Some worries about prior head gasket replacement

[mintFestiva]

This has been bugging me for a while and I just want to get some experienced opinions...

Here's some background: Bought my Festy on August 1st of last year. When I went to replace the timing belt, the repair manual said to remove the spark plugs for some reason....I have no idea why. Well, I attempted to and two of them broke right off with the threads still in the cylinder head.

So, my dad and I removed the whole cylinder head and sent it to a machine shop where it soaked in penetrating oil for a couple of weeks before they finally got the spark plug stubs to come loose(came back squeeky clean ).
As we were putting it back on, we accidentally moved the head gasket a little from where I had it positioned. However, we made an untested decision that just getting the head bolts in would re-align it (Is this correct?). We should have double checked before making that assumption

Since performing that service, it seems that the hydraulic lifters have made more noise than before when I bought the car. I have put about 7,000 miles on it since without engine issues, but would this be a symptom of not getting that gasket on correctly (maybe partially blocking off an oil hole)?

THanks!

[Studebaker]

I had a stuck lifter. Reusing old lifters. Used some seafoam in the oil. Within 300 miles the lifter lossened up. Then changed oil

DH

[blkfordsedan]

There should have been a couple dowel sleeves that press into the block, one on each end. The head bolt goes right through the center of them and they extend up into the head. They act to positively locate the head. They also keep the head gasket in place. It will still move a little, but not enough to hurt anything. Sometimes the dowel sleeves get stuck and come off in the head when it's removed. Then they either get lost or pushed clear up into the head. If this happened, it might be possible that the gasket could move enough to partially block the oil feed hole that supplies the oil to the rocker shafts and lash adjusters. I would think if that happened you would also experience some type of head gasket leak as well. Sooo... I doubt that is the case.
The first thing I would do is check to make sure the rocker shafts are properly seated in the saddles on the head. If not, it will cause the ticking you describe. The last thing would be the HLAs themselves. Soaking the head may have broke loose some debris that got into the feed holes in the rocker shafts or HLAs. May have also had dirt fall into the oil feed hole when scraping the old gasket, causing a blockage.

I would pull the rocker shaft assemblies off and clean them out good, along with the rocker arms, and make sure the oil feed holes are clear. Then reinstall, making sure the shafts are seated good in the head. Make sure the shafts are properly oriented so the oil feed holes line up as well. It may not hurt to install new HLAs as well, since some may have been running starved for oil and may not pump up properly now.

[crazyrog17]

Some worries about prior head gasket replacement

^ This.

Make sure the oil feed holes on the rocker shafts are lined up with the holes in the head. You can clean your HLAs pretty easily, there's a how to if you search for it. Use quotations to keep words together in the search bar.

All of that can be done by removing the valve cover, engine stays in place.

[mintFestiva]

Thanks guys,
after all, I believe I could simply just install a new head gasket in about a day to make sure(small engines are great!). However, come to think of it, I do have enough oil pressure for oil to leak out of the valve cover gasket if it isn't on tight so oil blockage probably isn't the problem. I will probably do some more checks on the engine this weekend to eliminate all variables and make sure the head gasket isn't leaking.