Was reading that the exhaust manifold should be airtight, yet on the driver side there offs this thing referred to as the stove that wraps around three manifold and collects exhaust for the pre-heat tube. It's rusted and all bent out off shape so much that when I start it in the morning, not all the exhaust goes up this tube and out smoked for a little while. I thought they manifold was to be air tight and yet it there is this "stove" thing is loose as heck. And even if I replace it, I'm sure it won't be airtight. How can this be? Are there any other names for this thing that collects pre heat air? Thanks.

 

Welcome to FTE, lots of good people here.
What engine and year are you dealing with?

 

"Choke stove"... the metal tube directs warm air to the bimetallic spring in the choke housing which deactivates the choke action at the carburetor.

94110... that's downtown San Francisco. . I grew up in 94127, Sunnyside District.

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Assuming we're thinking of the same thing it's not supposed to be airtight it just sucks hot air off the top of the exhaust manifold if their is exhaust in it something is wrong cracked manifold for example

I don't know what it's called either

 

Whats throwing me is the OP states it's on the driver's side. The choke stove is on the passenger side.
Even if the OP is referring to the air preheat muff for the air cleaner, that's on the passenger side too.
The only thing that would be on the driver's side is the heat stove for the carb preheat and that's located between the exhaust manifold and exhaust pipe.

 

OP's "About Me" profile sez 1979 F150, but what engine it has...who knows.

1973/79 460 (C8VY-9C869-A) & 1977/79 351M/400 (D5AZ-9C869-A) have a pre heat tube that fits into the intake manifold. Both are notorious for rusting out.

 

Ohhhh. You guys are all right. First, thanks for helping me solve the problem: If there is exhaust on the start coming from within the stove, then it's a crack/gasket problem with the manifold. Explains a possible cause for the hesitation and loss of acceleration from the get. I rebuilt the carburetor to get at that problem, but all I did was get to know the carb better. Next, I was thinking passenger side when I typed driver side. Oh, my God. And next, Yeah I live in San Francisco, but it's the Mission District/Noe Valley area. The buzz on "Nextdoor" around here is complaints of guys working on their cars in the street. Nobody ever complained about that, but now I'd say the people from the East Coast have taken over the standards here. There's this one guy who spoke up for people working on their cars. Made me glad. And of course I don't condone dumpling fluids down the sewer into the bay. And finally, my truck is a 79 Ford F100. When I applied to join the forum, F100 wasn't listed in the choices. It's got a straight body and the color is a solid 'Redwood Empire' which means it's a beautiful brown. The guy I got it from is the real deal 'old San Francisco' . He dropped a roller motor from an 85, I think. He used the original C4 transmission (not sure). He gave me the chilton, the Part Two on Electrical, and the original little user manual! He put in a giant aluminum radiator. I got it new Wrangler tires, changed the master cylinder, reverse flowed the the coolant. Changed the oil pan from a 7 quart to a 6 quart because the plug was inaccessible (we lifted the engine to swap it out). We tried changing the oil through the dipstick, but that really sucked. A friend mechanic said there's another way to change the oil, but I could never find it. We changed it. It's a cool truck. I know manifold bolts are a real problem to swap out, but I seen the discussions. It'll be a project. I'm a retired glazier so looking forward to lining up my tools.