Just a thought but are the studs breaking because the stud is stuck in the block or because the nut is rusted to the stud? From the pics it looks like the top of the stud is designed in such a way that it could have a wrench put on it. Meaning dont try to loosen the nut but grab the top,of the stud and loosen it with the nut untouched?

 

It would have to be like a 4mm wrench, and even then the ends of all my studs were rusted sway

 

I pulled all 18 of my surviving studs/nuts out whole without issue using a socket on the rusty nuts, my two broken ones were broken long before I lifted the hood.

 

That flat portion of the stud is recessed into the head, most of the way. I cut the nuts off all 20 of mine, so I had good view of them without the manifold in the way. Plus I spent two weeks drilling out 4 of them that were completely frozen into the head. If the stud was just sitting there and not seized you can pull the with vice grips or an extractor socket. Some use welding on nuts, drilling small pilots and then using easy outs, small pilots then reverse bits. All those failed in my case. I ended up drilling all the way through each of the 4 studs 6 times, slowly working my way up in sizes, starting at 1/8" and ending at 1/4". 3 of the 4 I was then able to use a pick and pull the remaining pieces out, in all 4 cases the flat part at the very beginning of the hole was the first to come loose. On the very last stud after 11 days of drilling I was able to get it perfectly straight, so the flat section popped out and left just the outside rim of the old threads intact, allowing me to just leave it like that and thread in a new bolt. If you are thinking about tackle this job (don't know if you are or are just asking for knowledge) make sure you have a good high power right angle drill (I used Dewalt), a powered Dremel with right anlge and wand attachments. Use ONLY Colbat bits in right angle drill, never never, never us anything else. Ask me why i am not vehement on that one
For the dremel you will need Diamond Head Bit, Burr, Stank, and then Tungsten Carbine cutting an coring bits, and also 3/4 boxes of metal cuttig wheels.

Sorry so long and this was probably more than you were wanting to knowl

My lession learned
If you are going to drill a pilot into a stud it must be centered, that is tough working close to the head. Take you time and work your way up sizes, don't get impatient and try to use an easy out too soon. Some will work but only the square ones, never use those or any bit other than Colbat, and the Diamond, Carbide or Tungston bit on the dremel. If an easy out or a drill bit breaks into the stud your day just got really bad. Took $299 in Diamond head attachments and 3 days to get the easy outs and broken drill bits

 

That sounds just brutal. What an awful way to spend a few weeks!

I have a 6.0l diesel so I'm assuming that my situation would be different, if I ever decided to do something like this. Its way, way down on the list but I like to learn from other poor guys who have been through all the pain! Thanks for sharing yours.

 

Great work. Thanks for sharing.

 

Thanks, still very happy with them nearly a year later!

 

Indeed, thank you so much for sharing. What I learned from this thread is to pay someone to do this.... My hands won't fit where they need to go to install them anyway.

 

I have large hands, and had no issues what so ever with my Hedman headers. It's not bad at all if you just have at it

 

I'd like to replace my exhaust also, after seeing how tight and close some of the lines, pipes etc... I was thinking that sending the headers out to be ceramic coated i.e. Jet Hot or something along those lines would be money well spent. Has anybody done that yet?

 

With my headmans I didn't have to move or insulate any wires/lines. Not any issues one bit. The banks headers seem to take up more room..

 

The Banks headers came with several heat shields, plenty of folks have installed them with only the supplied shields and have no problems. I added the extra insulation and foil shielding just because I had it on hand and I was in the area around the new tubes. If you can't over-do it, it aint worth doing!

 

Nice job sammie what did you buy for an exhaust?

 

Banks Monster, stock style Cat.

 

Great write up. I read this entire thread 3x and each time I get a little more brave and think of trying to tackle this project on my own also. I hope that feeling passes soon.

Which torque tubes are for the Excursions?
This is from Banks site;

Application---------------------------------------Year Range----------- Part #

TorqueTube system----------------------------------1999-04------------49133
Ford 6.8L Trk, W/egr Late Cat
Emissions compliant: CARB E.O. D-161-76


TorqueTube system----------------------------------1999-04------------49136
Ford 6.8L Trk, W/egr Erly Cat
Emissions compliant: CARB E.O. D-161-76


TorqueTube system----------------------------------1999-04------------49138
Ford 6.8L Trk No-Egr, Late Cat
Emissions compliant: CARB E.O. D-161-76