1984 300D turbo: bowden cable install issues

[qualified-merc]

Access to where the bowden cable connects to the right side of the transmission is restricted by the exhaust pipe. I removed the two bolts connecting the exhaust pipe mount to the transmission; the exhaust pipe will now only move a half an inch or so.

I am at a point where there appears to be two possible solutions:

A. Use a map gas torch to loosen up the bolts connecting the front half of the exhaust pipe to the rear half of the exhaust pipe. This would allow me to move the front half (about four feet or so of exhaust pipe coming directly off the turbo charger) over to the right of the car allowing access to the bowden cable.

B. remove the rear transmission mount, throttle linkage from the engine and fan shroud allowing the transmission to lower (also, I would place a bottle jack under the tranny for controlled lowering) allowing better access to the bowden cable connection.

What say you, A or B or both A and B?