BBK Header install

Hi everyone,
I'm new to the forum, but have been lurking for awhile. I would like to first thank the forum for its guidance and help in my vehicle endeavors.
I finally got the courage to install my BBK ceramic coated shorty headers on my 2004 Dodge Ram 1500 4x4. I hope some of my experience in this install can help others. I also have a follow on question regarding my install hopefully I can get some help on.
I ran into two main obstacles in my install. First was the center bottom bolt of the manifold on the passenger side. The bolt had rounded off, which after trying for some time with different sizes sockets, pliers and trying to drill it out, I end up getting a dremel tool and grinding the head of the bolt off. The Second issue I ran into was trying to get the headers to fit on the drivers side. The pole that runs from the steering wheel, along with the upper control arm and the end of the exhaust pipe the meets with the headers, all blocked access to get it onto the block no matter which angle I tried. I first tried to grind down the tab on the left side arm of the upper control arm, which helped a little, but I ended up having to loosen the bolt where that pole I mentioned from the steering wheel meets up with another metal rod which holds that pole. I placed a pic with it undone for reference.
Now my last issue, which has to do with my follow on question is that the body of the new headers are soo close to the lower bolts I can't get anything to fit to tighten those bolts. I thought about either trying to replace those bolts with a hex style bolt which might be easier to slip between the bolt and header or to just have a shop tighten up the bolts for me when I go in for my y pipe install. What worked for you guys? I'll post more pics to show the lower bolt I had trouble with and some more pics of the driver side with the steering arm/pole fully attached blocking access.

More pics

Pic of lower rounded out bolt on passenger side manifold. That bolt being tucked back, with the control arm in the way made it so I couldn't get a straight angle to drill it out. This pic can also give you an appreciation of how hard the lower bolts are to get access to with the new headers since they have the longer tubes in the way.

Another pic

This one is a pic of the drivers side before I got the header to fit with everything blocking it's access. You can see just how small the area is with the steering pole in place, the control arm and the exhaust pipe on the right which is not as loose as you'd think once removed from the manifold.

Well for what its worth I got the lower bolts tightened and no more exhaust leak. Used a standard wrench, from underneath very slowly and painfully tightened the bolt with very small turns. I think if I had to do this again I could have done it within the quoted 4-5 hours but for anyone doing it their first time just winging it definitely will take longer in my opinion.
As for results, I have noticed a little bit of a smoother excelleration, and possibly more power based on my butt dyno throughout the range. A little bit of a deeper hollow throat sound (not loud), don't hear it really at WOT as I do cruising slower speeds up to 30. I have the flowmaster that really put drone in the cabin though so that probably covers up alot of the sound from the headers at higher speeds.