I didn't have as much droop as in the pictures from your teardown, possibly because this is after 5,000 miles vs. your 15,000 and I retorqued the manifold about 2-3 times before this.
I removed the manifold last night and had the same tedious task of scraping the old gasket off. I sure stuck well in the non-critical areas
The manifold was bone dry; not a drop of coolant escaped during the removal. I formed aluminum foil into the block valley to catch most of the gasket shreds, then thoroughly vacuumed the valley after removing it. I will also change the
oil before firing it up again. Got the Victor Reinz gaskets (apparently none too soon, since I ordered a second set and NAPA cancelled telling me they are out of stock; local stores claim they will no longer carry them) and in a test fit find they fit the ports better than the Fel-Pros did. I'm pumped to put it back together now. Have to Helicoil a mounting hole in the head that got stripped from using too short a bolt from using it to mount the throttle cable bracket. That's all been reengineered. I've also bought a new custom carb for it and I'm adding a limited slip differential, so will be really interested to get it on the road again. I'll keep you posted on the results.
Chuck