It's a pain. The pre-cats are in the way. I tried everything. Pulled the bushings, jacked up the motor and such. No luck. Cutoff the head to get the old one out, but there was no way the new one was going in. Ended up removing the rear manifold, which was not as bad as it sounds.

On the next one (friend's car), I used Larry's upside-down method.

Some folks say they can manipulate the bolt around the pre-cats. I think the pre-cats may vary somewhat depending upon the model year in question.

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1986 300E 5-Speed 240k mi.