Small victories: I'll take 'em!
Manifold stud removal on my second head went better: all 13 came out without any break offs. Thought I'd outline the revised procedure which worked well for me in the hope that it may help some OTHER half-assed mechanic with less experience than many who post here.
As I mentioned before, the line between breaking these studs loose and twisting them off can be a fine one. So it occurred to me to check the manifold nut torque spec (which turns out to be 10 foot pounds) to quantify a ball-park, "safe" torque to apply to the studs when trying to break them loose.
Then I used a torque wrench (rather than a standard ratchet) to break the studs loose with my stud remover, figuring that they should handle at least a minimum of double the nut torque spec without twisting off.
The ones (about half of them) that gave up "without a fight" after a two-day, Liquid Wrench soak, broke loose at about 15 foot-pounds. The stubborn ones I took to 20 foot-pounds, but then backed off when they wouldn't budge. Heated these with a propane torch, allowed them to cool, re-applied Liquid Wrench and took them to 15 foot pounds in the "tighten" direction and then reversed direction and tried again to break them loose. A couple more broke loose, but the others wouldn't move. Repeated the torch-cool-LW-15-foot-pound-tighten routine several more times, breaking one or two more studs free each time.
The notorious end studs I saved 'til last: one came loose at 20 foot-pounds and the other at 25 foot-pounds. By then I had probably heated and re-Liquid Wrenched them 4 or 5 times: tedious, maybe, but less so than dealing with a snapped-off stud.
One more note: if you use a stud remover like mine (see PIC below) once the stud has broken free and you are unscrewing it, loosen the stud remover up about every turn and a half and reposition its base back flush with the surface of the head: this will help insure that the torque you are applying to the stud is perpendicular to its length. Otherwise you may be more likely to accidentally apply upward or downward pressure on the torque wrench handle and increase the chances of snapping off the stud.
The vanquished head and 13 "dead Indians" (or "dead cowboys", if you prefer):
