[StuartB]

Hi Chris,
I think the issue will be "the bolt kit and everything else".
Who was this bolt kit supplied by and was it one that was recommended or sold to you by the people that sold you the long block or the manifold?
It does look as though you needed longer bolts to spread the load further into the threads in the alloy heads and if the bolt kit was sold by the long block supplier I would have though this would be down to them .
So lets assume that bolt length was the reason for the failure, in a UK court this would come down to "duty of care", let me give you a senario, simply from a legal view point.
If I were the supplier of your long block I should have known that the heads on the block I've sold you will fail if standard length manifold bolts are used (if this is the case, so for the sake of this senario lets say that it appears it that it is).
Now if I sold you these standard length bolts and they tore the threads out/broke the casting of the heads I'd also sold you it would be down to me to sort this FOC as I would have a "duty of care" to you, my customer, in that I should know better than to sell you parts that are going to cause damage or fail when you try to fit or run them (in conjuction with the parts I know you've purchased for this build).
Where it gets complex is if (in this senario) I was under the impression that you were going to fit (for arguements sake) an iron manifold (or one that has thinner bolt surfaces than the aluminium Edelbrock manifold) and the standard bolts would have been fine.
So if we assume that there's not a casting fault and this is a genuine "you don't want to use them on that mate" kind of thing, it's going to come down to who sold you what, and if they knew the combination you were intending to use would be likely to cause damage or fail upon instalation.
At the end of the day if the long block, manifold and bolts all came from totaly different suppliers you'll find none of them can be held legaly responsible as none would have a duty of care to you the customer (in regard to this build combination) and the failure is down to you.
They would all be able to state in a court of law that they are simply "a sales outlet" and had know idea (or record of a discussion on) what combination you were building and could therefore have not have been in a possition to advise you either way, or be held legaly responisible for any failings.
But, if all parts came from the same supplier you're almost home and dry, unless they can show that they deal with so many customers that they couldn't possibly be expected to keep track of what all the customers are purchasing, this refers to the likes of Summit and Jegs.