Civic EG

ok so i put my new headers on today but were a little shorter than the old ones.... i had a donut gasket that couldn't be matched at auto zone to its large size but found one that worked. Now my question is when i was tightening the two bolts with springs..the springs were fully compressed and i still had a gap between headers and exhaust...so i took the springs out and swapped the bolts to fully threaded ones and tightened them down. Is this going to be bad for my exhaust not having those 2 springs? my exhaust has little to no play its very stiff movement/flex wise.

you need the springs. plus the flanges will not sit flush thats why you need the donut gasket so there is no exhaust leak

Have a gasket can't find the same one I had trust me honda def. Doesn't carry the size I have. And what are the springs for? Its lined up pretty damn good and no leaks

The springs allow for a small amount of heat expansion/contraction.
I have seen people use longer threaded bolts without springs and they come loose after a short time.
Honda put the springs there for a reason. Follow their lead.