Decided to tackle an exhaust leak between the manifolds and the down pipe. I was hoping for the best, but no, that didn't happen
Long story, I replaced the cats a couple years ago with magnaflow parts. While the pipes were good quality, the gaskets were not. They blew out after a year or so. When R&R them, the nuts galled the studs. I managed to clean up the threads somewhat, but from then on the nuts would not stay tight. Fast forward to this weekend, new OEM studs and nuts in hand, I started taking things apart.
Two of the four nuts came right off. One siezed and snapped the stud, the other stripped half way off and had to be cut off. I then tried to weld nuts to the studs, but welding upside down just wasn't working. So off came the manifolds. That went surpisingly easy, but dang Toyota, did you really have to add an extra stud on the rear manifold?!?!? That one was a bear to get to.
So next step was to remove the old studs from the manifolds. They did their best not to leave, but a dozen 1/2" nuts and a welder got the job done:
I'm waiting on new gaskets to finish up the job. Looking forward to not hearing an exhaust leak
Oh, and noticed that the AC system I just resealed is leaking

The rear head on the compressor is weeping oil. New seal kit ordered for that job, maybe next weekend...