On a FIAT belt there are a pair of yellow stripes which line up with the line on the outer edge of the camshaft sprocket (which should be at the 9-o-clock position viewed end on), and a corresponding line on the end of the crank sprocket.
The position for the crank sprocket marker is around the 10-o-clock postion, but as the engine was TDC on #1 when the head was put back on the only doubt was the camshaft position.
Visibility for the crankshaft marker isn't ideal, but with the little plastic cover removed for access to the alternator drive pulley bolts, I don't think there was much doubt when it was all lined up.
The little hollow dowels were interesting - I lost one (assuming it had two when I took it to bits) - but managed to extract another off the donor block, using a nut driver which was a nice tight fit inside, and wiggling it about until it came off.
Once both dowels were located on the head, the gasket went on easily, and the head wasn't much bother - considering I had the throttle body dangling by wires from the bonnet vent, as I couldn't be bothered to un-plumb it all.
Regarding the bolts, and tightening - I chose the ten bolts with cleanest threads with decent heads out of the twenty. Cleaned the threads up with "white spirit" and a brass bristled wire brush, then dried them off, and then soaked them in oil and left them to drain off for 30 mins.
Meanwhile I checked another clean bolt into each of the threaded holes in the block to make sure they were clear all the way down: "VAX" with a straw held on the end of the nozzle got some gasket debris out of a few of them.
Finally the tightening - torque wrench, yes.
Angle gauge, no - but with a ratchet drive I can line up my start position with the arm
straight out of the car towards me, and turn until it lines up along the length of the engine.
Might be a degree or two out, but (hopefully) near enough.
(note the choice of position above suits me as a left-hander).
Time will tell if it was worth the effort, and how long it will last, but first impressions are good
When it gets dark enough for my rather feeble neon "strobe" to be useful I'll do the timing.
I took the battery out to prime the heater matrix, and the heater is good again.
The temperature gauge seems less lively too. (It was prone to twitching about when things warmed up a bit).