Driving down the road and the collector bolts fell out, horrible exhaust leak. Well I decied to fix the my header collector leaks once and for all.

Got some of the stage 8 locking collector bolts and I can say this wont happen again. They were rather easy to install, I had to do a tad of grinding to the welds at the flange to provide good clearance for the retainer which took maybe 5 minutes. Popping the rretainers and e-clips on was a snap. Definitely the best $25.00 I have spent in a while.

I also got the Stage 8 locking header bolts. These were a bit more PITA but they will ensure that I dont have any more header leaks. I decided on these over the Breslins cause of the double hex head so an Allen wrench can be used, this made screwing in the bolt in a lot easier. I tried to install a 12 point Breslin, they are hard to put in where you can only use an open end wrench. The 12 point limits the amount of usable tools.

The header retainer and e-clips were not as bad as I expected, but they did take a magnetic retriever and a bit of finesse. I would reccomend ordering spare retainers and e-clips from Stage 8 if or when they need to be removed for obvious reasons.

Just wanted to share this with you guys who are still fighting the exhaust leaks.

 

I hope you didn't grind the welds too much, grinding them down weakens the weld.

 

Very minimal amount of grinding to provide correct retainer clearance. Plus my y-pipe fits perfectly without stress or pressure being applied to the rest of the exhaust.

I could have avoided the grinding but the e-clips would be very hard to press on. I am confident there are no integrity issues.