Exhaust differences 97-99?

[getwrangled]

Hi everyone, I'm finally going to address the exhaust leak in my 97 sport 2.5 and instead of going with a manifold that has to be finished to get it to fit I'll just put a cheapo ebay header in. If it's going to break eventually and need to be redone I may as well try to save some money and make the job a bit easier. The thing I'm finding with all these ebay headers is they are a universal fit for 91-2002 but most of them say except 97. Is there really any difference between a 97 and a 98 or 99? They all look identical to a banks torque tube which doesn't say it wouldn't fit a 97 but I don't think the cost is worth it. The sellers are all chinese drop shippers so they just go by whatever chart they have. Would it be safe to assume these would fit a 97? Here's a couple examples:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/2251227435...pid=5337789113&customid=&toolid=10001&mkevt=1
https://www.ebay.com/itm/2261009107...pid=5337789113&customid=&toolid=10001&mkevt=1

Torque tube for comparison
https://www.quadratec.com/products/...e-exhaust-manifold-91-02-wrangler-yj-tj-4-cyl

 

[SSTJ]

Hi everyone, I'm finally going to address the exhaust leak in my 97 sport 2.5 and instead of going with a manifold that has to be finished to get it to fit I'll just put a cheapo ebay header in. If it's going to break eventually and need to be redone I may as well try to save some money and make the job a bit easier. The thing I'm finding with all these ebay headers is they are a universal fit for 91-2002 but most of them say except 97. Is there really any difference between a 97 and a 98 or 99? They all look identical to a banks torque tube which doesn't say it wouldn't fit a 97 but I don't think the cost is worth it. The sellers are all chinese drop shippers so they just go by whatever chart they have. Would it be safe to assume these would fit a 97? Here's a couple examples:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/2251227435...pid=5337789113&customid=&toolid=10001&mkevt=1
https://www.ebay.com/itm/2261009107...pid=5337789113&customid=&toolid=10001&mkevt=1

Torque tube for comparison
https://www.quadratec.com/products/...e-exhaust-manifold-91-02-wrangler-yj-tj-4-cyl

Welcome to the forum, from another 97 SE owner. You might like the 2.5L thread and the early-97 thread in my signature.

My notes on replacing the manifold are here. I never explored the eBay headers, so I didn't come across what you're describing about 97 vs 98–99. If you get an answer, I'll add it to the thread about quirks of early 97s.

 

[getwrangled]

Thanks, I saw in this thread https://wranglertjforum.com/threads/header-options-for-2-5.65316/ that kincaid linked one of the headers and it's the same one I'm looking at. His is also a 97 so I'm going to assume it's fine - it's the same engine so why shouldn't it work? I'm going to take a shot and go for it.