Does the exhaust manifold need to come off to replace head gasket?

[BillW]

I am replacing a head gasket on a 7mge and I am stuck trying to remove the 3 nuts that hold the exhaust manifold to the down pipe.

Why does the exhaust manifold need to be removed from the car to remove the head? Can I just detach the exhaust manifold from the head, leave the exhaust manifold attached to the down pipe, and remove the head?

If I need to remove the exhaust manifold, any ideas on how to remove the 3 nuts that connect the exhaust manifold to the down pipe? It's really tight in there. I have sprayed the nuts with liquid wrench and PB blaster and applied enough torque to round the corners of the nuts. Next, I'm going to try a nut splitter or a chisel to get the nuts off.

Any thoughts are appreciated. Thanks.

[DarkSupra2.5]

Technically, if there's enough space to move the manifold aside from the head, you shouldn't have to take the manifold out of the car to remove the head. you might have to loosen something else up in the exhaust system to allow it to move tho.