I installed an Edelbrock Performer EFI Intake from a Mustang on my truck this weekend. It took me about 12 hours which includes time cleaning gaskets off the new (used) intake etc. The truck is a 93' F150 Extended Cab, short bed, 5 spd, 3:55ls rear, it has lightly ported factory heads, a custom cam, (.506"/.506" (w/1.6rr), 263/269 adv, 213/220 @.050, 110 LSA ), 1 5/8" hedman longtube headers, true dual 2.5" exhaust w/ cats and flowmasters, underdrive pulleys, 18 degrees of timing, a homemade ram-air, and the FMS Mass-Air conversion. To this point the biggest kick in the butt has come from the cam and pulleys.

To see the intake, go to www.Edelbrock.com, and compare the Ford EFI intake #3821 which is what I installed versus #3841 which is intended for our application and retains a dual bore throttle body in its current location versus the mustang single bore throttle body exiting perpindicular to the side of the vehicle. I got the intake for $110 cash plus a set of 3:55 gears I had laying around.. Best price I ever found on the 3841 was $485 at AutoZone.. still need a throtle body which is another $300 or so..

So to this I added the Edelbrock intake this weekend, along with a 70mm Accufab TB and EGR spacer, and a Pro-M 75mm MAM w/ Optimzer. I added a mustang intake elbow and a home depot 90 elbow to hook it all up to my factory airbox. Bottom line, it has picked up maybe another 10ft/lbs of torque at the rear (as scientfically captured by the good old butt-o-meter). It has allowed the engine to now rev freely to 5000rpm at least in the first 2 gears.. before I stil believe optimum acceleration was achievd by shifting shortly after 4000rpm and I wanted to use a little more of the tach which is what I specified when I had the cam ground. The torque is FLAT.. which is a good thing. I think the factory intake and dual bore throttle body produces more torque below 1500rpm, after that the Ebock passes it by 5-10ft/lbs and clearly does a better job from 4000 to 5000rpm.

I only have maybe 80 miles on the conversion so the computer hasn't even fully learned the combo yet but its fairly tweaked as far as what I can do (bump timing, play w/ optimizer).

Would I do it again.. maybe. Buying the truck specific version of the Edelbrock intake will cost you more (can't find them used) from a practical standpoint and nobody can tell what the right size throttle body is (there is much data on the Mustang side for what is optimum for the big singles). So you must buy one fo the two available sizes which are expensive and again very unlikely to find used.. My combo is not ideal. the TB is too big and the exhaust is too big in my opinion. The TB I had laying around so it was "free".. the exhaust should be 1.5" headers a merged single 3" or dual 2" with an H or X... Those things would help torque..

Other impressions: there is some mathmatical multiplyer that occurs with regard to wind resistance at ~ 70mph because no matter how much better I think the thing accelerates from 0 - 65mph, I seem hit 70 and nothing else matters.. its as if an increase of only +40hp/ft/lbs would matter above 70, below which those improvements are hard to feel.

Other thoughts: I had to install the intake Lightning style with the TB facing the drivers side of the car versus a Mustang which has it facing passenger side. Since the Ebock and most mustang intakes are symmetrical you can flip them around with little consequence. I did install the intake w/ a 1" phenolic spacer from Summit just for the purpose of getting valve cover clearance.. good thing, I believe I needed it. Other pitfalls of drivers side intake: the TAB/TAD, Coil and some other vacuum-majiggy thing were in the way of the TB. They all sit on a bracket and were directly in the way of the throttle linkage. I removed the vacuum solenoids from their mounting bracket (TAB/TAD and Misc) and layed them over and around the valve cover. The coil bracket sans the TAB/TAD bracket fit PERFECTLY onto the two bolts that hold the AC compressor, the coil is just pointed 180 opposite what it was.. NO BIGGIE. Every emissions piece still works. I used an EGR valve for a Mustang with the EGR sensor that was on the truck. I used the TPS and IAC from the truck and routed everything properly.. no issues, no check engine lights, no leaks! Other pitfalls of mounting the intake on the drivers side is the wire harness. It helps if you have the FMS Mass Air converson: then you can take the factory harness off the passenger side of the engine, lay it back over the drivers side, and stretch the coolant temp sensor and charcoal gas filter thingy solenoid to fit as well. If you do NOT have the FMS harness (which has new injector connectors on it).. then break out the soldering iron, no two ways around it: You have to extend the TPS, EGR and IAC.. its not hard just solder well and seal up your solder joints.

A Mustang throttle cable bracket was required for this converison and that required some welding and grinding to adapt it for the truck throttle and cruise control cables. The MAIN reason I went with drivers side orientation IS the cruise control cable.. the Mustang one is different and the Lightning cruise is identical but only long enough to reach a driver side mounted throttle body. The bracket was a TIGHT fit against the oil fill neck but it works and I can still unscrew the cap! So in the end no biggie, I just got lucky on that one.

The other problem of having a driver side facing intake is that I can never buy a KIT supercharger like Powerdyne or Vortech A trim for the truck.... customization would have to be done.

In the end the truck revs better, pulls better up top, and Im very happy about that.. it was a lot of work and if you were buying the parts new and didn't have some fabrication skills or knowledge of the EFI system it is more cost effective to buy the truck specific intake.

In the end, for ME, for what I've spent on porting, cam, effort, I wish I left it all stock and just bolted a Vortech up to it.. that wold have satisified my power need for this thing I BELIEVE.. having never owned one I don't know. Since I started down the path of naturally aspirated horsepower the Intake was a good addition. Thats it for now..

 

So, just been sitting around watching TV, huh?

Thanks for sharing with us all you've been through, and your honest impressions! They will prove very valuable if people take the time to read them! I, for one, appreciate it. Thank you.

Take care,
-Chris

 

Thanks for the ins and outs. I'm a lazy bastage and your comment about the Vortec hit home.

 

Glad to hear it went pretty smooth for you.

 

Great follow up post from your previous when this was still in the planning stage.

It's also interesting that you note 70 mph as a "barrier" of sorts with regards to aerodynamics. I have found that MPG drops quickly above this area of 65-70 mph.

As for the blower, it's something I am strongly considering. I'd love to put a Kenne Bell on this truck. Then again I'd probably just become a boost junkie and end up paying for trannys and other stuff I would break!

 

my truck prefers to run @ 75 to 85 mph . any and all mpg i've posted is at this speed thats how i drive .......lol

 

All, thanks for the comments, much appreciated. I'm waiting on an aerodynamic engineer to provide a formula I'm not likely to understand to explain the 70mph phenomenon

The more I play with this thing, the more the blower is appealing.

On a side note, I may have a dying engine.. the new longblock has 8K miles on it. I did NOT replace the distributor when I replaced the long block.. distributor seems to have gone bad about 3000 miles ago as evidenced by a strange occasional grinding sound.. remember I'm the guy who had three bad trannies in a row so I THOUGHT it was yet another bad 5spd tranny.. after I got the tranny right I realized I still had the sound and lots of oil from the breather vent on top of the valve cover. I did find that the EGR valve was popped out of the passenger valve cover.. put that back in and kept looking.. looked under the distributor cap, lots of grey dust everywhere, and what seemed like a lot of shaft play when I wiggled the rotor.. took it out and it didn't spin perfectly.. at some points it was clear there was an "imbalance" and it would rub every 360 degrees, other spins it would spin perfectly.. anyway, my guess is that either distributor bearing debris in my crankcase has "clearanced" my rings/bearings or the lack of the PCV valve being installed did not allow the rings to seat (unlikely but possible)..

Time to look for a good deal on a Mustangers longblock w/ nice aluminum heads or send old one I took out (184K miles) to the machine shop for a rebuild.. DOH!!!