Exhaust manifold removal

[sammy11]

I am trying to remove the exhaust manifold from my 1996 Mazda Protege. I got stuck and need some ideas. In the picture below I have highlighted the only things on the way. The studs connected to the engine won't let me just lift the manifold. Similarly, if I try to pull the exhaust manifold from the engine, the studs connected to the front pipe will block the horizontal motion. I have double-checked and nothing else is on the way. Any help is appreciated.

[FE3-323]

split the precat from the manifold & then remove it from the head. thats really the only way to do it.

[sammy11]

split the precat from the manifold & then remove it from the head. thats really the only way to do it.

My overall goal is to replace the head gasket, so do you think the exhaust manifold will eventually come out when I lift the engine more than an inch?

[1Mazda323Fan]

As long as the manifold is unbolted from the precat then it should. You might want to run a couple of bolts back into the manifold (hand tight; no need to put a wrench on them) before you remove the head so it doesn't fall on to something important in the engine bay. Or your foot. If you're just going to raise the engine don't worry about the bolts. The bottom of the manifold should clear the studs in the precat, or at least be close enough for you to wiggle it out.

[Kitty]

The fsm instructs you to remove the precat and exhaust manifold as one piece and separate if need be after that.

Bolt it back on to the mani and remove the 3 bolts from the bottom of it. Don't smash it into the radiator when you pull it off the head studs.

[1Mazda323Fan]

Isn't that kind of six of one, half a dozen of the other? I've never taken one of those engines down that far, but it looks like the manifold can come off by itself. Then again, I could be completely mistaken.

[Kitty]

I can think of a few reasons they'd recommend assembled removal.

Its 2 less bolts to remove, as well as they're larger diameter so less likely to snap. Service manuals are written with time/effort in mind.
The 5-6 bolts on the top of the precat are harder to get to.
The exhaust pipping should probably not support the weight of the precat. I don't recall where the exhaust to engine support bracket is on the Z5 off hand though.
The mani to precat gasket is more expensive and more convoluted than the precat to downpipe gasket.


And that's just what I can think of off hand.

Things written by engineers rarely have steps that are arbitrary.

[sammy11]

By unscrewing the three bolts on the precat I was able to have much more wiggle room but that wasn't sufficient to pull out the exhaust manifold. After shaking the engine head I was finally able to detach the exhaust manifold from the head and pull out the head, leaving the exhaust manifold in place. Thank you all for your suggestions.

[FE3-323]