I'm pleased to report that CycleX sent me a matching 'cylinder stud bolt gasket'! So I screwed up my courage and got busy putting the head on. It went very well--except for one thing that could have turned out very badly...
There are 16 'cylinder head nuts' and 6 'cylinder head bolts'. The 8 mm
nuts need to be torqued to 15 ft/lbs; the 6 mm
bolts to 8 ft/lbs. Silly me, I'm looking at the handy dandy diagram showing the torque sequence and merrily go from #16 to #17, the last
nut to the first
bolt, even changing from a 12 mm to a 10 mm socket along the way. DON'T DO THIS, KIDS!!! YOU WILL
NOT BE HAPPY WHEN ONE OF THE 6 mm BOLTS SNAPS!!! Thankfully, I had started tightening at 7 ft/lbs, stepped up to 10, and then 13 before the final 15 ft/lbs. I got everything torqued to 10 ft/lbs, went through the 16 nuts at 13 ft/lbs, and then switched sockets and moved on to the bolts. Something just didn't feel right with the first bolt--turning, turning, turning, more and more gingerly, and the torque wrench just wasn't clicking... And then it hit me! Aaaaauuuuugh! They're not supposed to go so tight! I immediately backed all the
bolts off and set them to the 8 ft/lbs they're supposed to be. But what a tragedy narrowly averted!
Rookie mistake, I know... I'm just so glad I didn't snap a bolt off! I don't think I did any harm taking them all up to 10 ft/lbs (and the one up to 12?), but I guess I'll know if anything leaks.
Speaking of leaks, I decided to go with some Permatex on the head gasket. I had asked about applying some sort of sealant
here, and got a few responses (both from builders who
didn't add anything), but figured I follow brandEn and HondaMan's advice by applying a
very thin layer around the oil passages and cam chain tunnel. I guess I view it as insurance. Here's hoping!