That's the exact reason I bought my ebay stainless shorties, time I paid for a new manifold and gaskets I would have had pretty close to the header price. I just bought them and put em on they fit right in place of stock manifolds but don't have the AIR tubes in them.
I heard along time ago they warp when they get took off and then it makes em crack when you put them on, I know mine sure did. Pulled em off for engine rebuild no cracks no issues, put em back on and couldn't hardly get the bolts to line up, then noticed they had cracked once I got them on. if you go to the junkyard maybe get ya some manifold spreaders, they go between the pipes while installed then you remove them, it holds them that far apart, then reinstall, but maybe have them sand blasted and then paint or something for a recon. look. You could also check about getting yours welded up.