Pel, if you have O-rings now, retorque them after a heat cycle and they should be alright. On these diesels when we o-ring them, we usually use the OEM gasket and ARP studs. I torque them in 3 stages, and then I fill the cooling system and plug in the block heater over night. Then unplug it and let it completely cool, then recheck the studs. Usually you get a little more on each one. After that it should be fine. We've had good luck doing the heat cycle and rechecking them.

On the question above, I missed the description you gave. Definitely sounds like some cool stuff and that young lady is awesome. I see a lot of young ladys moving out of junior dragsters into super fast drag cars. Pretty dang cool if you ask me!