2.25 manifold woes

Afternoon all!

I've just done the cylinder head on my series 2a and I've had so many issues with the manifold it's unreal, had it together yesterday.....then started and it was blowing out between the inlet and exhaust manifold bit.....the square gasket. Tightened, still blowing. Loosened the manifold bolts to head and suddenly the 4 nuts were loose on the square gasket so nipped that up .....then it blew from the inlet manifold to head.

Noticed there was a bit of a gap, I didn't have the tin shims fitted when I took it apart but they came in the head gasket kit, so I stripped down and added them, stuck it all on, nipped everything up to the cylinder head then nipped up the 4 nuts to attach inlet to exhaust manifold CRACK! The inlet manifold where it bolts to head cracked.....

So, I have another inlet manifold and new gaskets coming tomorrow.....what's the best way of doing this? Attach the two manifolds together first with a straight edge to make sure the are level? Or bolt to head first?

Bit of both, I would have thought. Tighten all a bit. Then a bit more, etc.

It’s all I’ve ever done. Just keep tightening on opposing nuts like a cylinder head.

Check the head and manifold faces for flatness....you using a new gasket?