Great Thanks Ice, BTW I noticed that the head gasket's coolant ports are not symmetrical, one is completely blocked off, and the others are not fully open. This makes me think that there is a correct and a wrong way to put this gasket on. Is that the case?

I was not quite sure about smaller motors but I have used helicoils when I built my 350 sbc and I had a small bolt get stripped in an aluminum intake manifold. I found that the helicoil is actually stronger then the original aluminum threads.

I have not yet pulled the stud to inspect the threads. Before I attempted to torque the head down I tightened the stud down and it seemed to tighten and stop like it should. however when torquing it it would not even torque to the initial 11 ft lbs. When I have time (probably Monday) I will pull the stud and see just whats going on in there. What are some other problems that may cause this besides the threads being stripped?