[jim_howard_pdx]

Lots of great suggestions.

Yes I am running head dowls. I always use new dowls everytime the heads come off.

I run the ford racing graphite head gaskets after blowing a Perma-Torque gasket. All aluminum heads walk on a cast iron head. They expand and shrink at a much different rate than cast iron. Guys this is just basic physics not rocket science.

The heads were surfaced with a .010 cut. The deck was squared. But the intake to head clearance is straight and square. I checked this with silly putty.

I will contact Mr Gasket and ask when they will have a ported head version for small block fords. They have got to provide for those of us running Twisted Wedge or R-Type Trick Flow heads eventually.

I was hoping someone out there might be using aluminum or copper gaskets or specialty composite gaskets that would eliminate the shredding.

Yes I torque my intake bolts about every 4 months. Otherwise they loosen up a bit and I get some coolant loss. It is just about a 10-20 inch pound retorque. It is not like they are backing out like header bolts can do.

I appreciate the ideas, but I really need a better gasket than felpro produces. I use the felpro gaskets recommended by Trick Flow, and they were of no help to me on this question in case you want to know. They do make a great head if you have to run against the hot Chevy's in town.