OK, I have to disagree.  I have been using SS hardware to bolt up standard and SS exhaust systems I sell and install, it's all I keep in stock.  No problems with leaking gaskets if they are installed properly.  Torque on the SS bolts is not a problem either.  Galling, yes, it does occur now and then but by using Anti Seize on the threads prevents this.

On 2012-04-30, at 10:51 PM, Automatic digest processor wrote:

> On 4/30/2012 6:19 PM, pickle vanagon wrote:
>> (I actually am thinking that even if I wanted to keep the studs, I'd prefer
>> to have stainless studs in which case I'd be removing these studs anyways.)
> 
> Why? In my experience, although SS exhausts are great, SS hardware
> anywhere near an exhaust is asking for trouble.  You won't be able to
> get as much clamping force as with steel, given the same size stud.
> It tends to gall and lock up tight when torqued, and then you've ruined
> both the nut and the stud, and have a bigger problem than just removing
> a nut.
> 
> The best studs I've run into were on the cat flange of an older Toyota
> Previa - some sort of hardened steel. After 150K, the nuts were corroded
> to where they weren't even hex shaped (removed with a Dremel cutoff
> wheel and cold chisel), but the studs were in perfect shape, no
> corrosion at all. I'd like to know what they were made of.
> 
> IMO, just get some copper nuts to use with the steel studs if you're
> concerned with future ease of removal.

Cheers,    

Frank Condelli
Almonte, Ontario, Canada
'87 VW Westy, '00 Kawasaki 250 Sherpa, "98 Ducati 750 Monster & Lionel Trains (Collection for sale)
Frank Condelli & Associates - Vanagon/Vanagon Westfalia Service in the Ottawa Valley
Vanagon Stainless Steel Exhaust Systems
BusFusion a VW Camper camping event, Almonte, ON, June 07 ~ 10, 2012