Thank you! I’m looking to be proactive with the manifold crackingI have them. No complaints. Not sure if they help anything other than I won't have the manifold crack issue. they are a pain to install. Had to cut a slot where one of the bolts goes so I could have the bolt already in the head as there was no way to put it in past the pipe, but this did aid in holding the back side of the header while I got a bolt started in the front. Some of the bolts are hard to get to. They come with felpro gaskets that look the same as what came off the truck and the bolts are fine to use, just lock tight them. I got a good deal on mine is why I got them.
I have them. No complaints. Not sure if they help anything other than I won't have the manifold crack issue. they are a pain to install. Had to cut a slot where one of the bolts goes so I could have the bolt already in the head as there was no way to put it in past the pipe, but this did aid in holding the back side of the header while I got a bolt started in the front. Some of the bolts are hard to get to. They come with felpro gaskets that look the same as what came off the truck and the bolts are fine to use, just lock tight them. I got a good deal on mine is why I got them.
Were you able to reuse the heat shielding?
No, the heat shield does not fit over the headers.
You have to check torque every few days after initial install as the heat cycles seat the gasket. They should get to a point you don't have to recheck. On my Dakota, it took about three months before they stayed torqued. They also make locking header boltsI've had headers before on a vehicle a long time ago. What do you do to keep them from coming loose? That's always a big concern. Do you use thread locker or something else.
The locking bolts are what I used in the past and they worked really well.You have to check torque every few days after initial install as the heat cycles seat the gasket. They should get to a point you don't have to recheck. On my Dakota, it took about three months before they stayed torqued. They also make locking header bolts