thats what i did

 

Mine gave me no trouble, Before i did the 4.3 to 4.8 swap i loosed all the bolts off because i planned headers right away, so i pulled them and put some anti seize on them and periodically checked them for tightness, so now they come out easy every time. I will do studs next time though they just seem so much easier to deal with!

 

Anti seize is key when installing any external bolts into aluminum heads I coated the threads of the bolts that came with my Gibson shorties when I installed them and they came out like butter 5 years later when I removed them and installed my StainlessWorks LT's. Those same bolts are currently holding the SW's on, and I'll probably re-use them when I swap in my LQ9 and sell the Stage8 locking header bolts that I bought... (daily driven through NJ snow and salty winters...)

 

Another thing with studs, is that if you have a iffy header, your going to play hell trying to get them mounted with studs sticking out.. I know how hard my pacesetters was getting in, out. I had to remove the plugs to get them in and off

 

You can install the header with 1 or 2 studs in and then thread the rest in afterwards.

 

Here's mine



https://www.performancetrucks.net/fo...d.php?t=438243

 

Those studs do look clean Michael A lot of the Toyota's that I used to work on used to have studs on the ends and bolts in the middle of the exhaust manifolds...if there's enough room it makes it easy to lay the gasket on, then place the manifold/header on the studs and thread in the bolts from the center on out...

 

Yep, those are special triangular nuts from GM too....they lock nicely and don't loosen up.

 

Meh thats a PITA.. Then your doing studs, then putting nuts on them... BTW they are nice looking studs..

 

It's good To hear all the tricks.. Believe me guys the auto gods meant for this bolt to break I didn't even have a ratchet on the socket I was holding it in my hand checking the size. The hot cold cycles along with the mileage would have to be the killer I think it's a 2000 with 120000 on it and the truck has been here in Fairbanks Alaska for the last 4 years (it gets -50 at the coldest of the winter) oh well I already bought a set of ARP studs for the instal so those will be going on... With god defying anti seize