I had an exhaust leak on my LE so I thought I'd get into it today.

Took things apart and lo and behold one stud was missing. I took off the heat exchangers and checked the thread in the head and it looks good. Do I have to get a special stud or can I go to the hardware store and get the right size? If I have to get special ones, where can I order from?

Also, I seem to recall that I used Blue loctite. Is that correct or should I use Red?

Thanks,
SD

you can get them at flaps, m10-1.25 if i remember. 55m long made by dorman. i like them because they are hexed on one end for easy installation. for ford explorer, i will get the number off the box tomorrow. come with shouldered nuts that i think work better. you can try red locktite but i dont think it will hold up to the heat.

If your engine is a early 2.0 and the heads have not been tapped for oversized studs they'll be 8x 1.25 on both ends and 55mm long - 8 x 1.25-8 x 1.25 x 55mm.
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Later 2.0 heads came from the factory with 9 x 1.25 on the cylinder head end and 8 x 1.25 on the other end 55mm long - 9 x 1.25-8 x 1.25 x 55mm. I think they started that in '74 but can't recall for certain
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All 1.8's came with 9 x 1.25-8 x 1.25 x 55mm

All 1.7's came with 8 x 1.25-8 x 1.25 x 55mm

All of our new T4 heads - and any head we ship with new exhaust studs - the ex. studs are installed with Jet Lube 99.99% pure Mil Spec Copper Anti-seize with an operating temp of 1800*. The number one imperative is to protect the threads in these heads. This stuff does that very well. The Permatex version works just fine.

On my own car I slathered it all over the studs and in the oval counterbore the copper gasket slips in. It's sticky enough to hold the copper gaskets in place.

Thanks everyone! They are not tapped and and the the threads are good. I haven't used the Mil stuff but have used the Permatex with good results in the past.

I ordered the extra studs and will get the car back on the road next weekend.