Well, the head is back together and located on the block, with the bolts all finger tight. I went to look at my manuals to find out the tightening procedure and the official MB manual I have gives a torque value of:

"Torque specifications and tightening diagram for cylinder head bolts are identical to the other engines 102"

This is a manual that has the 2.3-16 valve engine "differenced only" described. So, I bought a Haynes manual for the basic 2.3 liter engine, which includes various paragraphs and hints where a 2.3-16 valve engine is different, too. For the head bolts and the four 6mm Allen head sockets this manual says:

"M12 Cylinder head retaining bolts
Stage 1................52 ft.-lbs.
Stage 2................Tighten further by 90 degrees
Stage 3................Tighten further by 90 degrees"

and,

"Cylinder head front bolts (M8)..........18 ft.-lbs."

The detailed instructions say, do the M12 cylinder head retaining bolts first, all the way through "stage 3" and then install and tighten the front M8 bolts.

Now, the last bit of data I got from this path turned out to be drastically in error and I was lucky enough that M.B.Doc checked what I posted and provided correct data to me. If anyone has this information available to them and can confirm what the correct cylinder head tightening values and sequences are for these fasteners, I would greatly appreciate the help. Thanks, Jim

__________________
Own:
1986 Euro 190E 2.3-16 (291,000 miles),
1998 E300D TurboDiesel, 231,000 miles -purchased with 45,000,
1988 300E 5-speed 252,000 miles,
1983 240D 4-speed, purchased w/136,000, now with 222,000 miles.
2009 ML320CDI Bluetec, 89,000 miles

Owned:
1971 220D (250,000 miles plus, sold to father-in-law),
1975 240D (245,000 miles - died of body rot),
1991 350SD (176,560 miles, weakest Benz I have owned),
1999 C230 Sport (45,400 miles),
1982 240D (321,000 miles, put to sleep)