Full Exhaust Build

[muddypunk]

Mine pop's from cracked manifold ?where is your air cleaner trying to find dry place to put mine.Sounds nice though I have 2.25 glass pack and love the sound. Piss's off the narbor's at 5 am when headed to work

 

[4WDlifeform]

K I must not be looking in the right places but where do I find the APN headers?

http://www.ineedparts.com/auto-parts/exhaust-parts/exhaust-manifolds/jeep-exhaust-manifold.html

That popping could be from a leaking exhaust manifold gasket.

I hope that is what that is. I will be removing stuff to ensure that everything is seating right. You might notice in the one pic, they header is actually touching the intake...

Mine pop's from cracked manifold ?where is your air cleaner trying to find dry place to put mine.Sounds nice though I have 2.25 glass pack and love the sound. Piss's off the narbor's at 5 am when headed to work

I did the Cawl relocation. Just search around, there is a ton of write ups on it. Totally worth it too! Jeep should have just done that from the beginning.

 

[RadioShackSpecial]

Are they contacting each other in this pic?

 

[tazz]

Thanx "4WDlifeform" Thats where I thout it was from just wanted to be sure it was the same thing as we were talking about here!!!!
Thanx Again.

BTW I like how it came out looks great! Sounds Good as well! Just looking at options for mine now. Just got in a Mangnflow 6" round muffler to replace the Gibson one in the cat back. The pipe is broke inside of it and making a rattle thats driving me nuts! Anyways I love your idea with the front pipe it looks nice I was looking for ideas since I'm gonna get one made up in the spring up here out of stainless and your idea looks great! I have a good local builder right here in town I'm sure some of you have heard of them it's MBRP exhaust. I know the guy that owns it and a few that work there so I'm gonna see what they can do there for me.


Sorry about the rant?
But yeah looks great!!!!!!!!!

 

[4WDlifeform]

Are they contacting each other in this pic?

Yes! There might be more places, but I cant see...

Thanx "4WDlifeform" Thats where I thout it was from just wanted to be sure it was the same thing as we were talking about here!!!!
Thanx Again.

BTW I like how it came out looks great! Sounds Good as well! Just looking at options for mine now. Just got in a Mangnflow 6" round muffler to replace the Gibson one in the cat back. The pipe is broke inside of it and making a rattle thats driving me nuts! Anyways I love your idea with the front pipe it looks nice I was looking for ideas since I'm gonna get one made up in the spring up here out of stainless and your idea looks great! I have a good local builder right here in town I'm sure some of you have heard of them it's MBRP exhaust. I know the guy that owns it and a few that work there so I'm gonna see what they can do there for me.


Sorry about the rant?
But yeah looks great!!!!!!!!!

Thanks! It cost more than I wanted, but its starting to come together for me. Good luck with yours!

 

[rocknxj]

I have dealt with some of the same things you have gone through, except that I have done the APN header install myself. I got a nasty intake leak during the first install, then tightened everything down and it sounded and ran good.

A week later I had my Magnaflow and flex pipe installed. At that point, the leak returned with a vengence and my Jeep sounded like it swalled a whistle. I removed the header, installed a new gasket, and cranked it down for the second time with the same results. Tightened the manifold bolts tighter and ended up breaking the alignment pin hole on my '99 intake manifold (due to misaligned manifold resting ON the alignment pin).

Ordered a new manifold and installed it (third time). During this installation, I noticed a severe contact point at the #6 exhaust tube. I removed metal from the intake manifold until it seated on the rear alignment pin. Cranked it up, idled perfectly, but I still had a whistle during acceleration. Returned to the exhaust shop. They removed the flex pipe and I discovered some really crappy welds. New flex pipe is better but I still have a slight whistle, which I suspect is the down pipe they built for me. I plan to have my downpipe rebuilt by a better shop.

I have since learned that you can easily "dent" in your #6 exhaust tube with a large socket and hammer to provide clearance for the intake manifold. I may still do this at a later date to see if I can improve my seal, but I won't do that until after I have my down pipe and 2.5" tail pipe installed.

Hope this all works out for you. It is frustrating, but I have become quite the expert at manifold removal and installation. Ha. My ordeal can be found on the Frog Blog for anyone who cares to read it (link in signature line).

 

[jdbwrx]

I just finished the exhasut rebuild on my '99 and thought some more pics of another build might help others. I just went with a stock replacement header, but got the updated one with the bellows. I used the gasket that came with it and sprayed both sides with the copper stuff. I replaced the motor mounts at the same time.

I used a new downpipe that I got from Rock Auto. I welded in a piece of flex tube before the cat. The cat is one from Summit racing, as is the basic glass pack. I had to get creative with the tail pipe section to route around my rear cross over sock mounts. I had done that section a while ago by taking a new stock pipe, cutting it up, and rewelding it together. No leaks as far as I know.

I do notice a slight whistle sound when I lift off the accelerator. Does anyone know if that is related to the exhasut manifold? The engine idles normal and seems to run fine, just wondering about that.

Here's a few pics:

 

[RadioShackSpecial]

Exhaust looks good.

An intake manifold leak will whistle. It might be a small one and so drive ability is not affected in an adverse manner. You can check by spraying wd-40 around the intake. I used a fel-pro gasket with copper spray when doing my head gasket and all is well. I will be putting a Pace Setter header on it this weekend so I get to do it all over again.

 

[bchulett]

On my old XJ I had 2.25" from header to cat, then the cat and everything else was 2.5". It was a nice improvement in low-end over stock, and it pulled harder on the top end also. Going to do that with my new project XJ.

I've been running this setup for 15 years.... 2.5" Catco. The first muffler was with 2 chamber Flowmaster 40; second muffler, Dynomax Super Turbo.. I still have it installed. I've been extremely happy with the Dynomax Super Turbo which is equivalent to the Walker Corvair Turbo muffler.

.

 

[4WDlifeform]

I do not experience a whistle at all... And I know for sure my intake is still leaking. Hopefully I will get a chance to do some work on it this week, and get it all straightened out. The weather directly effects if i get to work on it or not due to not having a garage at the moment.

Hopefully I can post back some results soon. Thanks for all the input

 

[YEAGS]

On a side note. I like your cowl "cold air" induction to make room for the trumpets. I did the same thing to make room for my relocated battery which hasn't been relocated yet. So the trumpets are there now too.

Props on the exhaust I have plans very similar except Im using the cheap ebay headers. I have them on my other Xj and love them. I also have the Magnaflow universal cat but I got lucky with a brand new Gibson Cat Back that a guy was gonna throw out. The muffler is huge and not good for wheeling but since it will be strictly DD soon once I finish putting the dana 60/70 in my other xj.

 

[4WDlifeform]

I got a can of carb-cleaner today and sprayed around the manifolds. Sure enough, instant reaction (got to love the textbook stuff!)

So, definite intake leak. Luckily I have my girls car to use for commute until I can get this torn down.

I have some questions though: When I was at the auto shop, I was looking at the RTV stuff. I read a build somewhere along the way where a person used a "copper" sealant, and they said it wiped right off after a year or so of use. So that seems like a waste. There were some there that were specific to exhaust manifold gaskets, but I am worried that the gas from the intake could eat up the RTV stuff? Any thoughts/suggestions? I did not see anything there that was safe or intended for intake. There were some there that were OK for oil applications, but I think gas may be more aggressive...

AND... if i do go the route of RTV, should I even use the original gasket? Or just the RTV?

I think the weather here is supposed to start clearing up. I MAY start this tomorrow, and hopefully finish it up no later than Wednesday. Thanks again for all the help! Ill be sure to post up results.

Oh, and I wanted to mention that specifically after the install of this exhaust, i no longer need to do the poor-mans-prime as much... Wonder if something might have been lose on the rail?? Thought that was strange... Now watch when I mess with it tomorrow, it will go back to the way it was haha.

 

[Talyn]

I've used the copper RTV. The stuff in the tube, not the spray can. I don't see how someone could stick their finder between the intake and exhaust and wipe the gasket off.

I use light coat of RTV on both sides of the gasket. Just a very small bead. I never had a problem doing it that way. I have heard of people not using a gasket altogether, but I wouldn't do that. Get the proper torque value and sequence. And take care of any interference issues you may have before installing the gasket with RTV.

However, I would have a talk with that exhaust shop first... since they are so good an all.

 

[4WDlifeform]

I've used the copper RTV. The stuff in the tube, not the spray can. I don't see how someone could stick their finder between the intake and exhaust and wipe the gasket off.

I use light coat of RTV on both sides of the gasket. Just a very small bead. I never had a problem doing it that way. I have heard of people not using a gasket altogether, but I wouldn't do that. Get the proper torque value and sequence. And take care of any interference issues you may have before installing the gasket with RTV.

However, I would have a talk with that exhaust shop first... since they are so good an all.

Well, they wiped the gasket off after they removed the manifolds...

Interference will be taken care of.

And, as for the exhaust shop, its not thier fault the parts didnt fit as intended. Though, I do not like that they just passed it off with a "problem" and I do feel compelled to talk to them about that, but, I am not going to drive my vehicle that far with a known leak. If you want something done right, got to do it yourself. Im fine with that. I havent worked on my jeep of a few months now! So, im itching to get my hands dirty anyhow haha. Its like withdraw....

 

[4WDlifeform]

Anyone else? Thoughts on RTV? Defiantly going to start tackling this one today

 

[Talyn]

The idea of a RTV isn't to stick, necessarily. More like fill in gaps and imperfections.

 

[hubs97xj]

I used a FelPro gasket, no RTV, after clearancing the manifolds. No leaks in a few years of daily use now. If the mating surfaces looked rough, I might have (I had a tube of Copper on hand just in case), but mine were in good shape.

 

[4WDlifeform]

Well, had a good day wrenchin. I tore the intake and exhaust manifolds down, and ground out the area that was interfering. There was only one spot on a web of the intake casting that was hitting on the headers. Looks like its going to fit just fine now!

Hopefully, I can use the parts cleaner at work to clean out the intake manifold. There was literally chunks and layers of crud in the manifold. Also, being that I took the injectors out, I suppose I should get new O-rings...

Anyhow, here are some pics from my phone:

Here is the section I had to grind out from the bottom side where it was contacting header #1:

Check out the imprint. The header was defiantly leaving it a bit "cocked" and not sealing:

The header contact area:

The crap in the manifold...

 

[4WDlifeform]

Well, finished her up!! Between the grinding and spray on copper gasket stuff she sealed up real nice! The sound is much better! No more back fires or puts. Idles at proper speed and idles smooth. I think it runs better now than it ever did!

But, still not impressed at the power gain, even after cleaning the intake manifold. I think if anything, I gained a little more on the high end. Sound is great, and the temps have been lowered under the hood (not sure by how much, but its definitely noticeable).

So, now that this is 100% done, I would have to say this: I OVER PAID. don't do what I did!! Even though shes running great, sounds great, and temps lowered, (here it is, ill say it) $1,050 dollars (grand total) could have certainly gone into something much more worthy. But, Im stuck with it, and Im ok with that.

 

[southernrebel20]

HOLY **** that's an insane amount of money to put into a jeep exhaust! I know the money has already been spent and hindsight is always 20/20, but holy ****!! If you don't mind me asking, what did the exhaust shop charge you for the pipe and install? It just seems that you got taken by that shop, I mean with labor and pipe I would do that exhaust for $200-250 excluding the cost of the cat. Then maybe another $100 for install of the header. Sounds like you paid much more than that and then they also did a half-ass job installing the manifold. Please call that shop and tell them how disappointed you are in their work, they left the job unfinished, that should never happen, that kind of stuff gets my blood boiling!