Damn, man, that looks cool! Glad to see you got the rings sorted out; I actually found the VR6 ring compressor tool at my dealership, tried to pus a junk ring though it, and you're right, that thing is crap! Nice choice on the metal crack pipe, as well as the Turbonetics snail. The owner better not be an idiot and wreck that thing like his past history, but I wouldn't bet on it.
As far as my engine, I went with Libby's (AKA other Andrew's) suggestion and used an engineers straightedge with some feeler gauges to determine my piston protrusion, and tried all cylinders with their corresponding rods. The protrusion came out to be 0.635-0.68 mm on all 4 clyinders, with number 3 having the greatest, 4 having the least, and the other 2 having 0.05 mm above the median of the variation. All this means I can pick up a 1 notch head gasket. I also got the main oil galley plugs , intermediate shaft end plug, and 2 of 3 coolant core plugs pressed-hammered in. Sealed them all with the tube of Hylomar that came in the mail 4 days ago; thank you online hard-to-find lubricant/solvent vendors!
Next step is getting some graphite lubricant for seating the rings, a 1-notch HG, a piston ring compressor,and cleaning the cylinder head, and we just might have a long block by next week. Can't wait!
And CRS, what's that upward-canted hole on the back of the VR block for? I actually don't know!