So I had been thinking for a good while now about getting some headers for my cherokee. With all the other mods I have done, seems natural. I hear all kinds of bad stuff about the hedman headers, how cheap they are made, thin tubes, thin flanges, poor sealing, poorly shaped ports, and rust out fast. So I was doing some looking around and found the hooker headers for my jeep. I have heard good things about hooker headers, and it just so happened I stumbled across a ebay listing for a set of them listed as "scratch and dent" from holley performance. They said they were returned and they could have either small dents, scratches, missing small parts, or blemishes. They didnt have any pics or specifics on the exact set of headers cause they were at a warehouse, but said they were inspected and it was nothing that would render them un useable.
I ended up winning them for the opening bid of $89. I got real excited, since these usally sell for around $200.
I am like a kid at christmas time when they show up. I pull them out, and they are still in the factory wrapping with the banding around the cardboard, strange. I check them over and I could find zero damage what so ever. But hold up, something is not looking right, then it hit me. The ports are not the correct ports! I dont know if anyone here is famillar with AMC engine, but all the 70 and newer ones have what they call "dog leg" exhaust ports. These headers have rectangle ports. WTF!?! The 69 and older amc engine have rectangle exhaust ports. So I thought I got the wrong set, or they were listed wrong. I contact the seller and it takes them 1 week to reply to me. By then I had already done plenty of google work to find out all are made this way. I even called holley customer support and was told by the guy that they are all made this way, and he gets complaints all the time because of it, but management doesnt want to do anything to fix it. So they KNOW they are making them wrong, but do nothing to try and fix it and make them right. But these were sold as non returnable since they are "scratch and dent" so I am stuck with them. The ebay seller confirmed they are supposed to be rectangle port, and the only ones they make that are dog leg port and the supercomp part number 9817, but have not been made in several years. I google the number and I find a listing for them from jegs for over $800. F that.
These are the 9402HKR headers, listed as fitting 71-79 cherokee,wagoneer, and trucks. All of those are dogleg exhaust port engines, all amc are period after 70. So when you buy something thats listed at fitting your vehicle, you expect them to FIT. Does the term "square peg in a round hole" ring a bell? The ports are shaped wrong, thats all there is to it. If I was to install them as is, a good part of my exhaust port would be blocked off. The way the ports are shaped, the "dog leg" is a important part of it. Plus I have gasket matched and mildy ported these heads before I put them on.

Heres a pic of a correct shaped gasket setting on these headers. Sorry the pic is dark, I had to turn off the flash as it kept washing it out. Currently trying to figure out how to fix this. The flange is the easy part, nothing a die grinder wont fix fast. But the tube is another story. That part I havent figured out yet.