Metal Head Gasket and Starter Woes

[Lotus49]

OK.. well it finally happened. My head gasket blew on my 1989 IROC-z28
with a 350 TPI. What a pain in the ass this is. I got the heads off finally, and brought them to a machine shop to ONLY have them checked for warpage and to be cleaned.... by the end i had replaced everything but the head cast. Im talking new valves, seals, guides, and springs. 530$ total. He found that the heads where warped and twisted. soooo i went to napa and got a complete gasket set. I got the heads on and the intake. Next was the rocker arms(which he also cleaned for me) i threw thoes on, but.... the threads on the head posts (where the rocker amrs are supported) where fked up.. I stripped them to hell when i put the nut back on what a bummer, So off with the heads again. Back up to the machine shop.... wham.. another 50 bucks for new posts and new nuts. And the guy at the shop told me i had to replace the head gaskets again becasue i already torqued the new ones on and then removed the heads again... so back to napa. But.. they where out of the regluar head gaskets, but he handed me these.. metal head gaskets.. . like a piece of sheet metal but in the same shape as the orginal ones. so i bought them and before i put them on i want to know if they are any good. oh and btw.. i had to replace my starter.. i hooked up the wires the same way and nothing happens when i turn the key. (this happened before the gaskets.. i figured sence the exuast has to come off to get out the starter, why stop there. do the whole thing) Ive tried every possibility but nothing seems to work any idea's?

[89IROC&RS]

the metal gaskets are steel shim gaskets. they gonna bump your compression, i would crunch the numbers on those to see what compression you are running with them. use a test light to check power to the starter also check your ground. if you got both of those, check to see if you have power coming out of the ignition switch, if not, your ignition switch is bad, if so, see if the power is getting from the switch to the starter solenoid, if it is, and its still not doing anything, then you need a new starter.

[Lotus49]

oh and... the chilton repair manual calls for my rocker arms to be torqued to 22lbs... when both valves are closed but the guy at the shop told me to tighten the nut untill the pushrods arnt moving anymore.. and to try and to spin them with my fingers.. as soon as resistance is felt.. make a 1/4 to 1/2 turn after that. what do i do?

[Chevyracincamaro]

ive heard the same thing from other mechanics about the rocker arms, in terms of tightening and then the 1/2 turn thing...

[Lotus49]

well actually, i took the new starter back to napa.. and they tested it and its fine... so i ran an OHM meter from the postive terminal on my battery down to the hook up on the starter, and there is no break in the line

[Chevyracincamaro]

when you checked the line did you have your multimeter set to measure resistance or continuity. im not trying to insult your intellingence, you seem to know what youre doing, just want to make sure is all...

[Lotus49]

lol np, it was to measure resistance i checked each wire... oh and... on teh repair manual it says only 2 wires hook up to the starter. But i have. 3 main wires that hook up to the... larger post. a black one and 2 orange ones. and one small black one that hooks up to the .. smaller post... any idea's
?

[89IROC&RS]

rocker arms - do like the mechanic said

starter - make sure to test all the wireing. not just the main cable from the battery to the starter