Engine work/refurbishment

Hey guys looking for some help and advice to do with refurbishing the engine out of my 1997 mk1 vvc mgf.

I've been going through the fun of dropping the subframe and taking the engine off and dismantling it over the past month or two, I've finally gotten the head off the block and it's desperately in need of a skim it seems the last owner decide to do it himself and left some visible low spots!! And I've found a decent amount of carbon build up on two of the piston heads as well which I imagine was caused by the poorly fitted head gasket. Oh and they managed to snap one of the head bolts and left it IN!!!! SO I've GOT TO DEAL WITH THAT LATER TO!!!!! (this guy very clearly didn't care very much for the mgf when he was working on it)

So anyway what I need advice on is:

1) What do I need to do with the head before I get it skimmed?
​​​​​​2) Should I be getting the block skimmed/checked too? 
3) Is there anything else I need to do with the head/block to do with the mating surfaces?
4) Once I've got the head and block sorted what else do I need to check or do to make sure I'm not going to have any problems once its all reassembled. I understand there might be something to do with getting shims? How do I find out if I need shims?
5) If I do need shims, where are they meant to go and how do I know what shims to get?
6) I've been told I should get a shop to do all the bottom end work butttttttt I would really like to do it myself and get all the experience I can. I've never done anything like this before is it relatively easy if you take your time and have everything you need? 
7) I'm also thinking about getting the head ported as well. What would I need to do/change after this?

Thanks heaps for any help and knowledge you veterans can give! And if anyone knows of people in the Hamilton new Zealand area that can help please let me know! 

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Another thing to add is that at least one of the cylinder liners has deepish scratches in it so I'm going to replace them since they're fairly cheap off rimmer bros I'm assuming they shouldn't be too hard to replace?

First read the relevant parts of the workshop manual, you can download it here:  https://www.the-t-bar.com/downloads/download/8-technical-manuals/20-mgf-workshop-manual  
Then have a ferret through the guides here:  https://www.the-t-bar.com/forum/54-how-tos/25321-a-to-z-of-how-to-guides-pics-and-videos  
once you’ve gone through that lot we will be happy to explain and expand on anything you’re not sure about.
The factory manual is not the best written technical document, indeed it falls a bit short, but has diagrams and all the technical figures that you need to do the job properly.

As you mentioned one of the studs has been broken, it’s quite possible the head in warped. As such if excessively so, it might be beyond redemption.
but even if you have to shave it flat beyond the limit you can get a shim as used in turbo conversions to build up the head height back to standard.

Whilst you have the engine and subframe out it would be worth changing the rear brake pipework.
Nigel

I would endorse Nigel’s comment.
Every time I’m under the car my eyes are drawn to one section of brake pipe work which will require attention before too long. The prospect of wrestling with a bundle of recalcitrant copper pipe in a confined space doesn’t fill me with joy.
M

I wasn't looking forward to replacing the brake pies either (MOT advisory) so I decided to replace the hoses at the same time, which meant I could focus on just getting the pipes loose, and pulling the whole length of pipe and hose out together, instead of spending hours messing around trying to seperate them from each other. In the end, it was much easier.Then I decided to do some proactive work on the coolant hoses between engine and underfloor pipes, protecting them from possible chafing - big mistake! I'm now waiting for new hoses from MGOC, coming on Monday.

I changed the PRT about twelve months ago & ever since then there has been the sort of drip that forms on the end of old mens noses & it doesn’t matter how often I tweak the jubilee clip it forms again a few days later. Needless to say I inspected the pipe work prior to reassembley, it seemed fine, after all you can’t change all the adjacent parts during a repair, or you’d be even more “car skint” than ever.
M

Yeah, I usually go with the "If it ain't broke, don't fix it" philosophy, but I felt like it was a good opportunity while the car was levitating.

Hi Hoverbob, I am surprised that no one else has suggested finding a replacement K series 1.8 block (or complete VVC engine)

I appreciate that presumably you are from somewhere in NZ, given that you asked: "And if anyone knows of people in the Hamilton new Zealand area that can help please let me know! 
but even there I suspect that a few MGFs and Rovers fitted with a 1.8 K series must have been either scrapped already, or sitting around unused & un-loved, giving a potential donor for a replacement engine.

You mentioned that there a re scored bores, a snapped engine bolt and (presumably) other horrors on your existing engine.

I would suggest trying to source a replacement "Short" engine, refurbish your existing VVC head, then fit that head to the short block.  This would avoid incompatibility of your wiring loom and ECU with a later TF160 head.  The block only has sensors for water and oil temperatures to worry about and you could probably swap the relevant parts from your existing (scrap?) block if your wiring loom does not match connectors on the replacement block.  IIRC, the bottom end of K series 1.8 non VVC engines is the same as the VVC, though others on this site may know better.  I am guessing that if NZ is not a viable source for secondhand K series engines, a trip to Australia, or arranging shipping of something suitable from a source there might be cheaper than sending a block from the U.K.  I am sure Cobber or someone else in OZ could suggest suitable sources?

Whatever you decide to do, Good Luck!

+1 for what EllisJo has said.
I guess we are a little spoiled here in in the UK as there are still plenty of good 2nd hand engines so I must confess my mind jumped straight away to swapping to another block rather than trying to resolve multiple faults with your own. 
You could even go for a 1.6 block if they happen to be more plentiful. Several people have fitted VVC heads to1.6 blocks over the years as the drop in cc only loses 5 bhp (and that can easily be offset by an ECU remap)
 

A 1.6 would probably be a bloody side harder to find, as 1.6s weren't sold in Oz and NZ is probably the same

............. And if anyone knows of people in the Hamilton new Zealand area that can help please let me know! 

If it helps, there is at least one other member from New Zealand on the forum.  He bought one of my low coolant alarms a couple of years ago. 

He goes by the username  0mfgroflmao  You could maybe look him up.