well when i put my head gasket on with the head off i noticed that the gasket really has a lot of room to move around enough so that the gasket could interfere with the piston projection and also not have an efficient seal for the coolant holes
Maybe try unscrewing 2 of the studs so that it catches the gasket? I have 0 problems with studs, but made old bolts in to a locator pin before I had them. I just unthreaded when I was done and put the bolts in. I would do it so 1/2 a thread or so is above the block surface on the 2. Just enough to keep the gasket in place until you can tighten the other 8 enough to hold it so you can tighten the original 2. You don't want it to hold the head off the block...you should be able to do this.