I've spent a few days now fixing the manifold on my dad's beater Escape 3.0L V6. This thing is in terrible shape and not really worth dumping a lot of money into, so at $250 (damn integrated cats), neither one of us were anxious to buy a new manifold. The manifold is built more like a header, with 3 individual flanges for the exhaust ports and mild steel tubing, not cast iron. So, the first issue was that the gasket was leaking, so we pulled the manifold to replace it. After getting it off, we found a T shaped crack, running both down the weld line from the last bank to the o2 bung, and also about 1/2" away from the weld line. So, after welding that up, I decided to have a closer look at the leak on the old gasket and the manifold flange, and it was obvious leaking from both the front and rear cylinders. Then I put a straight edge across the flange, and sure enough, the middle flange sticks out about 1/8" from the other 2. After debating a couple options, I put it on the belt sander
After a couple hours (HF belt sanders suck!), it's close enough to flat that I think the gasket will take care of the rest. I really hope it all works, I'd hate to have put in all that work just to have to replace the manifold anyways.
On the housing front - I think I'm going to drag my real estate agent to go look at a couple that are just outside my price range, and if I like them, I'll put in offers of what I can afford and see if they bite. It's probably a no-go, but at this point, there's nothing else on the market in the area I'm really interested in.
