Hi Lewis,
Sorry to read that you have more painful issues with your truck.
Using the factory stock nuts will cause the studs in the head to strip and spin – and it doesn’t matter if they are new.
I’ve posted on this many times.
The steel studs in the alloy head corrodes the threads in the head. The clamping of the factory nuts will give a false reading on a torque wrench… IF they threads in the head do not strip first.
What kind of exhaust manifold gasket are you using?
To properly get the gasket to seal, you will probably have to pull the exhaust manifold off and check for flatness, then install a new gasket with hex nuts and lock washers. Here’s a post on my thread:
http://board.marlincrawler.com/index.php?action=search2The only way I’ve found to keep the nuts tight is doing a 3 stage torque sequence. 1 – not to full torque, drive it for an hour - recheck for tightness, 2 - drive it for several hours and then recheck and 3 - drive for another day or so - recheck for tightness - make a final torque. I have never torqued the nuts down to the factory manual spec of 33 lbs.
If the studs are spinning inside the head, you will need to drill, tap and install helicoils or Time Serts. That is THE most difficult repair I have ever made on my trucks with the head installed.
That’s just my experience… everyone’s may be different.
Gnarls.
