My wife recently had a small accident (after I just fixed her car BTW :) She ran her 93 V6 camry into a curb when she was attempting to take a left. It was very dark in this area and she misjudged the length of the lane which terminated in a 6 inch curb. It ended up damaging one of the tires (new) to the point that it will need to be replaced. From inspection underneath, it looks like she ran it up on the curb a good 3 ft. The lateral engine support beam is all scraped up, and directly in the center it seems a little dented in. However, I don't think it was bent. Directly behind that engine support, the exhaust header pipe got dented in as well. I removed the heat shield to see how much damage was done to the header pipe itself. From what I can see, it appears to be dented in about 1/2" (a soft dent, not a hard crease). I can't see any other evidence of a hole, although it's possible part of the pipe seam may have been compromised. When I run the engine now, I can hear what seems to be increased exhaust noise near the front exhaust manifold. I can't see any evidence of an exhaust leak.
So, here's my question: Is it possible that 1/2" dent in the header pipe underneath is causing enough pressure change or restriction that the pipe off the front exhaust manifold is now resonating, causing the changed exhaust noise, or could this actually be a leak? I assume I will need to replace the header pipe nevertheless. Any advice is appreciated.
thanks
davemac