hey we were trying to narrow down a vac leak on my 99+ intake swap tonight. we noticed that my borla header starts glowing red. my idle is around 15-1700rpms due tot he vac leak and my header starts to glow red. is this normal? we thought it might be due to cleaning the intake mani out with brake cleaner. but i drove it around the block and we let it run for a good bit and it still stays red. should i wrap it in exhaust tape? i have been told that it causes them to crack due to extream heat.

 

My header doesnt glow red under normal driving. I would get that vac leak fixed bc that idling really high. Its a possibility that your header may crack if its that hot all the time.

 

well the jeep is parked, we narrowed the vac leak down to a bad intake mani gasket. (just great i know) it was a new gasket, the bolts are tight and when sprayed with brake cleaner the engine changes tone. my motor seems to get really hot under the hood. my temp gauge does not work currently do to have a 98 motor in a 95. i am in the process of finding a place to drill and tap my sending unit.

 

Are you sure it is a vac leak and not a faulty TPS or IAC? Thats strange that a new gasket would be leaking but its still very possible.

 

well the jeep ran perfectly fine before the intake mani swap. so when u spray brake cleaner around the gasket area the engine tone changes. they gave me a cheap *** paper type gasket and not a metallic one and my buddy said that is most likely the prob as those gaskets are crap. i will have my buddy check those two items as i know he does not want to take the mani off again.

 

Well i guess that is definitely where your leak is coming from then. Haha. I would go with a top of the line, but that really sucks that you have to go through all the trouble again.

 

The intake leak could be cause excessive conbustion heat. You may also have a exhaust leak that is sucking air. Excess oxygen can cause the exhaust to be very hot. Intake leak causes a lean condition which causes hot exhaust. Hot exhaust can cause glowing header.

 

Your intake might being in contact with your header thus holding your intake out causeing an intake leak.

 

is it common for a 99+ intake to contact a borla header on a 96-98 motor? would love to try everything before pulling the intake mani.

 

should i wrap the header with that exhuast wrap? or will this cause it to crack?

 

Yes, seen it a number of times.

No, do not wrap the header.

 

Some times they do come into contact with each other weather its do to the header or intake im not sure but i ve seen it a few times plus its free to check, I wouldnt wrap your header till it doesnt glow anymore when its running normal than you can wrap it _(if you want too.)

 

The header wrap will cause premature failure, it is really only meant for drag racers who need/want that extra tenth in the 1/4 mile. For a DD it is not recommended. It will fatigue the welds and may allow them to crack in a situation the may not have cracked.

 

ok thanks for all the replies i will update the situation

 

Check the #6 cylinder on the exh manifold flange for clearance issues. You probably need to grind some material down.

As you install the intake/header make sure it is seated properly before tightening down the hardware.

Do a search here for 99+ intake swap and you'll read how common the clearance issue is.