At the risk of this post getting raped for posting about about a head gasket, its more of a post about supply rather than a problem.
Cheapo composite head gasket split and blowing on the air side into the 'valley' between the 2 banks.
Question is where should I get a good quality replacement, the cheap ones are more trouble than they're worth it seems and I'm slowly suffering for repairing my P38 on the cheap so top line all the way from now on

I was thinking that a metal 'shim' type head gasket wouldn't split but a little bit of research revealed that an upgrade to composite is recommended......why?

Finally, I did type 'Head Gasket' in the search but to do that in a Range Rover forum produced rather a lot of results, none of which answered the question.

I've missed you all, honestly........

as it compresses and helps to make up for ununiform clamping ie tighter near stud ,the 3.9 tin gaskets are preferred by many and will fit as will bolts

Thanks James, we haven't had the pleasure as yet due to:-
a) Christmas
b) Range Rover actually behaving itself
then
c) a nice well deserved break to Australia.

I have ARP studs replacing the bolts due to having to helicoil the block so all nut are tightened down to a torque value rather than 90 degrees plus 90 degrees. I have been tightening them down to:
Stage 1: 24 lbft
Stage 2: 48 lbft
Stage 3: 80 lbft

Reason for these settings is that I have been told that the torque rating for the head studs is around 75 lbft and to tighten them evenly. Should these be tighter, are they too tight or just right?

I have found a (supposed) genuine 3.9 3 bolt row tin gasket on ebay for cheap money so I'll grab a pair of those and a new valley gasket in anticipation for everything being almost silky smooth once more.

Cheers.

Did you get the heads skimmed and pressure tested prior to fitting a new gasket?

Yes, heads were pressure tested and skimmed. The block is helicoiled and some suspicion has been pointed to one of these having slipped but the studs are quite securely fastened so this doesn't look likely.
Quick background:
Bought car Aug 2010, removed heads, pressure tested, skimmed, new lifters, valve stem seals cam.
Head gaskets fitted upside down = big LPG backfire which resulted in the left side head lifting off the block and blowing the head gasket out.
New gaskets fitted (£33 quid cheapo head set fom ebay) and all was well until about 6 weeks ago when the left hand head gasket started blowing into the middle of the engine.
Investigation showed the head gasket has split and pushed out between the head and block (no backfire this time) and it sounds like a dumper truck.
As the engine hasn't been anywhere near overly hot, didn't think a further skim was neccesary.
I was pinning my hopes on the main cause of the problem to be either bad cheapo head gasket or incorrect torques.

Sorry for the late reply, been quite busy and don't seem to be able to get near the computer half as often as I'd like.

Cheers.

if nothing wrong with head gasket you would think block cracked,but skimmed flat heads can often move again if been hot enough the first time which would allow gasket to blow,im allways wary of skimming heads flat because os this and i would have to stand cost of repair ,i only skim flat heads with fire ring marks ,but im not saying all bent heads will go again but theres a fair chance,helicoils are std fit and are better as they transmit force sideways into block rather than up on threads

Thanks, being able to rule the helicoils out would be nice, passenger side head gasket has deffo gone, I've seen it poking out between the block and the head so not a cracked block.
The head that split the gasket was the opposite head to the original failure, the gasket was fine on the passenger side which is the one that has popped out.
As previously mentioned, even when I got the car, the gasket had blown between 3 & 5 and didn't overheat.

Thanks.