Cobra Intake Questions/Help

First off, is this an old, original Cobra intake or one of the new ones? If it's one of the new ones, they have some issues you need to know about before you start. PM me for more info.

Second, just make sure you torque them properly. There is a specific sequence pattern and they're supposed to be tightened down in three phases: 11 in/lbs, 22 in/lbs, then 25 ft/lbs.

Third, since these bolts are in a very low torque situation, there's no need for them to be anything more than grade 5. Don't worry about it.

You don't want to put loctite on them, this is not the real issue. It is the fact that the aluminum intake expands at a different rate than the steel heads. It is necessary to warm the engine and then retorque the bolts because of the different expansion rates.

I heard the new cobra intakes are chinese knockoffs and the quality is horrible.

ive had no problem with mine, bought it about 7 months ago from a ford dealer.

[/QUOTE]One trick i use is two studs i made that thread into the block. I put one at each cover, pay my intake gaskets and RTV down and then slide the lower intake down the studs onto the block. I remove the studs and put the rest of the bolts in. Every since I started doing it this way, i've never had an intake leak at all[/QUOTE]
That is an awesome idea!! I recently bent a valve in my car and am getting ready to reinstall my intake after repairing my head and will definitely use this idea. When I first built the motor I had a small leak but did not worry about it. Where did you get the studs? (hardware store)?

Mustang5L5 said:

Yeah, they were just 5" or 6" long bolts that i cut the heads off. You just need to match them up to the intake bolts which i wanna say are 3/8" but not sure. Get at least two, install finger tight in each corner and slide the intake down them

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You are the man!!

Here's some tips...

Tools: a good torque wrench is a must have item. A razor blade scraper that holds a single edge razor blade from Home Depot or Ace hardware is another handy thing. Get a Chilton or Haynes shop manual - you'll need it for the bolt torques and patterns. The intake manifold has an especially odd pattern. You'll need access to a timing light to set the timing after you re-stab the distributor. Look in the A/C repair section for the fuel line tools. They look like little plastic top hats. You will need the 1/2" & 5/8" ones. The hat shaped section goes on facing the large part of the coupling. Then you press hard on the brim until it forces the sleeve into the coupling and releases the spring. You may need someone to pull on the line while you press on the coupling. Put some motor oil on them when you put the line back together.

The A/C Compressor comes off with lines still connected. Mark all the electrical, smog and vacuum lines with tags to help you remember where to re-connect them. If you have a digital camera, take several pictures.

Whatever you do, don't skimp on cleaning the gasket surfaces. New gaskets need to seat against bare metal and not the residue left from the old gaskets in order to seal leak free. This is the most time consuming and tiresome part of the job. Look for little things that need to be replaced like the short hose from the thermostat hosing to the water pump, damaged vacuum lines and hose clamps that are rusted or broken.

Plan on cutting the thermostat to water pump hose, or removing the thermostat housing. Also plan on removing the distributor to get clearance to remove the intake manifold. Remove #1 spark plug, stick your finger in the spark plug hole and crank. When your finger gets air moving past it, stop cranking. Turn the engine until the timing marks line up with the pointer. Now you can pull the distributor out.

My favorite trick that saves time and effort is the stay in place gasket. Be sure that you scrape (don't use a wire brush) all the old gasket material off, then clean all the surfaces with acetone or MEK.

When the surfaces are clean, use weather strip adhesive on the head to manifold surface, and on the side of the gasket that mates to the head. Follow the instructions on the tube or can and when it gets tacky, press the gasket down on the head.

Clean the area where the rubber rails mount to the block in front and in the rear with more acetone or MEK and do the same trick with the weather strip adhesive that you did to the heads.

Coat the rubber seals and the gasket area around the water passages with lots of Blue Silicone gasket sealer and put it together. Wala! no leaks, and no gaskets that shifted out of place.

Fuel injector seal kits with 2 O rings and a pintle cap (Borg-Warner P/N 274081) are available at Pep Boys auto parts. Cost is about $2.74 per kit. The pintle caps fit either injectors with a pin sticking out the injector end or 4 with more tiny holes in the injector end. The following are listed at the Borg-Warner site ( http://www.borg-warner.com ) as being resellers of Borg-Warner parts:

http://www.partsplus.com/ or http://www.autovalue.com/ or http://www.pepboys.com/ or http://www.federatedautoparts.com/

Most of the links above have store locators for find a store in your area.

Use motor oil on the O rings when you re-assemble them & everything will slide into place. The gasoline will wash away any excess oil that gets in the wrong places and it will burn up in the combustion chamber.

Consumable items:
Upper manifold gasket
Fel Pro 1250 or equal lower manifold gasket set.
Short formed hose between thermostat hosing and intake manifold
6 ft 7/64" or 1/8" vacuum hose
2 ft 1/2" heater hose
1 1/2 ft 5/8" heater hose
Blue Silicone sealer
ARP antiseize or equal for the bolts
4 each 3/4" hose clamps (spare item in case the old ones are bad)
4 each 1/2" hose clamps (spare item)

Snikt89GT said:

I heard the new cobra intakes are chinese knockoffs and the quality is horrible.

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Ford Racing has come up with a redesigned oil baffle for the new Chinese lowers to fix issues with too much oil being sucked up the PCV.

The oil baffle they come with is apparently too small.

onefstsnake said:

Also the bolts that come with the Cobra intake are crap... Grade 5 FTL

Also, who makes a decent easy out/bolt extractor? couple bolts broke off in the heads...

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wythors said:

Third, since these bolts are in a very low torque situation, there's no need for them to be anything more than grade 5. Don't worry about it.

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Mustang5L5 said:

Those bolts will never see anything close to maxing out those bolts in terms of stress


Grade 5 is overkill if anything

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I think I may see the problem with Grade5 bolts in this situation...