I hear ya man, I felt the exact same way when I first got my æ99XJ. The best thing I can say is drive it, drive it, drive it. If it still bothers you in about 6 months, then by all be means, buy one of the aftermarket headers, and down tubes that have nice clean bends. I would be willing to bet you will not feel any difference, other than a lighter wallet. Granted I havenÆt changed mine out, so I canÆt say if my jeep runs any different, and all I can go off of is what I have read. But I currently have more than enough power to spin the tires if I want to with my stock Æ99 XJ with the 5 speed, and I am getting about 22 MPG, so for the time being, I am changing nothing. When I first saw that dent, I was ready to go out and get a new down pipe thinking it had been hit, until I read they were all that way. I have had my jeep for about 2.5 years so I have pushed it to the back of my mind, and the dent no longer bothers me.

Sean

Probobly would have kept my XJ if it had the 5 speed.
The darn auto is geared so low it howls at 70. 4,000 RPM if I remember. 4:10 gears didn't help either. Supposedly it has a 4th gear but I never felt more than 3.

The exhaust work helps a little not worth the cost in the long run unless you get from a wrecking yard. Sounds cool I guess but you'd get more mileage out of some skinny 31" street tires pumped up to 50 psi. If gas keeps going up we'll all be riding motorcycles anyway.