Crack exhaust manifold.

[Alabamaranger]

My exhaust manifold is cracked. Is there a better manifold to use than the factory? Don't want headers with two outlets.



90 YJ, 258 Six

[aerojt]

I ended up buying a borla header to replace my cracked oem manifold. Four years later the 4wd driveshaft wore a hole in it...I am in the process now of dealing with borla to fix it...fun stuff. Nice header though..

[Less Than Joe]

I took mine off and welded it back together. Seems to work fine still.

[markr1001]

either get it welded or grab one from a wreckin yard... where you located and what you got for a motor?

[hunterjhnstn]

I got mine for like 120 or so shipped, its basically the same as the stock manifold plus some expansion joints. if you want me to i will see if i can find the link to it, or you could try searching to see if you can find it because it should be in a thread i posted about this same topic back in july/august ish

[love24wheel]

Go with an offenhauser....

[swami2806]

I would go with a new one. Manis are cast iron, so they have to be brazed and it's a hit or miss fix, even for the most experienced of welders. The thing has to be pre heated and the climate perfect for the braze to take. If there still is a fracture on the inside of the manifold it can spread, just like a crack in a windshield. Aftere you take it off you're not going to want to do it again. And start soaking your bolts now. Manifold bolts break easily.

[markr1001]

it doesnt have to be brazed... use cast rod, i weld cast all the time at work... as long as you take you time and preheat the metal slowly and allow it it cool slowly you wont have any problems. my neighbor welded his up on his truck like 2 years ago and its still holdin fine

[swami2806]

Yeah...cast rod is just nickel--same principle as brazing. I'm not saying it doesn't work--of course, some, maybe most weld jobs work out, but the thought of pulling everything twice if it doesn't take is worth the extra 50 or 60 bucks (American or Canadian lol) as far as I'm concerned.

My father was a welder and showed me how to braze/weld, and I've done cast iron a few times, fixing a wood stove and a tractor block. But Markr said he does it all the time, so he'd know better than me.

[Less Than Joe]

Mine was only the second weld job I did, so i just covered everywhere I thought it was cracked. Forget about technique with that job. It's been 2 years for me.

[swami2806]

My second weld job was an exhaust job. I couldn't even weld pretty on flat stock, let alone a round pipe. Man it was an ugly job, but it held and didn't leak noise or any exhaust!

[OneLung]

The stock header on a YJ 4.2L/4.0L tends to crack over time, despite the accordion-style expansion joints in the primary tubes on some after-market replacements. The only real way to eliminate the possibility of this happening is to go with a high-quality after-market design such as a Banks TorqueTube header or something similar.

Not cheap, but it will give you the added benefit of extra power as compared to the stock system.

:2cents:

[leedurr]

junk yard special or spend the money and get a header. your choice. I welded mine twice and finally bought a header. like the header better.