Will's busy banging on the drums so I'll post for him. We are using "Great Stuff" on the block surface, then copper gasket, then a thin film on the gasket, then install the head. On our last 16 passes, no leakage was noted. When we pulled the head due to our latest carnage it took about 20 minutes and lots of muscle to disengage the head from the block. The best part is that we did not note water/oil mixing. We torque the head with the 1/2" studs to 100ft lbs. The block is O'ringed.
On behalf of Does10s and the very happy driver, myself.
Kelly