tm9-801.com

Well it seems that every once in a while the entire internet is right. The dreaded 'yo, your exhaust manifold WILL crack on your ZJ' prophecy has come true... I noticed that at idle and my windows down I was smelling exhaust fumes. I hoped it was just a lose exhaust flange... NOPE. Cracked manifold exactly where the crack was 'supposed' to be.

But the good news is that having a 14 your old car means that parts are given away. I could have gone to the junk yard and gotten a manifold for $15, well, add $30 for a gasket and donut seal, and that manifold was bound to also crack. Parts places list a new manifold that solves the cracking issue for $160+. OR ebay. Stainless steel manifold with gasket, donut and the improved design... $85 delivered.

Yeah.. I have to swap it.. but that's like a 2 hour job. And with my new HF garage fan I can do it in comfort. So yeah... $600 new car payment or every few months have to dick with the ZJ and spend $100. I think I will keep my trusty ZJ.

Took about 4 hours to get everything done.

This is one of the common places the header cracks.. due to the long length of the tubes, when they heat up/cool down they move a lot and that leads to cracks.. this was repaired before (note the peanut butter aka blobs of weld).



This is a side by side of the new/old parts. Notice the bellows on the longest tubes.. that allows them to heat up/cool down and not put any strain on the welds at the merge point.



Car is much quieter now. The cars computer says I've been getting 16.6MPG.. lets hope this repair gets me a MPG or two.