Mr Slow

you removed the clamps first before rotating? twisting with it still clamped up won't work

You should be able to twist the rad inlet hose so that the elbow which looks like it's contacting the manifold 'hump' points a bit further upwards giving you more clearance?

The blogs aren't anywhere near as nice to read as a thread, it's very staccato. Don't want to sound like a naysayer, but a standard forum thread is much nicer to read and look at.

google 1/4 wave resonator it's the same concept as sound cancelling headphones, but not dynamically adjusting and tuned for only a single frequency.

RHD / LHD, it makes no difference. the rack sits behind the engine so it has no bearing / effect on the design of a manifold.

that won't last forever, Photobucket will put a stop to it and you're back to square one again. Far better to just dump the service now.

Good for you. However if Toyota/Subaru didn't think a Harmonic balancer were needed they wouldn't fit one. 4 cylinder engines are inherently imbalanced, without a balancer you're going to be shortening engine life. Personally I wouldn't trade a miniscule saving of weight for the potential of reduced reliability.

I think the OP was more concerned with replacing the part whilst the car was still in warranty and potentially voiding said warranty

Do the Cusco replacement crank pulley's incorporate a harmonic balancer? If not I'd avoid like the plague OP, there's a very good reason harmonic balancers are fitted to cars.

Why's the last picture a set of BC Racing coilovers with MX5 top hats

Exactly. I understand why Toyota have done it, but it's still an issue IMO.

1st post, but this is also me. My car is 100% stock, but from all the reading I've done, a replacement manifold would solve the one issue the car has form the factory. I also live in Warrington