Damon,
     I think in particuliar the nut and bolts should
be of unlike materials.   The studs should be stronger
than the nut and the entire arrangement must allow
some movement as the system heats up and cools down.
VW has come up with several different alloys that do
the job.   Most of these nuts have a brass or copper
looked to them.   For those eight critcal selflocking
exhaust nuts on the head I think it is money well
spent to trust their judgement on the materials.
Stainless is not one they judge to use. The other
areas of the exhaust can be chiseled so I always used
softer bolts with brass nuts.   Remember that you may
revisit your work at a later day and even stainless
can get fused to tight to come loose.  "remember the
antisieze"    regards gary
Date:    Mon, 7 Apr 2003 16:37:45 -0700
From:    Damon Campbell <damoncampbellvw@YAHOO.COM>
Subject: Re: New exhaust install - SS hardware?

Why, in particular brass nuts?  Is there something
wrong with using stainless hardware (both studs and
nuts) for the exhaust manifold (or anywhere on the
engine, for that matter)?

Thanks,
-Damon

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