98 GT intake/thermostat housing

Not for me. A decent performance intake manifold will cost $1000+, and will do very little in terms of performance, as the stock 1998 heads are the bottleneck. I don't trust shops to do head swaps and I am not competent to do the work, so the OEM heads stay put, and a newer, upgraded manifold utilizing an aluminum coolant passage goes in.

The engine in stock form makes plenty of power for me as it is; what I seek is better reliability.

Larger throttle bodies on an otherwise stock 4.6 engine will cause a loss of low-end torque and other driveability issues. Again, not interested.

I once read a very good article on this subject. The modular concept has to do with basic changes in the engine block, specifically the elimination of the OHV configuration, accessory brackets and some basic changes to the cylinder wall design including very deep piston wall skirting.

-JD

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Christ I couldn't even finish reading your post. You just kept talking about how you treat your car(s) & maintaining etc etc over & over. Bleh! We know about maintaining cars & that we should.

-Mike

supercharged

I know. That is why I was asking about the breathing ability of the heads. I really don't know anything about these new engines. I don't know how they perform in stock form and what holds them back in stock form.

I agree with the leightweight, but aluminum is plenty lightweight for me. I was amazed at how light the first aluminum manifold I had was. There are plastic carb spacers which will just as easily seperate the carb from the heat of an aluminum manifold. Also, if plastic is so inexpensive then why does a performance manifold cost "mucho dinero" whereas a good old aluminum manifold for a normal engine is cheap.

If I'm spending $30,000+ on a car someone damned well better not make a mistake like that. If by some chance they do, that's alright as long as Ford replaced the defective part free of charge as well as repairs any damage caused by it's failure. None of this 7 years bullshit... If the part is known to have a problem and it breaks, replace it free of charge whenever a part breaks. Better yet, let _everyone_ who bought such a product know about the defective part so they can bring the car in and have it repaired before it breaks.

Interesting. Do you have a link to a site that explains what is interchangeable and details about the engine design?

Cory

I'll grasp technology that has proven itself reliable. Like those little itty bitty Japanese engines that go for 300,000+ miles.

If they amde a mistake they should replace it for free whenever the product with a manufacturing or design flaw breaks, regardless of how old it is. Intake manifolds just don't break, unless there is a catastrophic design flaw. A water passage made of plastic would fall in that catagory. Air or air+fuel is just fine in plastic (unless maybe supercharged, in that case I'd prefer metal), but hot water under pressure is a bad thing.

Well at least they finally fixed it.

Definitely interesting concepts. Some things may be appropriate/acceptable to be made from those materials, other things that take more wear and stress should be made from metal. Nonetheless, I'd prefer to have it all metal. Some buffooon at Autolite/Ford decided to make part of the automatic choke linkage on the Autolite 2100 carbs plastic. Mine broke on it's own in normal use. I JB Welded it back together and it was fine after that and a little cleaning up, but nonetheless, had it been made from metal I wouldn't have been late becuase I had to f*ck with the choke one cold snowy morning. I normally go out and start the car and turn the defroster on full heat and clean the snow/ice off the car. By the time I'm done the car is starting to warm up inside. Instead I had to get my tools out and adjust the choke linkage so it would stay open then get in the car and keep the revs up so it wouldn't stall until warm, then clean the car off. I suppose a failure of the part after 35 years isn't so bad, but nonetheless, had it been made right, it wouldn't have failed. I've had too many cheap plastic parts fail that would not have failed had they been made of metal.

Are ya sitting down? They're more expensive because...they're aluminum! Well, I'm sure that's not the reason for the higher pricing, but the are made of aluminum. The Bullitt and FRPP manifolds are significantly bigger and heavier. And the only good ol' cheap aluminum intakes out there are for carburated vehicles? Does any manufacturer even make a carb'd car or truck? FI intakes tend to cost more because it's not only the intake you're buying anymore. Along with these newer intakes, you'll need a new throttle body, alternator for some cars, and a myriad of little parts. It's not just a hunk of aluminum with holes in it...like the good ol' days.

Sorry. I don't know of any.