Yesterday I found that one of the self-locking nuts (one of seven) which hold the exhaust manifold to the cylinder head was missing. I went to a local dealership yesterday and purchased a couple. This morning I went to put the nut on and a portion of the stud fell off. It was essentially sheered in half. When I had the Full-Race kit installed, the installer stated concerns about the weight of the manifold and turbo being too much for the studs and that I might want to have some sort of bracket made. I told them I didn't think it was an issue as there are many Full-Race kits out there and I've never heard of this problem.

Have any of you experienced this sort of problem? Do you have any suggestions? Should I see if ARP has a stud for our application (or if not see if they can make one) or have a special bracket made? I don't really like the special bracket idea because it is another potential source for noise (vibration).

Thanks in advance for your help!