A pleasant Volvo purr has been replaced by throaty roar in my 1990 740 because of a serious break/leak in the horizontal section of the header pipe. There is a heat shield or some such piece that is hiding the actual hole so I can't describe exactly what the problem area looks like. My assumption is I probably need to put in a new header pipe. Now, getting the header pipe out by removing the exhaust manifold with it still attached looks temptingly easier that trying to get at the three nuts that attach the pipe to the manifold (the nut closest to the block looks to be a challenge). Is this a crazy idea? The eight nuts holding the exhaust manifold to the head are pretty corroded and rough, but they are very accessible. Am I risking stripping a stud bolt, or worse, snapping one off going this route? I'm open to all advice from the been there-done that group. Many thanks in advance.
Sven