HELP: Clutch replacement, MAJOR obstacles
 

Sooo where do I begin.
Im starting to think this car is cursed because no matter what I do to it, there’s always some major problem. I’ve never had anything like this happen to me after 15 years of miatas...

okay on to the current problem:

The car has a custom exhaust that is welded all the way through. No flanges for midpipe, header, nothing. Today I set out to replace my clutch as I’m getting prepared to install a turbo kit next week.
I realized the only way to reach one of the bellhousing bolts was to remove the header, so I did what any logical person would do, I cut the axle-back portion of the exhaust off. After some serious struggles to get the exhaust manifold nuts off, I realized the raceland header is shaped in such a way that it hits the steering shaft when you try to remove it. After unbolting the rack, unbolting the engine mount and jacking up the engine, creating LESS clearance, I’m at a loss. I did an entire clutch and flywheel install once in less than 6 hours, I’ve dropped miata transmissions more times than I can count. Today I spent 8 hours and the only thing I accomplished was cutting the muffler off.

sorry for the long post, I wanted to make sure I got all the details in so any advice given will be based on what I’ve already tried. Please help, I have a really nice pile of parts sitting in my garage and I’m ready to scrap the entire project.
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Unbolt the steering column at the rack - good idea to lay down a sharpie marker so you know which way it goes back in, there's an indexing spline that can make it a pain on the rearmost bolt. Once thats done, the column collapses (for accidents) and you can move the column out of the way. You can also unbolt the front of the ujoint, which doesn't have an indexing mark, but doesn't have as much wrench access - but you'll need to make sure you don't turn the wheels or you'll loose your center position for the steering wheel.

There’s a common trap a lot of header removers fall into. The temptation is to tilt the header up as
soon as it’s removed from the head studs. Most are only possible to remove if you keep the header
flange parallel to the engine. Not sure if this will help in your case though.

Thanks for the advice. I spent all day yesterday on this project, today I had to reschedule a dr appt because the car was still on stands. I’ve never in my life had this much of a problem just doing a clutch replacement. I put the car back together and if I decide to do this again, I’ll be chopping the header up into pieces to remove it. It will feel so good to do it that way and save me the trouble of all the other stuff that was suggested. But tbh I’m extremely discouraged by this and not even sure I want to keep moving forward with this build. Everytime I put a wrench to this car I have massive issues just like this. I know it’s going to be the same way with the turbo install

This happened to me twice with that same header, on a 97 as well...
I ended up loosening the passenger side engine mount (to allow it some flexibility), and removing the nut on the driver's side engine mount. Than lightly "tilting" the engine with a jack. It took some wiggling, tons of swearing, and the skin off two knuckles... but it came out. I never touched steering in any way.
I wouldn't give up and go for it...

My biggest regret was putting it on in the first place.... Looked cool, but that's about it.

I literally chopped it into 3 pieces to get it off. Straight in the trash where that thing belongs lol

Late to the party, but I always remove the exhaust manifold studs in such cases.
It gives you a lot of freedom, and you can lift the head pretty much straight up to clear the steering shaft.

Did you film it so the rest of us that have dealt with this poor design can watch and rewatch?
Asking for a friend....

This would have been a good idea.

I wish. I have pictures of the header afterwards. No video though.

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