It looks like you've done your research pretty well, unlike some folks who just grab a parts catalog and a checkbook and start throwing mismatched parts at an engine, and can't understand why things go wrong. Your riceburner has the advantage of a lot of research and development effort to make the aluminum head compatible with the cast iron block, hence the long lifespan with minimal problems. A lot of those engines use torque-to-yield head bolts that exert extra clamping force on the gasket, but need to be replaced anytime the head comes off. The Land Rover V-8 had a chronic head gasket failure problem that was traced to their use of aluminum heads on the little Buick 215 V-8 after they bought the patents from GM. The Detroit version used a cast iron head, and had no problems.

There are specially-designed smallblock Chevy head gaskets for aluminum head applications, and the really hot setups use studs, not capscrews to hold the heads on. (Same thing we did 60 years ago with the 13:1 compression ratio flathead Fords running alcohol and aluminum heads!)
Jerry



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