My neighbor has a '97 Civic with the base engine. It's got a cracked exhaust manifold. It appears to me that the manifold and a cat are made together as one unit. If so, I assume this is an expensive part to buy. Does anyone know if this is the case? I can't see it real well because of a heat shield that encompasses the portion of this part in question. The real problem is, is that we have plug-in emissions testing here for OBD II cars, as this one is. The crack is causing an occasional code to be thrown for the upstream O2. If the code's present or has recently occurred, the car will not pass come test time for her this summer. I just discovered this today while doing some maintenance on the car so we have some time to work with. Hopefully I can find her one that's reasonably priced. She's a divorced mother of modest means, you know how it goes. Any insight on the matter is greatly appreciated.

I've seen the same thing in other cars also, but the muffler shop just cut out the cat and either weld in a new one or bolt in a new. I would just see if a muffler shop can weld it first, if not just get another manifold and have it welded in.

I agree, check to see if the manifold can be welded.

Another option, depending on where you live, is to find a used part at a salvage yard. The only risk here, the EPA makes selling used cats illegal. Odd, isn't it?

I donno about "cutting" the cat off. This means someone has to make a manifold.

One last option would be an aftermarket header. Never know... could fix the problem and add 50 hp!

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I've had cast welded successfully before. For many cases and in competent hands it can work well. Only thing is, I once lit off a cat while heating at a slip-fit joint to separate it from the header. (It was pretty cool, actually! ) And cast has to be pre-heated before you can weld it.
I've got a friend who owns a junkyard so if he had a used one, I'm sure he'd let me get it.
I thought about a header too. Just what this 10 year old POS needs! If it's cheap enough though, that and a cheap cat might get it done.

Well if you got the tools and know how I say go for it. I like your avatar!