Pat - Find two nuts that will thread onto the stud, and put them both on. Tighten the two nuts against each other to create a "jam nut" type of installation. Then, use a wrench to loosen the nut closest to the cylinder head. This technique should allow you to remove the studs without doing the damage that vice-grips will do to the stud. Be careful, though. You will get a great deal of torque applied to the stud - they are very easy to break off due to the temperature damage to the steel material of the stud. "Easy does it" is your mantra while you do this. I hope this helps. Toby Peterson VIN 2248 Winged1 --- In dmcnews@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx, "schab932000" <schab932000@xxxx> wrote: > I need some advise. I'm replacing the exhaust mainifold gaskets > and everything was going okay, until it came time to remove the > studs. I have standard vice grips which do nothing other than > slipping around the stud.