Ours are messy. We got told to never come back to one venue, two people at that one left in wheelchairs as they couldn't stay upright let alone walk out on their own. Free booze + predominantly 18-24 year old staff is an interesting combo.
I wouldn't touch the head gasket unless you have issues with it, they aren't a common point of failure, they normally need something else to have gone wrong to cause them to fail (like a lifted head/massively overheated engine/detonation damage).
Heavy yes, but a couple mods and it's putting down 350rwkw. A few more and it's pushing towards 400. all without touching the stock turbo. that barra motor is a heavy mofo but makes power so effortlessly.