97 F350 Exhaust

[stmrebel]

Hey all, Wanted to pick yalls brain a bit on this, I have an exhaust leak on the driver side manifold. I had my trusted diesel shop quote me $350 to remove it, have it machined and reinstalled. Is it ok to just have them machined, or should I replace it, Im guessing its going to be a chunk of change to buy one new, also is there anything I should have done while its removed>? I plan on doing exhaust eventually, but don't have the cash to do both at the same time. My truck is stock 97 f350 4x4, 172k, I have a ts chip/gauges/tymar intake on the way, but im not going to install anything till i get this fixed. Also I heard they have gaskets now, should I have them install the gasket once machined if I go that way? would it be ok to have one machined w/ gasket and the other stock? sorry for all the questions, I just want to make sure I do it right. Thanks in advance!

[Mutley]

I've had to deal with that with Ford gas engines several times. Remachining the head with a new gasket shouldn't be a problem at all. That's a fairly reasonable price too. I've paid much more to have this corrected in the past.