Best Intake for my Combo?

[WowZach32]

Hey fellas

I have a 1994 Mustang Cobra with the following setup.

BBK CAI
BBK Throttle Body
Stock upper and lower cobra intake.
AFR 165cc Heads.
Trickflow Stage 2 Cam.
Stock bottom end.
4.10 Gears.
$$$Rwhp - $$$ft/lbs

The AFR website has an intake manifold recommendation being the Performer or Performer RPM intake manifold. I didn’t immediately fall into one of those because I am not sure that info is up to date. It hasn’t changed since 2019 when I bought the heads. This car is only street driven, but everything I do is preparing it to be the best it can be as a naturally aspirated 302. $1500 budget for the intake. If I left out any relevant info just let me know in the comments.

Best Regards,

Zachary

 

[96pushrod]

Holley systemax would work nicely.

 

[Potomus Pete]

You have the Cobra intake. They are dyno'd to be in the top three

 

[7991LXnSHO]

I’m thinking you should have @tmoss port the lower intake, drive it, and save some money.
What size are the TB and MAF?

 

[WowZach32]

You have the Cobra intake. They are dyno'd to be in the top three

That is awesome, I did not know that! Is number 1 in the lead by a substantial amount?

 

[WowZach32]

I’m thinking you should have @tmoss port the lower intake, drive it, and save some money.
What size are the TB and MAF?

TMOSS, that is a name I have known from years from browsing mustang forums. If he still does that how can I reach him?
I am running a 70mm throttle body from BBK and I believe I am running the stock MAF, but I will check when I get home. If it is something other than stock I will reply again.

 

[7991LXnSHO]

That is awesome, I did not know that! Is number 1 in the lead by a substantial amount?

There are some RPM range differences. And getting either now might be an issue.
Do you want to spin it to 5500 or 6500 rpm, and where do you want the torque?

Edelbrock Mustang Performer Intake Manifold (86-95) 5.0 3821

Get more horsepower & torque out of your 1986-1995 Mustang 5.0 with this Edelbrock Performer intake manifold!

lmr.com

https://www.summitracing.com/parts/edl-7123/make/ford

 

[7991LXnSHO]

There are some RPM range differences. And getting either now might be an issue.
Do you want to skim it to 5500 or 6500 rpm, and where do you want the torque?

Edelbrock Mustang Performer Intake Manifold (86-95) 5.0 3821

Get more horsepower & torque out of your 1986-1995 Mustang 5.0 with this Edelbrock Performer intake manifold!

lmr.com

https://www.summitracing.com/parts/edl-7123/make/ford

I tagged Todd Moss, and he still stops by periodically, and here is a site with a lot of info from him.
Edit: here is the link and an email is at the bottom.

Tmoss Porting

tmoss.efidynotuning.com

 

[Dan02gt]

I have a Cobra with a ported lower on my AFR 165 setup and it works pretty well. I’m sure a Performer RPM 2 or SystemMax would make more power up top, but I like the low end the Cobra has.

 

[Potomus Pete]

Cobra looks better. Especially painted with Aluma paint

 

[WowZach32]

There are some RPM range differences. And getting either now might be an issue.
Do you want to skim it to 5500 or 6500 rpm, and where do you want the torque?

Edelbrock Mustang Performer Intake Manifold (86-95) 5.0 3821

Get more horsepower & torque out of your 1986-1995 Mustang 5.0 with this Edelbrock Performer intake manifold!

lmr.com

https://www.summitracing.com/parts/edl-7123/make/ford

I am comfortable running it all the way up to 6k RPM. I love torque! I want all the torques! Unless there is too much torque? Currently the car Dyno's at 285hp / 323tq at the motor. I guess the perfect outcome for NA would be like 300hp / 350tq if that is within the realm of possibilities for a NA 302. Also, could you educate me on the "RPM range differences" you mentioned? I am new and have been doing all of this by myself with the help of these forums and YouTube the past 4 years. (Unless you meant between the different manifolds and their availability, then disregard.)

 

[90sickfox]

The stock cobra intake flows around 205 to 210 cfm. ( quoted from tmoss ) The rpm range is up to about 5800 to 6k. Your camshaft tops out at about 6k. Heads flow 165 cfm Seems like a good fit to me but I'm no pro. From what I've heard it's velocity that you want.

 

[WowZach32]

The stock cobra intake flows around 205 to 210 cfm. ( quoted from tmoss ) The rpm range is up to about 5800 to 6k. Your camshaft tops out at about 6k. Heads flow 165 cfm Seems like a good fit to me but I'm no pro. From what I've heard it's velocity that you want.

Me either man, but that's why we are here. Surely if all of us rub our brain cells together we can come up with something pretty good lol I hope it ends up being the case that I can use my Cobra Intake. It like the Cobra logo being on top of the motor. I don't want to take any shortcuts though. I reached out to Tmoss via email. I'll go with whatever he says. He seems like the expert around here.

 

[General karthief]

Torque is king on the street, that cobra intake is what you want for torque, I'm not familiar with the cam so that would be the important factor in the equation, besides the heads, Tmoss could tell you if/where that combo will work.

 

[TOOLOW91]

You have the Cobra intake. They are dyno'd to be in the top three

Top 3 of what ?

I think it’s matched great for his combo without a doubt . It’s a decent intake but I don’t know what it’s top 3 of

 

[Potomus Pete]

I'v seen dyno tests on the internent. I think on Corral . Who else has seen this? Anybody ?

 

[General karthief]

Seems like I recall a comparison between the cobra, GT40 tubular and the explorer, I don't recall the outcome, bet it was the GT40

https://www.allfordmustangs.com/attachments/afm-dyno-cobra-explorer-gt40-jpg.14240/

But I could be wrong

 

[Mustang5L5]

GT40 family intake dyno tests

To sum it up:

1-2 HP differences between GT40 tubular and 93 cobra. 94-95 cobra was 5-6 HP less and explorer intake was down about 10HP from the GT40/93cobra. I know some publications out there claim there is no difference between the family, but i've seen enough evidence to convince me that the explorer upper will cost you a few ponies as compared to the tubular/93 upper.

All were run on an unported lower manifold. SOme of the comments asked for doing it with a Tmoss/Bigdogs ported lower. Richard has some other videos wherre he compares the GT40 family intake to aftermarket. The aftermarket intake makes more power, but at higher RPM (over 4500RPM or so) while the GT40 family intake made more power at lower RPM. So really selecting between the two comes down to if you want higher PEAK power at higher RPM (great for racing) or more power at a lower RPM (great for street driven cars).


View: https://youtu.be/ajVnFuqWrqU

 

[Dan02gt]

The stock cobra intake flows around 205 to 210 cfm. ( quoted from tmoss ) The rpm range is up to about 5800 to 6k. Your camshaft tops out at about 6k. Heads flow 165 cfm Seems like a good fit to me but I'm no pro. From what I've heard it's velocity that you want.

Did you mean 265 CFM? According to AFR they flow 260CFM at .600" and 251cfm at .500". I think tmoss mentioned something about getting ~250cfm out of a ported Cobra intake so it should be a great fit.

 

[General karthief]

Just the cool factor for the tubular intake is worth 2-3 hp