Stainless steel is nice, but it doesn't make a strong fastener. You can NOT torque a SS fastener to same setting as a normal one.
This is also a case where the bean-counters have their say over the engineers (fastener size). The 5.7L exhaust manifold fastener size is another example (way too small).
For anything that might touch coolant (ie: water pump bolts, LA timing cover bolts, etc.), anti-seize compound is the only thing I use.
BudW