And, here's the driver's side after removing the inner fender...

 

i recall when i installed my borla headers because of the broken manifold studs. you can try to get a ratchet wrench on the nut and a socket on the stud and turn together so maybe not to break any more. plus the ratchet wrench will be your favorite tool on this job. some spots you just cant get there without it. plus the borla came with stage 8 locking bolts for v-10. maybe you could buy bolts direct?

 

They all came out pretty easy...

There's one on the passenger side I haven't been able to lock a pair of vice-grips on and get it loose ... yet.

The driver's side is loose, passenger side is one bolt. I'll burn the sucker off... we have the technology ... we have acetylene... and O2...

The depressing part is, I found one stud broken on the driver's side that obviously broke off way below the surface of the manifold... I hope I can get a grip on it

 

When I did my 5.4 I had to have a nut welded on to the broken ones, was interesting driving over the buddy's house with open headers.

 

Finally got the Y-pipe disconnected, driver's side manifold off, but the passenger side?

The nut is so rotted on the center bottom, and it's in such an awkward place, I can't get it off...

I just disconnected the motor mount from the crossmember, and will be jacking up the engine tomorrow... all to gain access to one freakin' nut.

Such is life.

 

This is one of the coolest threads I've read in a long time. The pictures are the most amazing part. Keep it up Art.

 

You should see the pictures at 7 megapixels... you can see individual grains of sand stuck to the frame

One nut was so rotted... the original nuts are 13 mm... But the nut corroded in such a way that it was now a perfect 7/16"... (13mm is slightly larger than 1/2").

And that one I can't get off? Even worse.

I haven't broken off any on my own.

One stud broke below the surface of the head on the driver's side - that should be fun...

 

mine are leaking now. and im not sure i wanna tangle with this job myself. i work 60 hours a week and leave home at 2:30 am and get home about 3:30 pm. i aint got the time or gumption to deal with this. i been looking at the ebay cheapie headers and a y pipe? ever thought of thermotec header wrap on the ebay junk? think it would be better or worse for the longevity of the pipes? i dont wheel this truck, i have a jeep for that. my exhaust is totally stock and i have about 75,000 miles. the leak just started recently. my brother in law is a mechanic and he said leave it alone it will be fine. is there a down side to this other than an annoying noise till it warms up?

 

Carbon monoxide getting into the cab - don't play with it - it CAN kill you!

 

You have inspired me to pull mine and replace the studs. I have 4 broken on the passenger side (that I can see) and I am not sure about the driver side. What kind of bolts/studs will you be using to put them back on. Will bolts work fine or should I go with studs?

 

I haven't decided yet - I was going to make my own stainless studs, the eBay headers come with bolts, haven't decided yet

Buy some "cobalt" drill bits - you'll need 'em - even the "titanium coated" ones that have served me well for years wouldn't do much to stainless.

And yes, the original studs ARE STAINLESS. I'll post more later today on the studs, and how they broke, and possibly why - had nothing (almost nothing) to do with corrosion.

 

One more stud to remove and the removal process is over.

Broken below the surface, I got the hole a little to the side, and the easy-out intrudes on the threads. But there should be plenty of threads left in the hole, I only screwed up the first one or two

I still might shop around for a metric helicoil 8mm kit just in case.

Ordered eBay headers on Sunday. They shipped yesterday, I should have them by Friday. Just in time for the weekend (yahoo!!) One word of caution, check out all the sellers, and what they offer. One offers a one-year warranty on the headers. The others don't. Guess which set I bought? They also come with what look like decent metal-composite gaskets instead of just paper. We'll see what I decide on gaskets...


One word of warning in all of this - COVER THE EXHAUST PIPES or stuff rags in them, or something.

I'm going to have to take the y-pipe off. Why? Because I dropped my tap-handle down the damn pipe! AHHG!!!!!



I'm going to try the magnet-on-a-stick, but I'm not hopeful...

 

When i started looking at this post i saw the pics of broken studs and cringed. I had to go out and look at mine, just to make sure they were ok. Oddly enough, they look absolutely beautiful. They dont seem to be as rusted as yours were, they do have what i would call normal corrosion, but nothing serious. I certainly hope i dont have to go through what you do any time soon

 

Doh!!!!
I feel for ya, I hate it when I do something like that.

 

Here's the thing.

The studs break in a spot where there is NO corrosion.

The studs themselves, I believe, are defective. When they are manufactured, there is a "shoulder" built into the stud, which stops the stud from bottoming out in the hole. It appears the heat-treatment in making that shoulder (they heat the stud, and compress it lengthwise to make the shoulder) is what causes the stud to break. It shears in a spot that has nothing to do with corrosion.

However, there is the possibility that corrosion of the NUT causes "pull" on the stud, and it breaks. But, there was no corrosion under the nut. The outside surface of the nut was rotting, and peeling away like sheet metal.

About another five years or so, and the nuts would have dissolved.

But the studs breaking, that appears to be a manufacturer's defect.

And the old studs ARE stainless.