Out with the tools and within and hour the Cylinder Head with the Inlet Manifold still attached was carefully lifted from the car.
Then after a wipe over of the exposed head-gasket-block interfaces surfaces checked for problems. Yes, all four Cylinder Liners were level and flush. As flush as flush can be. All four failed my finger nail test in both directions across the block liners confirmed this. Previously my finger nail test has revealed proud liners. Not this time.
There was no indentations in the Fire Ring Areas of all four Combustion Chambers in the Cylinder Head. Also there was plenty of Cylinder Head metal material left should it need refacing as the depth of the U-Shaped recesses in all four of the Combustion Chambers shows. I have seen those completely machined / skimmed away on previous project cars.
Note in the images the "160" showing on the Piston Tops as one of the close up images show. Leaves me thinking is that for ZT 1.8T 160 Pistons or pure coincidence. Piston Top in #4 Cylinder was noticeably cleaner than the three others. However not to the extent that I've seen when working on other engines. Sometimes one Piston Top is much cleaner than the others. Rightly or wrongly, I assume that's the cleansing effect when coolant passes Fire Rings into the Combustion Chambers.
I could not detect any Elastomer Seal damage on either side of the Gasket. There was what appeared to be Exhaust Gas marks on the WRONG side of the Gasket's Fire Rings. Not 100% sure of that observation.
All four Cylinder Liners flush with surrounding Cylinder Block material.
"160" Clearly present on all four Piston Tops.
Close up of the U-Shaped Recess I check to see the extent of any head refacing processes in previous ownership. That is nice and deep so plenty of metal left there should a reface be necessary.
