Cobra Intake Install

criticman · May 14, 2005

THIS INSTALL IS A PAIN IN THE A**. And previous owner sucked at maintaining things apparently.

Lower intake finally on, injectors re-ringed/capped, so SHOULD be fine the rest of the way.

Stopping for food - please let me know if there is anything else I should consider. I am going to change the oil, as SOME coolant made its way into oil. Also getting thread-sealant for the sensors I need to reconnect.

Pointers appreciated. This should end up being more than worth it though. Oh, and as for the cast-flashing on the new FRPP "Made in China" reproduction Cobra intakes - it is there. Not anything terrible, but if I had the time I woud be taking it to a machine shop to have them clean it up.

tunedin302 · May 14, 2005

Make sure the lower intake gasket is lined up on the heads properly. Did you put some sealant at the ends of the valley on the lower intake? Also, make sure you torque all the bolts accordingly. Did you take the distributor out? If so, make sure you put it back exactly on the same tooth and double check to make sure the rotor is on the correct corresponding piston.
Before starting, turn to ACC position and make sure you have correct furel pressure and none of the injectors are leaking.

criticman · May 14, 2005

Distributor

OH!

We had bad directions, got things off to much to fire it to get it on the #1 cylinder before removing the distributor.

We marked the block, distributor post, and where the rotor was prior to removal. Can I just reposition it? Or do I need to do something to get the engine on cylinder 1 prior to reinstall?

tunedin302 · May 14, 2005

criticman said:
We marked the block, distributor post, and where the rotor was prior to removal. Can I just reposition it? Or do I need to do something to get the engine on cylinder 1 prior to reinstall?

No, you should be okay ... maybe a little more difficult to line it up. If it feels like your timing is off when you start it then your distributor may be one tooth off. In the future, you can just take a socket wrench and spin your crank manually (may have to pull some plugs).

criticman · May 15, 2005

Since the Cobra intake has the EGR crap all built in...I realized at 2am I can't reuse the stock studs used to mount TB to EGR to intake. So, anyone know what size and length the bolts are to connect the TB to the Cobra upper? If so, that'd be great - save me time trying to find someone intelligent at Lowe's in the morning (no beef with Lowe's or Lowe's workers - just one here has made some bad hiring decisions).

Anyway, I am about to crash - will check early in morning before heading to the store. Thanks.

tunedin302 · May 15, 2005

Pull the stock studs out and make sure they fit the cobra intake, then take the stud to Lowes(w/e) and get a nut that fits. Once you know the size of the nut that fits then you will know what thread is on the stud. Sorry but that's all I can offer

criticman · May 15, 2005

For anyone's future reference, the proper bolt for a throttle body to Cobra upper is a 5/16" by 1.25" long.

Mustang5L5 · May 15, 2005

Little hint for dropping the lower intake perfectly. Go to home depot and match up the lower into to block bolts and buy two longer bolts about 5 or 6" in lenght.

Cut the heads off and put them at opposite corners of the block finger tight.

After you lay your gaskets and RTV, slide the intake over the bolts and lower it down in a straight shot. Thread in the other bolts and remove the studs and you are good to go.

jaackal · May 15, 2005

criticman said:
Since the Cobra intake has the EGR crap all built in...I realized at 2am I can't reuse the stock studs used to mount TB to EGR to intake. So, anyone know what size and length the bolts are to connect the TB to the Cobra upper? If so, that'd be great - save me time trying to find someone intelligent at Lowe's in the morning (no beef with Lowe's or Lowe's workers - just one here has made some bad hiring decisions).

Anyway, I am about to crash - will check early in morning before heading to the store. Thanks.

if i recall correctly, i re-used the stock studs for the EGR, just put a pair of vice grips on it and use a towel or something so you do not damage the threads and it should work, they are in there tight so be advised

89MustangGX · May 16, 2005

criticman said:
For anyone's future reference, the proper bolt for a throttle body to Cobra upper is a 5/16" by 1.25" long.

So you used bolts and not studs? Or you got studs?

Stang8URMPRT · May 16, 2005

Mustang5L5 said:
Little hint for dropping the lower intake perfectly. Go to home depot and match up the lower into to block bolts and buy two longer bolts about 5 or 6" in lenght.

Cut the heads off and put them at opposite corners of the block finger tight.

After you lay your gaskets and RTV, slide the intake over the bolts and lower it down in a straight shot. Thread in the other bolts and remove the studs and you are good to go.

Or you could just go buy studs like I did. Yes, this is a GREAT tip. I bought 4 studs, threaded them in... put the intake gasket on with RTV around each water passage, RTV bead front and back... then slide the intake over the studs... This is the beeeeest way of making sure the intake gasket doesn't move while installing the lower.

criticman · May 16, 2005

I used bolts to secure the throttle body to the upper intake - no EGR, so studs would be pretty useless.

Anyway. MAJOR ISSUE. I got it running, but wasn't running solid. Worried about the distributor not being in right. Got the car to TDC, took out distributor, lined rotor up on #1 plug, reinstalled distributor, no start. Read to try to rotate rotor 180degrees, which I did. Car started after some effort, won't go over 800 RPM, even with gas mashed down. Idles for about 30 seconds and dies no matter what. Tried getting the distributor rotated to play with timing, timing is reading WAY off. So, what do I do now? How do I get the distributor back in properly, get the car actually running again. It RAN, just poorly, which made me decide to mess with the distributor (timing was maxed at 10 degrees where the TFI module harness was hitting the thermostat inlet on the new Cobra lower intake). SOMEBODY PLEASE HELP!

tunedin302 · May 16, 2005

criticman said:
I used bolts to secure the throttle body to the upper intake - no EGR, so studs would be pretty useless.

Anyway. MAJOR ISSUE. I got it running, but wasn't running solid. Worried about the distributor not being in right. Got the car to TDC, took out distributor, lined rotor up on #1 plug, reinstalled distributor, no start. Read to try to rotate rotor 180degrees, which I did. Car started after some effort, won't go over 800 RPM, even with gas mashed down. Idles for about 30 seconds and dies no matter what. Tried getting the distributor rotated to play with timing, timing is reading WAY off. So, what do I do now? How do I get the distributor back in properly, get the car actually running again. It RAN, just poorly, which made me decide to mess with the distributor (timing was maxed at 10 degrees where the TFI module harness was hitting the thermostat inlet on the new Cobra lower intake). SOMEBODY PLEASE HELP!

Willing to bet that your dist. is a tooth or two off.

stang_racer69 · May 16, 2005

Mustang5L5 said:
Little hint for dropping the lower intake perfectly. Go to home depot and match up the lower into to block bolts and buy two longer bolts about 5 or 6" in lenght.

Cut the heads off and put them at opposite corners of the block finger tight.

After you lay your gaskets and RTV, slide the intake over the bolts and lower it down in a straight shot. Thread in the other bolts and remove the studs and you are good to go.

thats a GREAT tip, I'll have to rember that when I pull my upper off again, it was a trying to get the gasket and manifolds lined back up

criticman · May 16, 2005

tunedin302 said:
Willing to bet that your dist. is a tooth or two off.

So how do I get it lined up? It seems to only go on two ways, rotor at one location or 180 degrees around in other location. Can I get it to go in another way? Rotate the dist. gear free from the rotor?

criticman · May 16, 2005

Some young guy with 6 stangs helped me...apparently his dad raised him right!

Lifted it up, made sure it was at TDC, lowered distributor down with rotor facing firewall, it cranked, set timing, BAM, works great.

HOWEVER...as some have claimed they experienced, I can only adjust timing up to 12 degrees. So, do I have to just grind down the stupid Cobra lower intake? Or do they sell a digitally adjusted performance distributor?

Mustang5L5 · May 16, 2005

tunedin302 said:
Willing to bet that your dist. is a tooth or two off.

No such thing.

If the intake wasn't in the way, you could stab the rotor anyplace you wanted and simply spin the distributor until you reach 10 degree BTDC on the #1 cylinder. The only limitation you have is the amount that you can spin the distributor. So if you can set 10 degrees timing on #1, they you are all set. The idea is to just stab the dist in a spot where you are able to turn it enough to set timing.

tunedin302 · May 16, 2005

Mustang5L5 said:
No such thing.

If the intake wasn't in the way, you could stab the rotor anyplace you wanted and simply spin the distributor until you reach 10 degree BTDC on the #1 cylinder. The only limitation you have is the amount that you can spin the distributor. So if you can set 10 degrees timing on #1, they you are all set. The idea is to just stab the dist in a spot where you are able to turn it enough to set timing.

Problem is if you put the distributor to the same spot (by lining up with marks where it was pulled) you did when you pulled it, by having the timing a tooth off from where it was when pulled will cause your timing to not be the same as when it was pulled, thereby cause your motor to not run the same. That is what happened to me the first time I did an intake swap.

Mustang5L5 · May 17, 2005

tunedin302 said:
Problem is if you put the distributor to the same spot (by lining up with marks where it was pulled) you did when you pulled it, by having the timing a tooth off from where it was when pulled will cause your timing to not be the same as when it was pulled, thereby cause your motor to not run the same. That is what happened to me the first time I did an intake swap.

True, but if you spin the distributor enough, you can compensate for it and realign the timing marks. WHat i was getting at was that if you can set 10 degrees BTDC, your timing is perfect...no matter where you stab the dist at.

It may not be where it originally was, but as long as your timing is ok you are fine. If you can't set the timing (intake in the way) then you need to restab the distributor.

1EVIL88VERT · May 17, 2005

just a tip but make sure you have two vacume sources going to the pcv valve i messed that up on mine and it took me a week to figue out why i was drinking oil

Cobra Intake Install

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