Exhaust manifold bolts
 

Lol- took me 2 hrs to get 4 exhaust manifold studs out (I say studs because all came out with the nuts) How many of these things are there-16? Good grief.

What’s the downside to the studs coming out with the nuts?

There are 12 exhaust studs/nuts on the m54 I believe. If you clean out the holes in the head just thread them back in and torque as you would a bolt with a dab of loctite. At least that's how I've done it on m52/54 heads.

Actuall seems to my simple mind that if they all come out it might simplify getting the head off. Am I wrong?

Exhaust manifold bolts
 

Didn't seem to matter too much. If I had to thread a wayward stud through the exhaust manifold while putting the head on it wasn't a bit issue.

Once the exhaust bolts are installed on the last car I did this, the head wouldn't align with the block until I lifted on the exhaust with a floor jack under the car.

I found it easier to attach exhaust first then wrestle the head onto the block using the alignment sleeves it will lock into place.

I am nearly certain there are more threaded holes than that, but the OEM manifolds don't use all of the holes that are threaded in the block for this. I'll look at mine tonight and can tell you for sure. My manifolds are off.

Seems to me there are 16.

You are correct, there are 16. I was confused (age is doing this more and more to me it seems) because of the way BMW skips 8 holes total between the 2 manifolds. Here you can see how they skip 4 bolts on each manifold:

https://i.ebayimg.com/images/i/19225...-1/s-l1000.jpg

Thanks. That’s gonna help.

The small football shaped thing with the black gasket on it, where is that from