[Walt Fricke]

Richey - those things don't help, but 3.0s can have exhaust studs break even without thermal reactors.

I agree with the advice that as long as your head studs are good, just keep driving, and check every once in a while. Lots of us have driven unknown miles or hours with a broken stud. Some with more than one. Could that cause extra damage? Yes, but not catastrophic usually. Now if you want to rebuild the engine - freshen up valve seal, deal with leaks, improve leakdowns/compression numbers, replace bearings, or to hot rod the engine - well that falls into a different category - of course insert the case and replace the head studs. Marginal cost at that point isn't that great.