Exhaust manifold leak

[97EB5.4]

I just got done doing this to my 97 5.4L. Got the summit version shorties which is the pacesetter essentially. Took the fender liner out and got the old manifolds out. I did not have enough room to remove the studs by drilling them out. The stud removers sold through advance and autozone are the same. made by irwin i believe. its a good set. however the studs on mine were rusted and the diameter of the stud had shrunk and the remover set did not go small enough to remove them. So instead of breaking off studs in the heads to make me more pissed off i jerryrigged it. Didnt want to do it this way but I was very short in time and didnt have the funds to remove heads and all that. SO i got the muffler putty used to patch holes and put it on the header side and on the head side making sure to get it around the studs which were only the bottom of the rear cylinder and the top of the second cylinder. So I have not had any leaks. THe stock h pipe or y pipe whatever it is bolted up to the header flange just fine with no leaks. I also got a good deal on the dynomax catback from summit too. Just did not have the time to install. So there it is in a nutshell. Took me a weekend. Passenger side is easier than drivers side due to driver side having the brake line manifold setup right in front of the first couple of cylinders. I didnt take pictures though. Kinda wish i had. But as long as you take out the liners which is a 5.5 mm i believe and there are about 6 of those bolts one of which is on the bottom rear corner of the fenderwell up underneath. So make sure to look for that or you will be fussing with yourself. Any questions? Have fun.