Header install and broken exhaust studs

[Ben Baird]

First off I would like to thank everyone who replied to my post about the
broken exhaust stud.  Especially Ben Davis who even came through with a
photo and extractor part number.

I did get the broken stud out of the head without any real trouble.  The
stud had broken off during removal of the stock manifold under light torque.
I don't believe the stud was already broken as there were no indications of
a leak in that area.  The stud had broken off about 3-4mm inside the head.
I got it drilled out by removing the radiator fan and being creative, but
nothing else had to be removed.  I did drill all the way through the stud
and found there is more space behind the stud.  I sprayed a lot of PB
Blaster into the back of the stud.  I used a newer style of spiral
extractor.  It went slow and was a little nerve racking, but It came out
without any real trouble.  I did have to retap the hole though due to the
way the stud broke and nicking the threads in the head.  No problems
removing the other 7 studs and installing new ones.  I even cleaned the
front of the block while I was at it.  I got the HS header on with no
problems.  For those that have these you know how hard the primary to
secondary joint is to bolt up with it's positioning.  What I found to work
best was s 9/16 ratcheting box end and a 9/16 stubby box end.  I got
everything back together the next morning (30 min of work).  Get out to do
the test drive and damn it what's that?  Wouldn't you know I end up with a
leaking flexpipe on my new header.  Anyone else notice that large resonance
at 2100 RPM or is it just me.  Anyway the header seems to be fine other than
the angry crickets trapped inside.  I took a lot of pics while doing the
install and stud removal and will add a write-up to my site if the pics come
out good.

Thanks again to all of those who helped out!

Thanks,
Ben H. Baird
'91 SE-R