I used some loctite red on the studs, it seems to hold up okay despite all the heat.

My gasket was not really toasted, so I reused it after a careful inspection. Weirdly, the main leak was down at the downpipe/manifold connection... One nut was missing entirely and the other two had worked loose. Kinda odd as they are the bi-metal types.

I've been checking the head and that bolt in particular every time I run the car and so far no leaks or weird behavior. So I'd tentative agree, that if you look up luck in the dictionary, you might see my picture...

Then again, my clutch master failed at precisely the same time (last night) and I spent the last couple hours pulling and rebuilding it. No obvious connection to the manifold, just a coincidence I guess.