Jeep Strokers

I have a 98 XJ with a Poor Man's 4.6 it has a stock head, 62mm TB, 24# injectors and a 99+ intake. The only thing I've done to the exhaust is to upgrade the CAT and install a Flowmaster. My question is does the factory restriction at the Exhaust Manifold really make a difference to my performance or should I spend the money to put in a new pipe. Also I have a factory 2000 Exhaust Manifold (without the CATS, it just has two long downpipes) and was wondering if this would be an upgrade to my factory manifold? It calls for a different gasket so I'm hesitant to use it even though my old one is cracked just because the ports might be a little different. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

I suggest you keep the existing '98 factory header and just upsize the downpipe plus the rest of the exhaust to 2.5" piping.

Thanks for the response Cheromaniac.... I'll start researching available aftermarket kits.

Id recommend going to a local exhaust shop that does mandrel bends and have them do it. You would be hard pressed to find a "kit".

Muad'Dib wrote:Id recommend going to a local exhaust shop that does mandrel bends and have them do it. You would be hard pressed to find a "kit".

x2.

I had mine done at an exhaust shop several years ago. They mandrel bent the downpipe to fit my 2.5 catback. I had given them the catback system..they made the downpipe and welded it all together for around 200 bucks...only thing is the guy said that he could not match up a 2.5 downpipe with the then..stock exhaust manifold..it would have been too big a dia and not mated properly. He had to make the downpipe out of 2 1/4 pipe...its probably just as good..no issues

Thanks guy's.... I really appreciate the suggestions.