I had head gasket problems also, due to excessive water pressure in the block. Do you have a water pressure gauge to keep an eye on block pressure? I know that some of the 455 guys say that they've seen upwards of 30psi before, but from my understanding 12-14psi is where this motor is happy. I run a Autometer Marine water pressure gauge to keep track of how much water I'm pumping into the block and also regulate it to stay at a 15psi max. I've yet to run it on the water since my rebuild, but so far on the hose it seems to be working great.