Sounds like your cylinder and/or head is warped. The warping will blow the gasket the first time and if not corrected, it will blow another gasket in no time. If you don't have any machine shops you trust, you can try to take the warping out yourself.
What I did was take the studs out of the cylinder. Then take two panes of glass (not plastic, not wood...glass), double them up, and tape sand paper to the bottom. Then evenly go over both the head and the cylinder. You'll quickly see high and low spots that aren't being touched by the sand paper. Make sure you go side to side and front to back. If you are able to clean up the problems, make sure you hit it with 300-400 grit to give the surfaces a nice smooth finish.
