how do you remove the heater plate on the driver side header in order to get to the bolts that hold the header on? i need to replace the gasket but i cant get to it.

 

Heater plate? If you mean the sheet metal with the heat stove thats wrapped around the manifold (header is different) then you can still get at the bolts, they are not under the sheetmetal. The sheetmetal is crimped together BTW.

 

Be aware there are some small super PITA tabs bent over the bolts to keep them from backing out

Get a stubby flathead to bend these out of the way and get a socket over the bolts

 

how many bolts are there? five? two in the front, two towards the middle and one at the back end?

 

6 bolts... two on the front, two in the middle, two on the end. Its hard to make out the 'inside' bolts on the two ends in this pic, but you can sorta see them.

 

HOW EASY IS IT TO REPLACE THAT GASKET. CAN I DO IT WITHOUT HAVING ANY SPECIAL TOOLS AND ABOUT HOW LONG WILL IT TAKE.

 

you can completely remove the 4 middle bolts and simply loosen the 2 end ones just enough to pull the header away from the engine but dont completely remove the 2 end bolts. The ends of the gasket have 2 hooks which can hang on to the 2 bolts that are still attached to the motor (install the gasket between the header and motor obviously), then install the other 4 bolts and tighten it all down, no need to remove the header...

 

BTW, it sure looks better with that sheet metal heat stove thing gone...I tore mine to shreads to get it out, took awhile, but I got it out of there..