Exhaust manifold bolt missing...

When I first got my car I noticed that a bolt was missing on the far end on the upper part of my exhaust manifold. I've been planning to get this replaced I just haven't got around to it yet. One of my friends has a bronco with a 5.0 in it. He was missing a bolt and it severly affected his power in the top end. I know a 5.0 V8 is very different than a 2.0 turboed 4 cylinder. I was wondering how much power I can expect to gain from replacing the missing bolt?

You'll only gain power if it is leaking exhaust from where the manifold meets the head. It would be loud and there would be black soot around the leak area.

I have to agree. Sadly no power gain...


Wendy

Ah I just checked under my hood around my exhaust manifold and found that there was hardly any sign of leaking where I thought it was. Although there is alot of black soot and just gunky stuff on a different spot on my manifold. I'm guessing maybe my manifold is not as tight as it could be and it is leaking. Thank you for the help

Where is the other spot that it's leaking at?

There is black soot on the head on the opposite end that I thought it was leaking.

Replace the missing bolt and if possible replace the gasket make sure all the bolts are torqued down cause unequal pressure could lead to problems.