99 cracked aftermarket manifold, weld or buy an new better one
 

hey all i know the manifold threads have been about beaten to death, but i have two questions that i do not come across on these.

as the title says mine has a crack in it, a big friggen crack, and this is an aftermarket manifold that has the accordion looking dealies.

so

197000:

1.
is it better to weld this one closed or is this a poor choice to fix something correctly? a new header isnt cheap, but i also dont want to go through the hell of getting it on and off just to have this happen again.

2.
if i buy a new (good reliable) header do they all match up to the stock down pipe location/position?

while im thinking of it does anyone recommend adding exhaust wrap after one of the other two options?

thank you for the wisdom

1. If you weld it, it will break again. Nature of the beast on pre 2000 header. Just too long to take all the expansion and contraction.

2. If you get one for the proper year, yes it will match.

If it were me, I'd just buy another one. Welding it seems like a bandaid that won't stay on long.

But I would also check the motor mounts, or better yet just go ahead and replace them. One of the most common causes of cracked headers is the motor mounts allowing the motor to move around too much, putting stress on the exhaust and cracking the header. It would be silly to put a new header on it only to have to replace it again several months later because you didn't address the root cause of the problem.

Yeah wore out motor mounts is the cause a lot of times,And either get a oem replacement or buy a banks or big name replace skip the cheapos.

i had a friend weld a crack in the factory manifold on my 97 about 50k miles ago. no issues since.

mounts are brown dogs, rubber

Can't do much better than that.

:gunsmilie: Brown Dog!!! I got the polyurethane ones and LOVED them! They are my next upgrade for my Jeep...
ok back on topic... If you have someone to weld for free or cheap, might be ok. It's not an ideal repair, hands down best option is get a new one with the accordian stress points. Might get lucky, check some junk yards... Found one for my last Jeep in a junk yard