Here are some pics of my intake manifold leak. Would it be a waste to just replace with the oem intake rather than the PI ? And would it be a bad idea to replace with the PI intake and adapter kit and keep my same heads ? I apologize if the pics are of poor quality.

 

:director: Jesus thats alot of dirt!!! Clean it up!


J/K. No, putting a PI intake on NPI heads is NOT a waste. You don't need adapter plates either. Just some RTV will do the trick. You'll also need a new water pump nipple, heater hose, and a few other parts. The crossover will have to be tapped next to the thermostat housing for the 2nd temp sensor us NPI guys have.

You can pick up any where from 10-15 RWHP from it...just make sure you get one with the aluminum crossover so you don't have this problem again.

 

I know i need to do some spring cleaning for sure, it grosses me out everytime i open the hood. I'm really new to working on cars so please excuse my ignorance :tard: but what is the rtv sealant exactly for, just to seal the intake to the heads? And what are the chances i could do this myself, i am pretty good with tools and figuring stuff out but do i need an expert?

 

Welcome to the club I have the same pool as you do. I am doing an engine swap and not going to repair it. You may want to go to Ford to see if its covered as they had to replace a whole bunch free of charge mine did not so out goes the block.

 

I tried Ford,its not a recall but a TSB(tech service bulliten)so no luck there. The PI intake on here(MT) is i think the best priced one ive found so far, I just need to find someone who knows what they are doing as far as not just bolting on replacement parts and can do some custom work like with the RTV method described to me above and tapping for the other temp sensor.

 

http://forums.modulardepot.com/showt...ht=intake+swap

http://forums.modulardepot.com/showt...hreadid=51289/

There's plenty of tech on it over on Modular Depot. The NPI ports are a different shape than the PI ports. PI's are bigger. The rtv is there to supplement the gasket mating surface that doesn't cover the NPI intake port on the head. It's nothing hard to do. The second thread shows an even more creative way to do it without using RTV.

Any machine shop can tap the sensor port for a couple bucks. It's 3/8 NPT. And using RTV does not constitute anything custom. If a shop didn't know how to use it, I would NEVER take my car there.

 

OK, so today i had a race shop, 2 Ford dealers and a Saleen dealer tell me NOT to do the PI head and intake swap, 1 Ford dealer that had no clue what the hell I was talking about, and a guy at Summit Racing told me that the price of the intake manifold is $2700.00 :crybaby2: Why is this such a controversial subject ? The reasons given for not doing were it would raise my compression high enough that i couldnt run pump gas and wouldnt be good in the long run. And i need to figure out a way to do this myself because the average labor cost was $1500.00. Does MT sell paddles 'cause i'm up sh*t creek.

 

If you plan to be all motor or very lightly boosted then its ok, the compression does go up but as long as you get a dyno tune for it should not be a problem but dont expect to add alot boost without problems. Many owners have done it just make sure you have a game plan and know what you want and what you can do if you do the swap. I want alot of boost so pi head swap is out of the question.

 

They're full of it. I've found that most dealer service departments tell you not to do ANYTHING to the car except replace stock parts, because thats all they know. Listen to the literally THOUSANDS of 96-98 guys that have done PI headswaps.

See my first point. Dealers don't know anything about modding cars, 'cept for the random "real car guy" here and there. It's not they're fault...they may have to fix something on an SVT Cobra one minute, and then fix a Windstar minivan the next. They don't have time to research all the aftermarket things. A "mod friendly" dealer would not tell you the same thing.

Jesus...is it some kind of new manifold no one knows about made of solid platinum? I bought my PI intake manifold for $100 used. They're plastic with no moving parts...they don't wear out. You can get a Fox Lake P51, with a complete install kit (gaskets, fuel rails, etc.) for $1300.

Used PI Manifold = $100
New PI Manifold = $192.95 Right on this site http://www.mustangtuning.com/intakemanifold.html
Used, fully assembled, low mileage heads = $400
Accompanying parts (gaskets, heater hoses, fasteners, etc.) = $300

FWIW, I live 20 minutes from Summit. I called them to check on the price for some Long Tube headers and the guy gave me the correct price...but actually told me "You don't want them...they're not emissions legal" Um...duh buddy, I know that. He told me "They fit well, but they're more for race cars"...Idiot

It does raise your compression, but you'll do just fine on 91 or 93 octane. It's not like a PI headswap is gonna turn it into a deisel engine with 15:1 compression.

Nope...but they sell intake manifolds. That $2700 quote you got would get you some Fox Lake Stage 2 PnP heads, a bullit intake manifold, and some VT stage 2 cams. Albiet not installed, but it's not that hard of an install to do. The intake manifold is dirt simple, heads are a little more in depth, but with some research and the right tools, it can be done in a weekend. The only labor you'll need to pay for is the tune afterwards...which will only serve to net you even more horsepower and torque...as well as make the engine run even better than stock IMO.


Don't freak out man...you sound like you're in "panic mode". This really isn't as complicated or expensive as companies would make you think.

 

mine has 11.5:1 compression, and I drive it daily....that is more than you would get out of the PI swap. The extra power is awesome. You will have to run premium, but thats not so bad... Have th tuner take a few extra degrees of timing out, and you will have NO problems. Besides, it gives you the opportunity to rebuil the top end, and clean it up a bit.

 

i love your avatar blow

 

Holy dead thread batman!!!

 

hey i just saw those nice....... seat belts.