head gasket didn't seal!?!?!

[oilspot]

Well I walked away till I cooled down (it took a while, and I bought something smaller, better mileage for my daily). So I charged up the battery and moved it from where it's been collecting dust. I read through this post to bring myself back up to speed.
As per the last question... The machinist (who drives a OBS with a 5.7) said the 5.0 heads aren't prone to cracking like the 5.7's.

When i walked away, I figured the worst (i.e. cracked block). I'm starting to reinvestigate and hoping it's not as bad as I suspected.

 

[Schurkey]

As said--cram a leakdown tester onto each cylinder in turn. MAYBE you find out which cylinder is pushing air into the cooling system. Then you know where, in general, to look for problems.

ALSO as said, I've never heard of crack-testing heads with vacuum. I've tested valve seal with vacuum, though. My machinist has a pressure-testing fixture for cylinder heads, as well as a magnaflux machine.

The heads were resurfaced. How about the block? Did you put a straightedge across the deck surfaces?

You used STUDS not BOLTS on the cylinder head? Unusual. I hope you got the torque correct, since the studs generally have fine threads on the top side for the nuts; and that won't be the same torque as coarse-thread bolts.