Cracked header

Factory headers? Or is this a factory exhaust manifold? Summitracing sells new headers for $330, so if you truly have headers I would say it is worth the effort to remove them, and have them welded (no JB weld). If you have a basic exhaust manifold I say don't even bother with the weld unless it is very cheap, and can be welded on the vehicle, just get a new manifold off a junk yard car.

bishop manifold in dallas sells them for 99 bucks!

Yes, factory headers. It is a TJ. E-Bay has some for not a whole lot of money, but I'd try welding them first. I stick welded the cracked header that came as a factory feature in my YJ. It's lasted an additional 100k miles and is still holding.

JB Weld won't hold up under such intense heat. The temperatures at that point of the exhaust are very, very high. The factory headers are very cheaply built, and use a very mild stainless steel. You can either have it welded up, or get a replacement header. Either way, it'll have to be removed, as well as the intake manifold, to fix it. It's not difficult, but time consuming to do it yourself. Removing it and having it welded is probably the cheapest. It'll only cost you a new intake/exhaust gasket and maybe some o-rings for your injectors if you know someone who welds. Welding stainless, I believe, is different than normal mild steel, so the person will have to know what they're doing.

Best replacement header on the market, IMO, is Borla, but it'll replace everything down to your catalytic converter, which is a little more work to do. However, you should never experience a crack again. That's not the case with the factory header. If you fix it, it's just going to crack again somewhere else, likely.

I replaced my header with a mild steel replica of the factory one I bought at Autozone for $189. It looks exactly like the factory, but not stainless. My Jeep has 148K on it, and is aging badly so I didn't feel like the investment of a Borla was warranted.

humph... factory headers.... for us CJ guys that is an upgrade, you guys get it included

They crack due to the design problem. It is a common problem with the TJ from '97 to '99. They redesigned the header for 2000, they are still restrictive. I use problems like this as a great time for an upgrade.

You will not like JB Weld, more precisely, you will not like the SMELL of JB Weld.

You have to get a new header. The new one has a bellows in it so when the red hot exhaust meets the ice cold water, the sudden shrinkage has somewhere to go without causing a break.

Try looking here,

Snow...