I have removed my Tdi engine and am now in the process of taking it apart. I have removed the turbo etc. but now need to remove the head, crank and pistons.

Is there anythign that I shoudl be marking beforte I do it? When I remove the timing belt is there anything I should be marking as well?

Lastly, I removed removed the clutch pressure plate without marking the position of the flywheel. In the manual they say I should have done this, but is this a major issue? There are 3 possible ways in which the clutch pressure plate can go back but they all seem more or less the same. Is this correct?

It may have been wise to crack the front pulley/Dampener bolt before removing engine and now that you have removed the flywheel it will be very hard to hold against the undoing of the dampener bolt, if you have a air/electric powered impact gun you may be lucky, otherwise follow the L/R workshop manual and you should be right, Regards Frank.

I luckily did crack the bolt so I should eb ok from here.

When the manual refers to Cylinder 1, which one is this? Does it count from the front or the rear of the vehicle?

Front...

Obviously you are taking everything apart,so there is no need to mark the the timing belt or pulleys,as they already have marks on them.And you would be mad,not to fit a new belt .Get a piece of cardboard,from a box and punch 8 holes in it about the size of a pencil,then when you take the pushrods out of the engine,put them in order,in the holes you made,and mark no.1.Also keep the lifters in order,if you aren't replacing them.Mark the pistons as well as the bearing caps.And follow the workshop manual.

Wayne

replace bearing caps Dont wont to be back here for a long time once you put it all back together.

Just make sure you check the clearances on the big ends when you go to put the new ones back in (and the mains for that matter). Plasti gauge is your friend.

Just a quick question, why did you pull the motor out?

Head gasket blew, and have 300,000kms on the engine

No need to replace the bearing caps,unless they have somehow been damaged But replace the bearing shells