Anyone ever use Stainless bolts for Exhaust Manifolds ? My shop seems to think that stainless is not strong enough ..

I used them on the SBC I built for the Donzi. I don't think they are as strong as a good grade eight bolt, but they are strong enough to hold the torque required for mine anyway. I replaced every single fastener I could with stainless, except the head bolts.

I'm using them on Gils, work fine.

I used them as well ..no problems. No rust..

I've been told that they don't hold the torque as well. Having said that I think you're probably o.k. Just recheck the torque down the road to be sure.

There are some threads on here that talk in detail about this--there was mention of some special grade of stainless that should be used especailly on exhaut manifolds. I seem to remember talking to Keith Eikert (sp?) about it and they sell them along with a few specialty fastner suppliers. Use the search engine on OSO and you will find tons of data about this--

Poorsche

www.boatmat.com

I know that an ARP stainless bolt will be more than strong enough. You'd have to be very ham fisted to break one. The regular hardware store stuff is actually around a grade 2 bolt. Not very good stuff.

I used ARP Stainless bolts on headers. No problems. Most headers require use of a reduced head bolt and ARP's fill the bill. You will never snap off an ARP bolt.

Stainless is not stainless.

Hardware store stainless is indeed a softer grade than you would want for exhaust manifolds.

Also, it's my opinion that a non stainless grade eight bolt doesn't rust as easily as other non stainless.