The heads on my Cobra are fairly new, I still have to remove a couple of studs to remove the head. Clearly it's easier to take off parts without studs than it is with them, it's a simple observation of reality.
Which would you rather scrape old gasket material from? The bottom of a block (intake, top of the block, etc.) with studs or without studs? Or, would you remove the studs first so you can get the area nice and clean? Either way, leave them in or remove them to clean, it's certainly not a "positive aspect" of studs!
