tighten or re-torque after rebuild ?

[blackbird225]

In Wayne's rebuild book, he says to retighten after 500 miles then retighten after 2000 miles. I have no way of knowing if either was done when my motor was rebuilt. My POS PO is MIA.
Anyways I found a post that suggested that my enormous "tfft"ing and clacking when at hot idle might be loose head studs or loose exhaust manifold. SO I jack the car way up so not to spill my 1 week old oil change. Then I check each barrel nut with my torque wrench. A couple, maybe half of them were indeed just under thier final values. Some did not want to "crack" open though. A few people in other posts said to let sleeping dogs lie.

Do I crack them loose first then retorque to final value, or only adjust the ones that turn at all? Wouldn't ask but I can't seem to find the concensus on this topic. So far tightening the ones that did move on one side did nothing to quell the clack.

michael