the price of the pistons, rings, bearings, gaskets, machine work, rebuilding of the head, I'm just over $1000.
I will still have to assemble the engine, and still need some parts like head bolts, main bolts, pressure plate bolts, rod bolts, water pump, clutched alt pulley, starter and clutch slave cyl and of course a bentley manual and crank bolt. It should be a good runner when im done , but its hard to stay motivated since im married to the car now. I learned a good lesson tho, The next time I purchase a diesel vw, ill do a hell of alot more research. (I found this site after I purchased the car)
I try to not think about how much I have invested into it so far, especially when I see 2000 and newer diesel vws selling for less than what I have invested so far. and once I have the car running, I get to repair the other little issues with it (like windows going down by themselves, cruise control quitting after 5 minutes of use, etc...)
On a lighter note, The pistons came in today, and I will be delivering them to the machine shop on Monday, so the block can be bored to match

cant wait to get this thing togather. Im deathly afraid to time the thing tho, It seems that I have a different injection pump than the ones I see on rebuild threads. I really have to invest in a bentley dvd or book.
Cost so far:
Car: $1850
Pump: $465
Tdi Crank Mod $500
Pump tested on stand and Installed $150
Machine Shop work , with Parts $800 (so far)
Pistons $235
Grand total: $4000 so far
Heart Breaking

Ed