Been fighting the disintegrated egr tube nut mess for a while now...
Made a tapered piece of copper tube up as a temporary fix, it's lasted a year, but would like to seal it completely, the ticking is driving me nuts. Exhaust smell is annoying also.
Questions I have are:
Can I expect to remove the exhaust manifold without breaking the studs? I already have a leak so don't want to risk another. Aluminum heads and steel studs don't mix well, so very concerned with trying to loosen them.

And, has anyone successfully removed the egr nipple from the manifold?

Thanks in advance.
(The part I already know is to spray, heat and pry on it with vice grips).