[Vwdiesel] More Dasher?

[William J Toensing]

About a week ago, I was going to drive my 1981 Dasher diesel down to Sacramento.Stopped at the VW dealer in Auburn to see if I could buy a throttle cable & touchup paint.Not available on either count. Noticed fuel leaking around the #1 & #2 injectors so I aborted the trip & headed home. About 10 miles & I noticed steam coming from the hood, temperature gage rising but not to the overheating level, then the engine died. Was afraid I maybe overheated the engine warping the head. Came the rest of the way home via AAA tow truck.
Found the diesel return hose, a new one just installed came loose so re installed. I found the hose from the water pump to the side of the engine had blown so replaced all 3 hoses. 
I then checked the torque on the head studs. I have ARP racing studs bought from Summit Racing, Reno, & started re torturing starting at 30psi & going up in 10# increments. Found a couple studs had loosened to under 30 psi & a few more were less than 80 psi. When I first replaced the head I followed the ARP tightening sequence about 4 times cold. Then tightening again when hot. Wonder why they loosened up after about 60 to 70 miles driving? 
I was afraid I maybe blew a head gasket again from overheating but after new hoses & re torque I was able to start the engine & it seems to run OK. After re torque hot a couple nuts tightened a bit. Will re torque again tomorrow cold. I have a radiator pressure tester & pumped to about 16 psi & it seemed to hold pressure.
I wonder why the engine died before the heat gage pegged? Also, whether the head could have warped but re torque  to 80 psi solved it? Wonder if I dare go higher than 80 psi?
This is the engine that had a cracked block when the right front bolt pulled out of the block cracking it in that area. Was told the block was toast so I took a chance by drilling & re tapping from 11mm to 12mm installing the ARP racing studs. Where the block was cracked I drilled & tapped into the water jacket & so far, this one seems to be holding.