[Vwdiesel] 12mm head on 11mm shortblock

[Dan Sloan]

A while back, I tossed a rod through the side of my 84 Rabbit block.
Apparently the nuts worked loose, and it dropped out.  (the nuts were in the
pan)   It appears the only damage was to the connecting rod itself and a 3
inch hole where the water pump used to mount.  The head checks out as close
as I can tell, no valve damage and unwarped. My plan was to pick up a
replacement short block and run with the existing head.   I picked up a 1.6
shortblock , not realizing it was the older style with  11mm head bolts.

 

My questions:

 

1.       is it possible to mount my existing 12mm head?  Is it worth taking
to a machine shop and having them drill and tap the block? 

2.       I've had one suggestion that I replace the connecting rod, screw a
patch over the hole, remount the water pump and run with the old block.  Is
this realistic?  If I run this route I'd pick up an entire rebuild kit to be
on the safe side.

3.        Or should I just keep looking for a different block (and/or head
to match)?

 

 

-- Dan