So I'm at the point of disconnecting the exhaust manifold just to facilitate removing the cylinder head. I have all the mounting bolts out but it appears that I need to disconnect the manifold from the exhaust pipe just to get it to even nudge off the threads. What size bolts are the three connecting it to the pipe? My 14mm fits one of them, almost but slips on another and is too big for the third...

 

It should be only one size. Why not just remove the bolts that attach to the cat?

 

Thanks for the fast reply! Okay I think I see what you mean, there's three nuts holding the manifold to what looks like another heat shield, is that it. Looks like that should give me enough to back it away from the head. Apologies as this is all new to me and I'm learning as I go...

 

Correct.

And yes, 14mm for the first three you were working on. When you get the cylinder head off you should have enough room to maneuver the header out of the car. I'd take a minute to address the stud/nut situation on the upper/lower half of the header before you reassembly everything.

 

You don't have to remove the entire manifold to slip it off the head. Just take all the self locking nuts off the studs and remove bolt #13 pictured below. After that, you should be able to wrestle the manifold off the head and let it hang there. It should give you enough room to then lift the head off the block.

 

Awesome, thanks everyone! I was just having a look at the same diagram earlier. I've got all the #11 studs out and will be working on the #9 ones on the cat in the morning. They're a pain to get to and seem to be torqued on pretty tight. Going to try a "crow's foot" wrench to get a bit more leverage on it.