HELP! Exhaust studs stretching!!

[Ameer Antar]

The list is pretty quiet today, hope someone can help... So I guess even the new style studs are stretching on me and I didn't realize. It doesn't make sense though. The Bentley says 26 ft-lbs for the MC motor which uses the same studs and nuts. I checked the Haynes manual and they say 22 ft-lbs. The turbo-diesel in the Bentley says 18 ft-lbs. 15-16 ft-lbs is s'posed to be the standard torque on class 8.8 M8 hardware, but there aren't any grade/class markings on the stud or nut, so I'm lost. What is the proper torque? How do you guys normally do this??? BTDT's? Thanks.

Also, I figured out why the studs were bending a little... i guess the spiral-locks weren't tapped in totally perpendicular to the gasket surface, so when the nut is tightened, the nut bends the stud as the nut is pulled up against the perpendicular manifold surface. Ah well, I guess I can live w/ that for now.

-Ameer