I'm trying to remove the stock exhaust manifold driver side VQ35HR, best suggestion was to remove the steering shaft. I have the bottom and top bolts removed and used a flat head to separate the joints a bit. Issue is I don't seem to be getting any slack on the shaft to slide up to remove the joint from the lower.


Thanks

 

I put Z1 headers on my 2008,didnt have to remove the steering shaft to get the manifolds off...but i did remove the heat shields first

 

I have the heat shields off and it's literally about 1\8 of clearance. One of the points where the heat shield screws in hits the shaft. I pulled the exhaust studs to give some more clearance and don't want to run the risk of scratching the head.