Motorcycle Repair: 1200 conversion, hatch pattern, cross hatch

Question
I have put conversion (V Twin) barrels on my 97 sportster, torqued down
the heads andwith engine at tdc compression tried to seat therocker
case but it will not sit down on the gaskets as i expected it to. both front
and rear rocker cases seem to sit 2mm or so away from meeting. The
pushrods are seated correctly as are valves. is this expected and do
thetappets bleed down as the case isbolted down. is there a method to
tightening the four large bolts , three smaller and two allen bolts as
there is no clear description in my book.New barrels are correct length. I
obviously dont want to damage anything, any advice?

Answer
The lifters are holding the rocker up. Tighten the 4 large bolts down, a little at a time, in a cross hatch pattern and it will go down. Once you have to rockers tightened down, make sure you bleed the lifters or on start up you might hit a piston with a valve. Rotate the motor so that on the front exhaust it open all the way and wait about 15 minutes and it will bleed. Then go to the next one, until theya re all done
Good luck and happy riding
Mike