Nice thread. Of all the bike mechanic stuff I've read and researched about, doing a headset/fork seems the scariest to me, and your experience has only confirmed that in my mind! I have a MTB with a cheap suspension fork I'd like to upgrade to a rigid fork but I'm not sure at all about actually doing the replacement.
This is an old thread but im answering. you set the headset ring on the top of the fork with a piece of plastic tubing, I think it is called conduit. I only built one bike--surly oger--and I am marking this by answering because I want to order a nashbar touring frame when I get home