EM stud thread size? also welder EM stud removal?

[auditude at cox.net]

Hey Everyone,

Happy Holidays!

What is the thread size for the exhaust studs on an MC motor?  I heard they were M8, but
I'm looking at Time-serts, and they list them for M8x1.0 and M8x1.25.

I'm prepping the MC-1 motor I have for installation, and in the course of replacing the EM
with a 2-piece, I found one cross-threaded stud, and three broken ones.  Actually there was
one that I could get off double-nutting, so I will have to see what happens when I take the
Vice-Grips to it.

For those running KH intake manifolds, what did you do for the air shrouded injector port?
Just block it off, or hook it up to a hose running to(?).

As far as which way the EM gaskets should be (metal facing EM, I believe), I found this
donor motor to have them every which way.  I think two were reversed.

I'm gonna try to yank the old motor out of the 4ksq sometime during the holiday break.  I got
everything stripped off of it except for the downpipe, so it should actually occur.

Anyway, regarding re-doing the threads on the head.  Should I go ahead and drill out all of
them and use a thread repair kit on them?  Or, just do the ones that are buggered?  I'm
thinking do them all.

As for the repair method, I did a spark plug hole with a Time-sert, and had good luck with
that.  Anyone want to recommend a Helicoil over a Time-sert?  The difference being that a
Time-sert is a solid bushing sort of a thing, threaded on both sides and held in place by the
bottom of it being sort of swaged into the head.  It's not epoxied in like some other solid
inserts.

I may try the mig-welder method of broken stud removal, if I need to.  Will the bead not stick
to the aluminum, just because it's not ferrous and the wire is?  Is that how it works?

Thanks,

Ken