Exhaust Leak bolt snapped HELP

[Bayless08GT]

Hi,
I am new to the forum and I have checked as many posts as I can stand looking for something similar to help. I can not find anything that satisfies an answer to my problem so here we go.
I bought a 2008 Mustang GT about a month ago... This was great but I have started to find several issues that were well disguised at the time of purchase and have now surfaced to be my problem. I won't waste your time and go into a list of all the issues because I have corrected a majority of them. I have come across an issue now that is not so easy to solve and so I am hoping that someone here with more Stang experience can help me out. I would like to continue improving on this car so that it is worth what I paid for it and try to correct the fact that I probably got taken on it by some a** holes.
So the problem in question is the passenger side Header bolt is snapped off this is very first one going from front of the engine back. All the other bolts are good and do not look like they were even touched leading me to believe that the owner before me started to take the stock headers off snapped this bolt and instead of fixing it or continuing the job they gave up and sold the car to the dealership that I bought it from. So now I have an exhaust leak between the header and head on the very front of the engine. I can hear it for the first 30 seconds to a min after the car starts depending on the temperature outside, and then when I am 4th or 5th gear around 1500rpm and start to accelerate I can hear it some too.
My question would be, is there anyway to remove that bolt without pulling the engine or taking the head off or anything major like that? And as a follow up I drive this car everyday, so will continuing to drive it cause damage that will be lasting to the life of the car? This leak is not excessive but enough that I can hear it and it bugs me. I have not noticed any power losses but it could be that I never had full power from the day I bought it?

Sorry if this post is long but I wanted to give a little background to give a better explanation. Thanks in advance to any answers!

 

[Dino Dino Bambino]

Take the car to a trusted workshop and have the manifold removed in order to replace the gaskets (use only OEM).
Luckily the passenger side exhaust manifold is less of a PITA to remove than the driver's side but since there's a risk that more studs could snap during attempted removal, spray them down with PB Blaster or something similar and let them soak overnight.
Once the manifold is off, a mechanic can weld a nut to the broken stud and extract it. If the stump is too short, he might have to drill it out.

 

[Bayless08GT]

@Dino Dino Bambino First off nice car! She looks super clean!
Thanks for the advice but I try to work on my own stuff. I have issues trusting most shops (been burned before) and because I have the knowledge to do the work but typically don't have the time or space to work on stuff. I was hoping someone would have a miracle method of removing the stud without removing the headers but it looks like I will be spending this weekend working on pulling the header off.

 

[Dino Dino Bambino]

@Dino Dino Bambino First off nice car! She looks super clean!

Thanks. She does have some minor blemishes as you'd expect from a near 17 year old car, but she's completely rust free since she's always lived in a dry climate, and she's only done 97k miles. The engine oil is changed religiously every 5k miles with full synthetic, the coolant is changed every three years, and she only drinks 91 octane brew.

I've also had shops screw up on other cars I've owned in the past so like you, I try to DIY as much as I can. If I had a lift, I'd be confident enough to do stuff underneath the car. I'm getting too old to lie under a car supported on jackstands.

Your job will hopefully be fairly painless. Remove the battery before you start. Since you'll be working in the vicinity of the starter and its cables, it would be a good safety precaution. You'll also get better access if you remove the battery tray.

 

[MasterofDisaster]

If you have enough stud sticking out of the head, you can try https://www.lowes.com/pd/GEARWRENCH-15-PC-1-4-in-and-3-8-in-Drive-Bolt-Biter-Set/5013067499 or the other similar extractors. I have had good luck with those on other cars.