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Mine's a turbo-automatic, so your situation may be a bit different.
Remove the tranny cross-member.
Disconnect the tranny shift link at the rod & clip.
Ensure that there is nothing that can get stretched, bent, yanked, ripped, pinched or otherwise damaged around the engine and in the engine compartment (dis-join or dis-connect or give slack as appropriate).
Get a piece of plywood just slightly larger in area than the tranny pan/bottom to put between a floor-jack and the tranny pan/bottom and SLOWLY lift about 2 or so inches....GENTLY! Check to make sure nothing's getting stretched, pinched too much, etc.
Don't go too far or you might tear your engine mounts. Probably not more than 4 inches.
Tilting the engine forward will give you better access to the fastener points on the downpipes.
An air-ratchet behind the top of the engine makes things much easier. When the air-ratchet starts to tighten, STOP immediately! Do the final tightening by hand with a socket-wrench.
I used a gear-wrench on the the nuts but make sure the gear-wrench is narrow/thin enough at the top edge (on the end) to get around the nut without obstruction from the downpipe.
Otherwise use an open-end wrench....lots of little turns. The tightening torque is actually not that much.
Check for a tightening torque from the downpipe retailer. You may not be able to incorporate a torque-wrench on all the fasteners so you'll have to just go with a feeling.
Use new fasteners; as high-quality and strength as possible.
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