Hey, sorry man, yesterday was a rough day, and I erringly took it out on you. My fault. Its the "philosophy" word that set me off. My point is that I've been working on cars for many years, and my advice is based upon real world experience, not assumptions. My way of torquing heads is time proven to me, and I don't have any problems with it. My customers don't, either. I can only think of one motor where the manufacturers head installation requires a retorque of the head bolts after the first heat cycle, and none that require any more than that(Its a Ford v8, and shame on you if you don't do it exactly as specified in the manual). As for Felpro gaskets, they have a metal "compression ring" on every cylinder(and the water jackets, too). This ring is designed to crush when you torque the head, thus sealing every chamber against compression, and the water jackets against erosion. Most of the people with turbo or nos rides use a metal head gasket because they see that the pro racers use them. The pros actually use copper gaskets in their extremly high hp. motors. They disassemble the motor after each race to check all the clearances, bearings, spring pressures, etc., to make sure everything is within spec., and can reuse the gaskets through out the season. I've built a few 400+ hp.(with spray) small blocks, for some friends and myself, with Felpro gaskets all the way, and never had a problem with them. The only reason the head bolts would "move" enough after a heat cycle to significantly change the torque on the head is because coolant was left in the bottom of the bolt holes, which gave a false torque reading the first time they were torqued. Blow out the bolt holes, and lube all the bolts, and you won't have a problem.
Edit: I did go back and read my first post this time, and realized I left something out. After you torque the head, you should go back and loosen the bolts, from the outside in, opposite the tightening sequence, one full turn, then retorque them using the same stages and proper sequence(center out). Doing this once is sufficient, twice is better. Then, after 1000 mi., change the oil and retorque them to 70. The only reason the motor will blow the head gasket again is from overheating it. That's not the motors fault, its the operators.
