Yeah finally after car being off road for 5months, I put the engine back in this week and started it last night. Almost cried as noise from tappets was really bad and was panicking, but thankfully when oil thinned out they refilled (must have totally drained while head was off block) and silence was golden. New head gasket seems sound, and she doesnt seem to be misplacing coolant or oil, and sounds healthy. Had worried about not skimming the head, but seems to be sound. Flip side of this is I have well over a hundered pics of removing engine, redoing head and refitting engine for a 16v which might be handy for someone doing similar. Might set it up as thumbnail website (any suggestion of free hosting for this type of thing) as a resource for valver owners. Or could email required pics to anybody who needs them. Anyway away to put wheels on for first blast in my valver since I pranged it almost six months ago, FUN