Cracked Exhaust Manifold, Questions Options

[Soulend]

Hey everyone,

last week I noticed that My exhaust manifold has a crack in it. and for about a year if not two, my car has had this whistling sound. sounds like a Semi truck Turbo spooling. and at first it was so light that my mechanic couldn't even hear it. but now its very noticeable. so I was wondering do you think the manifold would be causing that? also my car smokes during the first mile or so after start up. warm or cold. I'm pretty sure its white, maybe a little blue, someone told me that it looked and smelled like an exhaust leak. could this also be contributed to the manifold being cracked? and lastly, since I've been driving on this manifold for a while, with what looks like no other damage to the car, what ill effects can come from this?

Thanks for taking the time to read this,

Soul


.... oh yeah I have a 97 LE ST.