I spoke to the cylinder head shop, they said a crack from an oil gallery is possible, but unlikely, as he has seen an extremely small amount of them. He said they did test for them, but as you mentioned, human error is possible, and they will warranty the work.
He said most likely a new head gasket will be in order, as the pressure passage oil feed into head, most likely, is in this area, (not return as I guessed earlier) and that pressure passage seal area on the gasket is not sealing properly. He said it may be caused by the gasket sitting on a shelf for years, though this one looked fresh to me. (Benz head gasket kit with hologram). There was a big orange round circle of material in this area on the new gasket, I though it was for reinforcing against a coolant leak weak area on early design, but perhaps that is for the pressure oil feed?
He also said to check the block surface with straight-edge and feeler gauge, which I did not do. Since I previously had a coolant leak (not after the rebuild) from the same point, maybe I do have a low spot in the block mating surface at the area.
Sbaert, since these are angle torqued, how do I judge a torque to take them too on re-tightening? That was the idea on testing the center bolts with old style torque wrench, to get a reference value to apply to the other angle-torqued bolts. I'm scared to tighten them further without an idea of how far to take it.
I bought two brand new Craftsman clicking torque wrenches for the job, they are nice, I love working with them. Every bolt/nut/fastener for the whole job was torqued to spec if I could find it, I'm a big believer in spec torques and sequences for all jobs, if listed.
Inspector, the shop said they pressure tested the head underwater, similar to finding a hole in a tire. Submersed, passages fill with high pressure air, look for bubbles.
I'll take any hints, clues, suggestions you have on the best steps forward, especially with respect to determining how to best re-torque these angle-tightened head bolts.
If the head comes off, I'll use new bolts, new gasket, and have my local machine shop check for warping on the block mating surface and of course the cylinder head.
On a good note, if I do have to pull the cylinder head, I know how to do the job, the engine and compartment are clean, and it's all stand up work.
Thanks!!