What did they do to my manifold?!?

[Schildir]

When I went to Ohio to get stuff from Tonycash, one thing he asked me about was my mangled exhaust manifold. There is a rough flange on it, like something was cut off, and there is a tube lower down that it crushed/welded shut. What did these previous owner people do?

[festivaWES]

they took a piece of metal and made a gasket out of it because the oem one was leaking???

[bravekozak]

waterjet

I had a stainless spacer waterjet cut to make up the distance between the stock manifold and the downpipe. this replaced the factory flange that had the exhaust backpressure going back up a tube that was attached there.

Here is a pic of the spacer I had made:

http://bwbronze.com/festiva/waterjet_exhaust.jpg

I took the existing metal gasket, trimmed it flush, bent it open and cut it in two pieces. One for the top. The other for the bottom. I also had to use a pipe wrench to get the studs out so I could replace them with longer ones.

[Schildir]

this replaced the factory flange that had the exhaust backpressure going back up a tube that was attached there.

So what did this tube attach to? Since you got rid of it as well, I assume it wasn't incredibly useful? Any idea how much of a backpressure difference it makes?

Very interesting stuff to learn.

[FestYboy]

remember what year your car is.... it's carbed! that tube was supposed to feed your passive AIR system to keep the cat alive and reduce emissions. the tube would have come up to the flange and another tube would have bolted to it and gone up to your air box and then back down to the cat.

[Schildir]

remember what year your car is.... it's carbed! that tube was supposed to feed your passive AIR system to keep the cat alive and reduce emissions. the tube would have come up to the flange and another tube would have bolted to it and gone up to your air box and then back down to the cat.

Mine is EFI... So I guess that would mean that I wouldn't need the tube anymore?

[bravekozak]

the cat

The tube went from the cat back up to the exhaust manifold flange.
Just take a look at this cat being sold on eBay.
As you can see, it's only for the 88-89 Festivas.
Festboy is correct. It is to get oxygen into the cat to make it do it's job.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/MAGNAFLOW-CATALYTIC-CONVERTER-88-89-FORD-FESTIVA-94114_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQhashZitem45ee4108c8QQitemZ300349982920QQptZMotorsQ5fCarQ5fTruckQ5fPartsQ5fAccessories

[Schildir]

The tube went from the cat back up to the exhaust manifold flange.
Just take a look at this cat being sold on eBay.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/MAGNA...Q5fAccessories

I will have to go and see if my cat has/had a tube on it... Last time I looked at it I don't think I saw anything like that on there.

Edit: According to that ebay auction, that cat would not be for my car, since I have an auto trans... So I guess somewhere along the way the part was replaced with on that had the tube, for some reason, and then they shut it. Odd...