hey guys been a while since ive been on the xj forums so i created a new username old one and old email long forgotten lol anyhow... i have a 97 cherokee trail toy that i rebuilt an engine for and have some issues, some were present with old engine some may be new. heres what i did. block bored .030 over, engine tech kit from titan engines with a stage 1 cam, reman 0630 head, ebay special header, 99 plus intake 99 plus 12 hole bosch injectors, new gmb water pump ( have had good experiences in the past) hi volume oil pump. the engine runs and sounds great, after the cam break in i noticed that the header was cherry red, ill be honest i never looked at my old header after running at an extended rpm for some time so im not sure if its the the ebay special casting or not and my old one was wrapped, this one is not. i have double checked distributor timing and spark timing iwth a timing gun and its on the money ( i dont remember exactly what it was as a buddy and i checked it 3 or 4 weeks ago) figured ok its probably the cat and with it being a designated trail toy i hollowed the old one out and ran it and it still glows red after a few minutes of running at 3k. whats an acceptable temp on the header?

next thing occasionaaly shortly after start up the engine will run poorly upon acceleration, not all the time, very rare. was present with old engine

and last the engine will get upto 215-220 and this was present with old engine as well, during rebuild the block was vatted, new radiator, water pump, thermostat housing, quality thermostat, clutch fan, electric fan, fan shroud is new, i have literally tried just about every radiator setup in this jeep and several of them multiple times with the old engine, ive tried fancy aluminum radiators (champion) quality brass 2 and 3 row radiators and have gone back too a stock spectre currently. ive heard that a clogged heater core can causing running hot issues? i dont really see how though as the heater core gets its coolant from the bypass of the pump/thermostat housing. undoubtedly mine is clogged. should i try bypassing it? coolant temp sensor? other ideas?

i appreciate the help !!!!

Running too lean?

How is it in normal driving? The header.