Doug's headers not fitting - frustration

What I tried yesterday ...

I loosened the nuts on the bottom studs between biscuit and k-frame to the point they were flush to the end of the stud, and loosened up the trans mount bolts.

First I tried lifting one side at a time. Lifting the driver's side gave me a little more room but not nearly enough, lifting the passenger side jammed the header into the coupler.

So I shoved as many shims in beneath the biscuit as I could given where I had left the nut under the biscuit. It took a 3/8" stack but no help.

Next I tried lifting the whole thing and trying to pry it to the passenger side. No.

Next I tried pry over from beneath the car and the transmission kept coming right back to where I started and didn't really move.

The mount studs are sitting at the bottom of the V on the k-frame, both sides. Raising the driver helped but because the passenger side is still at the bottom it didn't actually move it only lifted it.

The driver side biscuit is hanging about half off the k-frame pad, and as if more of it is off than is on. The PS biscuit pretty much squares up with it.

I get at best, a quarter turn of the coupler before it hits, and that's only because there's a wide and a narrow side to it. Don't forget, it's hitting both sides so a quarter turn actually means an eighth in two directions. It might as well not move at all.

Also, it looks to me that a dent would have to go half way through the pipe to get to clearance. I need to get a photo of that. It sure seems to need a lot more than moving the engine over an 1/8" per my C/L measurement yesterday.