That can certainly be part of it. I have had this happen with the timing retarded, also (slightly behind stock...back in the 34 degree range). The kicker is that its usually (mostly) my forward cylinder on any of my engines. My rear cylinder is mounted in a "taller" area of the block that is also carrying the trans cassette. The pattern of failures is making me suspicious that I have pushed into some physics that Honda didn't plan for.
This could be an RPM related problem, also. The Turbos dont seem to have a bigger problem than mine, but they are nearly 3000 RPM below the peak numbers I have been using (and I have been spinning these as much as 2500 over the original redline.)
Years ago, I was involved in head gasket investigations on a twin-cam V6. The trouble turned out to be, in part, the need for "fast light" EFI tuning. This is the various methods used to get heat into the cats as quickly as possible, to meet EPA standards for cold engine warm-up.
Drivers who were excessively gentle, during cold warm up, were accelerating gasket problems. The slow rate of cylinder head expansion, overall, was not matching the growth of the exhaust side of the head (due to the need for late, long burn to blow heat into the cats). The heads were bending sideways during a too slow, light load, warmup. That stretched the ends of the gaskets far enough to tear the dowel pin holes open. External water leaks were the result.
That issue is part of the reason all modern cars and trucks have stainless steel tubular or log headers (along with the need for less material to absorb heat that the cat needs for getting up to temperature). The rest of the "fixes" remain proprietary information, but the manufacturers have all done good jobs of solving it, in various ways.
So...I'll bet component movement is some part of my problem. What fails after I fix THAT, will be another mystery to ponder.
Hope you enjoyed the old history story on a cold, snowy night in the Oregon hills. Yesterday morning I learned how far exploding Schedule 40 PVC water pipes can fly during the night (some pieces were 40 feet from the failure!). I guess I didnt get the above ground sprinkler system drained well enough.
JimL