Long winded or not, allot of good info, thanks LTRM

Having done at least a dozen of theses cylinder heads if the piston liners are allowed to move even the slightest while the head is off then little bits of cooling system scale will fall down between the liner and the block causing the surface to not have a good seal. Coolant will end up in the oil. Whenever we pulled those heads we would bolt on a special home made clamping device to hold the liners down and not allow them to rise up even the smallest amount. If those liners have moved you will need to pull the oil pan and remove the pistons and liners, the liner seals have tabs on them. Make sure you replace the liner seals with the correct number of tabs. I think there are three or four different thicknesses with different part numbers. You will not need to measure the liner height as long as you put the correct liner back into the correct hole with the correct liner seal. Sorry for the long winded response.

Perkins AA diesels very similar. Pollution constraints had to be w/in certian limits. So an engine was developed w/ an absolute piston height max (.020 I think) above block. The head gasket made up the difference, while the angle torque settings on the bolts were designed not to allow over squeezing of the gasket. Then a manual rotation was done to insure the pistons were not smacking the head. Perhaps its the same idea.

As I remember, doing those 20 years ago, the cylinder sleeve is supposed to stick up a couple of thousands above the block. The sleeve just sits in there and is sealed on the bottom by a metal gasket against a flange on the sleeve. The gaskets come in different thickness to adjust how high the sleeve sticks up. The top of the sleeve is sealed when the head is bolted on. If they are sticking up a couple of thousands and the head is flat, I think you are good to go. 60 foot pounds torque starting from the center bolts and working outward, in increments.