1991Jeep_Man

I'm gonna come straight out and say that I am a novice mechanic.. Im not totally lost, but Im not the best. I have a cracked header, and the mechanic wants to charge me around $200 to weld it and put it all together. I can't afford this. I was looking into getting on of those APN headers. Lifetime warranty, heard good things about it. Anyway, I have a few questions..

Being a novice, in your alls honest opinion, do you think I could manage pulling my manifolds off so I can clean the ports, clean the intake manifold (I dont want to disassemble the whole intake.. just basically move it from the side to the top while I work) and also degrease the engine. I can follow instructions and have a Haynes manual, but I think it only refers to RENIX XJ's or something.. So what do you all think? And has anyone used the APN header? Any comments on it??

Thanks for all the help everyone.

Metlic53

I installed the APN header last night on my 97 xj. it took about 2 hours working by myself. The header is GREAT! for the price. I can feel a total difference in the engine, breathes alot better, better throttle response. prob better mpg I'll have to see. I'd say get it, u wont be disappointed. Just make sure the intake is on the little dowles (sp?) whenever u go to put it back on. That guides u to make sure the intake is in its proper place. They are on the bottom left and bottom right of the intake, dowles are connected to the engine. Thats if the intake is the same as my 97... some of the bolts are a pain in the butt to get back in and tighten because there is no room at all, i had to use a swivel head socket to get on most of them. and on two of the bottom bolts holding the intake in i had to go at it from the bottom. The APN blocks the bolt from being able to get to it from the top so gotta go to the bottom to get it on and tightened.

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

1991Jeep_Man

So the whole job is basically bolts off, bolts on? No other mods? Because I know the description says it has special instructions or something like that. Also, on that gasket, is there some sealer I am supposed to slap on there?

Metlic53

Yup, I am 18 years old and did it myself, with my dad coming out to make sure i was doing it right ever so often. It was a piece of cake. bolts on bolts off. take the power steering pump off ( it got too much in the way with it on ) when u have the intake and old manifold off, take the old gasket off and clean the surface with a putty knife to get all the old gasket off. slap the new gasket on ( doesn't need any sylicone, just put it on there its made that way ) and your ready to put the new header on, put it on and screw the far left bolt and far right bolt hand tight ( to hold the header snug in place ) then put the intake back on and make sure its on those dowles from underneath, that will set it properly and start bolting everything back together and you are done. It was really an easy process. The APN header comes with instructions as well.

guest02

I recently did a APN Header on my '95 and i LOVE it! Took me about 4hrs. on the tear down, because i took alot of breaks to take pics. I broke the rear stud off during re-assembly on the torque sequence, which was another set-back!

The whole job was actually pretty simple, just time consuming.

I strongly advise soaking all your bolts in PB Blaster a day or two and several times after, before you begin and BUY NEW HEADER BOLTS!!!!

A quality 14mm or 9/16" Ratcheting Wrench is very helpful, especially for the 2 middle bolts on the bottom. A U-joint with a socket will easily get to the rest.


Here is a great "Write-Up" from another forum...

http://www.cherokeetalk.com/forum/f6...p-header-4171/


Hope this helps!