Alright so I'm looking to up the HP on my mustang. I am looking at 3 different intake set-ups. Which one is the best option for my car with stock heads.

Cobra intakes?
Ported Cobra Intakes?
Typhoon Intakes?

I have heard mixed reviews for all. I was told by one the ported would be a great option, and was told by another its a bad choice because it pushed out alot of air into the stock heads and the stock heads holes arent big enough to handle it.

Let me know your opinion/experience.

Also how much HP could I expect to get with any of these?

 

anyone?

 

Either way, a better intake (regardless) is going to allow more air through - however, an engine is just a big air pump that is as strong as it's weakest link (aka biggest restriction). Once you upgrade the intake (and throttle body and MAF), then the heads become the restriction in the system. The engine will only use as much air as it can get through the heads. To really maximize your package, Intake runner length and layout also play a role in maximizing the velocity but all of those options you listed are basically a stock runner design with increased airflow.

Any upgrade in intake will net you more power. Porting a stock intake is stealthy but to do it right you have to cut it apart. Cobra intakes are a nice upgrade, as are the typhoons (they are basically a "spin off" of the Edelbrock intake).

 

I'M TICKED OFF. I was bidding on a brand new Trick Flow Track Heat upper and lower intake with spacer and elbow for $335. Then I had to go to work. I figured I would win because I had the winning bid by about $50. Then when I got home I saw it said I was outbid in the LAST 2 MINUTES! BY $5!!! So angry!! This was about $550 worth or parts and someone stole them from me!

Up anyways.

 

You probably did yourself a favor by losing that auction because the track heat intake is more geared towards having a set of heads and cam. Youw would lose power with that. On the 5.0s the heads are the biggest restriction. On my 92GT I put a Cobra intake, 65mm throttlebody, full exhaust, electric fan and I never noticed anything different in power. Some people get good gains with the Cobra intake but its still won't be fast.

If you have to have an intake then yes I vote Cobra because if you look at different dyno charts from people around and in the magazines you will see the Cobra make the same or better powerall around up to or around 5000 rpms which is where a stock engine dies off anyways. Plus its factory quality. The popular combo in recent times has been doing a good set of heads, getting a Cobra/explorer intake and having the lower intake ported to flow well. This is what my combo is for my 87 if I ever finish putting it back together. I'm going to use the explorer upper which I polished up nice and I had Tmoss port my lower.

Stock heads, you don't need any expensive aftermarket intake or even a ported cobra lower. I bought a Cobra set for my 92 used for 220$ a few years ago, and bought an explorer intake setup for like 100$ used. Explorer intakes are real easy to find, but if you want to keep your EGR functioning make sure you get the one that has the EGR passages like your factory intake. The Cobra and explorer both require a few small modifications with hose routing to make them work. You might be best off getting the 94-95 Cobra intake so that it has the proper elbow for your car. I think you can buy the elbow though for any intake

 

thanks for the info. how much did it cost you to get the lower ported, and how much for the install? i was leaning toward the trick flow because I wasnt installing asap. i was going to stock pile a bunch of parts and then raise the money to get it all installed at once. good thinig you say cobra because I just passed one up for more than you paid. im trying to find great deals but if you say the cobra is about the same as cobra then why waste my money right?

 

I payed about 150-170$ total for getting my lower ported, a hole drilled and tapped for a sensor, and shipping. Tmoss did it for me, he is a well known guy on the corral forums and does porting of both stock intake and aftermarket intakes for people. Like I said though for stock heads don't worry about any porting on a cobra intake. Many people have their stock lower intakes ported by Tmoss for good gains with stock heads.

I installed mine myself. Just about anyone should be able to install an intake but you do have to be a bit careful and it helps to know a little bit. I highly suggest that if its your daily driver and you don't really know what you are doing, let someone else do it.

The explorer intake is essentially the same as the Cobra only it uses an EGR spacer where on the Cobra thats built into the intake. On your 94-95 model car your intakes have that elbow that bends over towards the shocktower so it would be easiest for you to get the Cobra intake that is already like that, but I don't know how cheap those come. You can find a regular 86-93 style used cobra intake for 150-200$ if you wait for the right deal.

Here is a picture of my explorer intake after I finished my polish job

 

looks nice. i saw a used cobra one i would have powder coated. so what you are saying is if I get the cobra, dont port it because the intake it already big enough that it would be pointless?

 

Thats right. With stock heads a Cobra intake is already more than enough. Cobra intakes came with the GT40 Cobra heads which flowed a decent bit more than the regular E7 heads. Also like I mentioned the Cobra intakes also came with 65mm throttle bodies and it would be in your best interest to get one for it because the throttle body opening is already at least that size on the Cobra for that reason. You do not want to put a regular GT 60mm throttle body on there. The 86-93 cars were 58-60mm throttle bodies and I'm pretty sure the 94-95 was as well.

As far as powder coating, I wouldnt bother. The REAL Cobra intakes were factory powder coated as were all the intakes from 86-95 on mustang 5.0. Some of the china made Ford racing cobra intakes came new in the box polished but I don't want some chinese crap copy personally. If you get an intake and its discolored a bit go get some engine spray paint by duplicolor at your auto parts store in your favoritve color from New Ford Grey to Old Ford Blue and paint it for 5 bucks. The money you waste on stripping the old powdercoating and redoing it would probably pay for your install. You might as well buy a new intake for that kind of money

 

I was told I could do that too(the duplicolor part) but will that actually stay on there well enough through the heat and how the intake is already? Should I sand it down then paint it or just go ahead and paint it?

 

I would degrease it and you could lightly sand it if you want and then spray it. Alot of people paint their intakes and I think it will be ok. Its always a spray can away from being touched back up if it gets ugly.

I painted a 5.0 intake a few years ago but I took it back off and stripped it all down to bare aluminum and polished it. I wouldnt think twice to paint another one for whatever reason. You could also paint it black so that dirt doesnt show as much. It will even look trick in black...like some of the trick flow intakes that come black.

 

would you recommend i stay away from a salvage yard? I found a purely mustang salvage yard and was going to ask then how much for a 95 cobra upper/lower intake or should I not bother?

This first one looks nice but the picture is hard to get to.

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Salvage yard would be fine but very pricey most likely. If they pull it for you, they know they are going to get some money out of you because it says Cobra. Your best bet is to scour ebay and corral.net forums every day. Normally when there is something I'm on the hunt for, I check craigslist and corral.net classifieds a couple times a day. Then check ebay every couple days. The 94-95 Cobra intake will be harder to find than a regular 86-93 style Cobra intake because theres alot of those floating around and only a few 94-95 Cobras out there. Also like I mentioned tons of explorer intake sets for sale for cheap(only some have EGR though like I mentioned). I don't know all the specifics but you can research to see if you can just get that adapter elbow to use with any fox body intake. If you have a hard time finding anything I'll help you find out.

 

Just punched in a search on ebay: heres one with throttle body for 200 bucks and just needs a spray paint job http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/94-95...1%7C240%3A1318

 

ya man just keep a lookout for me if you can. ya the take out fee would be large and it sucks because the cobra was 2 years 94/95. ill keep lookin and stay in touch

 

ironically i saw that and was going to ask you about it. but does it include lower too?