I got FREE 2001 OEM headers for my 97 4.0 TJ from the dealer. Should I sell and get aftermarkets... or.........?

I wheel regularly.... 4.O.... In mud country (OH) but prefer rocks...

me personally....i like manifolds. less leak prone.:D

Originally posted by high5
me personally....i like manifolds. less leak prone.:D

Har har......

Header is a manafold technically, butttttt lets get to the point of the question ...

OEM vs after market header style exhaust manifolds on a Jeep TJ....

My OEM 97 header is cracked.

Again.... I have a 2001 Jeep header exhaust manifold I can use or I can sell it and get an after market header exhaust manifold to put on my 4 liter Jeep TJ.

What are the thoughts of you folk on the board?

I'd just put on the '01 manifold....

The hassle of trying to sell the stock one and buying headers would outweigh any performance benefit of the aftermarket stuff. The only people who might want the stock manifold are other people with the same cracking problem that you have (a common problem, apparently, until '00). But those people are already having their stuff covered by the warranty too, so....

Plus, if you don't have one already, you'd have to spring for a cat back exhaust. No point in putting on free flowing headers with the stock exhaust, IMO :D

Hope to wheel with you again soon, Coach :beer:

Good Points Welby...

I am thinking of working my way toward cat back etc. as well....

one step at a time. maby Ill just get a drimmel and smooth out the welds on the OEM headers to help it flow just a little. Lots of ruff edges that could be smoohted out... Wont make too much difference.... butttttttt?

Bellyup said he thought some folk may be doing wellsville sat. I got to work and got a performance that evening I'm in. so Sat 15th out for me.

We'll wheel again for sure. Found out today our dance teachers hubby wants to wheel his.... ahhh humm landrover...!! he's pretty sofisticated software type of dude.... would be fun to break him in on some easy trails then let him ride with us on some real trails...

I mean.... will anyone else give .02 on headers... Stock TJ 01 vs after market?

I would buy a Borla. They have crappy customer service, but their header is the best. No more cracks.:smokin:

ahhhh the battle begins...

Who thinks I should buy a Borla.... or another brand?

For whatever brand.... whom should I buy it from? Can anyone suggest a discount supply place, a secret source.... a good theif...? ahh nahhh scratch the last one.... they may steel it from a fellow jeeper.

We went through four Cliffords in 2.5 years (major pain in the ass). The Borla has been on there for 2 years. The Cliffords were cracking just like the factory.:rolleyes:

I have a friend with a Borla set up on his, its a nice system. Its not his daily driver, but it gets abuse, and the headers are holding up fine. They broke in pretty fast too. They used to turn bright red everytime, and now they do just fine. Its only been on there about, oh, I guess 7 months.

I have gone down this path with a 97XJ. The only advantage of an after market header like the borla is that they have matched tube lengths for all cylinders. Other than that the OEMHO tube manifold is just fine.

SeanP

Originally posted by SeanP
I have gone down this path with a 97XJ. The only advantage of an after market header like the borla is that they have matched tube lengths for all cylinders. Other than that the OEMHO tube manifold is just fine.

SeanP

so how much is the performance difference between equal length tubed after market headers and the OEM headers.

Also..... you say OEMHO..... I assume you mean OEM "H"igh "O"utput. if that is the case... how do check to see if the OEM 2001 headrs I got are High Output?

JU?:flipoff2:

I have had a Borla on mine for about 5 years. "Cat back" consists of a hi flow cat, glass pack and the pipe exits behind the rear wheel between the spring and the frame where I won't rip it off on rocks anymore. I can't tell if there's any performance gain or not, and I don't really care. The headers haven't cracked in 5 years, the muffler is out of the way where it doesn't get munched, same with the tailpipe.

Jason TJ: JU? what u ... :smokin: :question:

WithAMC: thanx fer the Cat back explanation... I'm aware of what it is though some from JU who venture here may not. I plan on getting a cat back in the future. The new OEM header from jeep is supose to no longer crack. They have added an area to allow flex instead of cracking.

Guess I should revise my question totaly here.

Keeping in mind an upgraded throttle body is in the plan for the future; what is the realistic performance gains between AfterMarket header (borla?) plus a cat back -vs- OEM Header and cat back. .

If not much if any performance gain between the two with the upgraded throttle body and cat then Ill just put on the headers that Chryslter gave me for FREE and add the rest (cat & throttle body upgrades )as the $ allows. If their are definate gains then I want to sell the OEM Header and go with an after market header from the get go. (vote is borla thus far)

exactly, coach. All 4.0s after 91 are HO. No sense in wasting the money on the aftermarket. You will get negligible performance increase. However, the cat backs with hi flow cat and muffler do have a good amount of bang for the buck.

SeanP

Originally posted by SeanP
exactly, coach. All 4.0s after 91 are HO. No sense in wasting the money on the aftermarket. You will get negligible performance increase. However, the cat backs with hi flow cat and muffler do have a good amount of bang for the buck.

SeanP

welllllll...... guess what threw me off was calling the header an HO header. Ive never seen anything Chyrystler put in writing that calls anything about the TJ 4.0 an HO... I know they used some of the HO concepts and parts in newer 4.0 engine design. So with that in mind.. its not an HO header header anymore... its just an OEM header.

hmmmm does that make since.....? after reading it back to myself it sure dont to me... :rasta:

Thanks for your vote on the Stock OEM Header... Any other votes for either out there?

exactly, coach. All 4.0s after 91 are HO. No sense in wasting the money on the aftermarket. You will get negligible performance increase. However, the cat backs with hi flow cat and muffler do have a good amount of bang for the buck.

There is no difference in performance between a Borla header and the factory manifold (semi header). The big difference is in the quality of the material and the welds. Other than the exhaust pipe weight on the manifold, poor quality is the reason the factory manifold cracks.

Originally posted by coachgeo3


WithAMC: thanx fer the Cat back explanation... I'm aware of what it is though some from JU who venture here may not. I plan on getting a cat back in the future. The new OEM header from jeep is supose to no longer crack. They have added an area to allow flex instead of cracking.



I wasn't explainin' what a cat back was, I was telling you what my cat back consisted of. It's got a nice, deep tone but I don't know if it helped any with the power. It DID get it up and out of the way of the rocks.