Safe to remove head nuts and replace one at a time?

[Mark from Indy]

I am going to paint the engine and wondered how safe or bad it may be to remove a head nut to remove something?
There is one of those heat shield plates under the distributor, as well as the cable clamp, that would make the masking job a tad easier. Would I risk warping the head by relieving the pressure from that one spot at a time then retorque?

Thanks for any advice!

 

[Mitch//pa]

drain the coolant first as it can end up in the crankcase even by removing 1 nut. remove and replace each nut according to the torque sequence, then youll be good.

 

[BRENT in 10-uh-C]

Generally speaking this is an OK practice however there is always a chance the gasket will be disturbed requiring replacement. Drain the coolant and remove the plugs in case the engine gets rotated accidently. Realistically, it isn't the end of the world if you find yourself changing the head gasket afterwards. I say Go for it and give it a try.