After the struggle was in fact real, I got the crack pipe in. Reached out to the all mystic Facebook for help. They said I would for sure need to clean up where the water transfer pipe went into the block. A trip to Harbor Freight later I got a knock off dremel to clean it up. After that a little deep breath and a pop it was in! Once that was done a few new bolts and the new thermostat housing was in as well.
The belt for the ac delete was absolutely wrong. And that blows. But yolo!
