Exhaust stud need replacement

[seria]

Hi,
I am changing my valve cover seal. Two of the 11 bolts (behind the heat exchanger) were difficult to access. All bolts were incredibly tight. Therefore decided to take down the heat exchanger. Managed to loosen all nuts and took the heat exchanger down. Found out all the nuts and the studs are very rusty. I have read the forum and it was no fun if any of them break. So I am lucky this time. Therefore I would like to replace all 12 studs and hopefully next time round i am again lucky. Found these studs from Pelican parts. Link below.

http://www.pelicanparts.com/cgi-bin/ksearch/PEL_search.cgi?command=see_more&please_wait=N&db_record_number=31689&PART_SEARCH=Y

But Pelican technician advise if the manifold and gasket are more than about 12mm thick, then the studs in this kit won't be long enough and it won't work. As long as the manifold flange and gasket are less than 12mm, you should be able to use this kit.

After measuring my 993, the thickness of manifold and gasket was 18mm. Question is have i measured correctly? The other question is have anyone change to a better stud than the original. AND where can i get them?

Thank you for all the pointer.

[911nut]

If the studs didn't break there's no need to replace them. If you thought getting the nuts off was tough, try taking a stud out of a head!

[Don Plumley]

I think you have greater odds of breaking a stud at the case than the benefits from replacing them.

I'd knock off the surface rust with a wire wheel, coat liberally with anti-seize, use new nuts and consider checking them every couple of years.

I'm not sure about putting an anti-rust coating on the studs (Like a thin POR), as I think it would be too thick for the nuts. But you might dab some on the bottom of the studs/nuts.

[J Richard]

Well there's nothing special about the exhaust studs...I've found the best place to get replacement studs is your local ace hardware....been using them for years, no issues...I'm not talking allthread here, but from the metric hardware drawers...they are a fraction of the factory cost and if you need one just get one...I bought a whole box and never worry about dropping the exhaust, nuts are a different story, I replace the soft allen nuts every time (round out one of those and you're screwed), and the split locknuts are P specific.

[seria]

Thank you.