'I'm tired of cracking plastic covers and having other screws coming loose. Any suggestions?'
1. Get your elbow some torque training.
2. Use loctite (blue).
You'll drive yourself nuts (bolts too, maybe) tightening to torque spec every fastener on the bike. With decent air filter maintenance (seat bolts), s/a repacking (attaching bolts and rh cover bolt) and trans oil changes you should be doing a whole lot of wrenching. Lighten up on the twist!!
Once you get a decent wrench (I prefer separate wrenches for light in/lb and heavier ft/lb values), 'set' some fasteners then 'feel' them with a regular ratchet/wrench to get an idea of what is required.
Speedy: Torque the cylinder nuts using an adapter (available from motion pro). If you keep the attached torque wrench at 90º to the adapter, no torque conversion math is necessary.