does anyone make stainless steel exhaust studs?

Check:

ARP is a good company to deal with, in my experience.

"HLS" wrote in news:uumjl.16311$yr3.11608 @nlpi068.nbdc.sbc.com:

Why are exhaust manifold studs made of brass in the first place?

IME they're not, but the nuts are. Steel nuts would rust tight to the studs; worst case you can burn brass ones off with a torch.

nate

I thought the deal with exhaust bolts or studs was they had to be hardened. Grade 8. I'm not sure they have to be but then why are they? SS? May work fine but you can also use lots of Anti-seize. Unless this vehicle is used off road it will last for many years. I've had to mess with many old manifolds that were swapped around several times and there wouldn't of been a problem if only Anti-seize had been used.

It's more of an appearance thing than anything else. I'm planning on gasket-matching them and cleaning them up and then sending them off to be Jet-Hot coated. I just dislike any visible rust in an engine compartment. The manifold to head fasteners are bolts and I've already procured those in stainless. The manifold to downpipe studs tend to look awful after the first few heat cycles. I understand that this isn't necessarily a functional problem (although I certainly have drilled out my share of these) if anti-seize is used, but more of a cosmetic one.

I will have to drop ARP a line, couldn't tell if they offered exactly what I'm looking for. I think the GM studs are intended for a "donut" type gasket, what I have is a thin, flat gasket with a flange so the studs are much shorter. That could obviously be worked around though

nate

If the studs are that short, you can use bolts. Most Fords have some kind of stainless or inconel studs in them. Of course they are metric. They also are a big pain in the butt when you try to torch them.