Cobra Intake Questions/Help
- Thread starter onefstsnake
- Start date
txstang84
15 Year Member
actually yes, they did use grade 8 bolts; however, if you guys have ever heard of "Totally Stainless" fastener kits, they even tell you that their stainless fasteners are basically equivalent to grade 5. The point is, the ones used from the factory are NOT stainless bolts, and they are subject to corrosion.
There are two reasons I can think of off the top of my head that these bolts will corrode.
First, the obvious; whenever you have to top off or flush your coolant, many people will use tap water instead of distilled as is recommended...four of those bolts are close to water passages. It only takes one or two times to get enough calcium deposits in the coolant to get crusties on hardware, or anywhere else in the cooling system.
Second, believe it or not, there are acidic compounds in your oil which can cause corrosion-sounds crazy right? Oil? corrosive? But, whenever the oil gets hot enough to vaporize in the crankcase, there are a tons of nasty byproduts from when the oil turns into a vapor, and they cling to anything they can.
In a nutshell, if the engine has never been apart, and there has ever been any neglect since it's original assembly, there will be corrosion. Even the black oxided ARP intake bolts I used on my last engine had some trash on them from where I was in a pinch and needed to fill the radiator...
Whenever you get to the point of getting new fasteners, just buy quality components, install them properly and you'll have much better results.
And follow the tips jrichker has to offer-he's got his head glued on straighter than most of us I think...
There are two reasons I can think of off the top of my head that these bolts will corrode.
First, the obvious; whenever you have to top off or flush your coolant, many people will use tap water instead of distilled as is recommended...four of those bolts are close to water passages. It only takes one or two times to get enough calcium deposits in the coolant to get crusties on hardware, or anywhere else in the cooling system.
Second, believe it or not, there are acidic compounds in your oil which can cause corrosion-sounds crazy right? Oil? corrosive? But, whenever the oil gets hot enough to vaporize in the crankcase, there are a tons of nasty byproduts from when the oil turns into a vapor, and they cling to anything they can.
In a nutshell, if the engine has never been apart, and there has ever been any neglect since it's original assembly, there will be corrosion. Even the black oxided ARP intake bolts I used on my last engine had some trash on them from where I was in a pinch and needed to fill the radiator...
Whenever you get to the point of getting new fasteners, just buy quality components, install them properly and you'll have much better results.
And follow the tips jrichker has to offer-he's got his head glued on straighter than most of us I think...
A big can of high quality antiseize is your best friend when it comes to engine assembly. The last 1 pound can of Never Seez I bought cost $24: it will last a long time . You can't beat the stuff when it comes to keeping exhaust bolts from corroding so badly you can't wrench them off.
Aw, i forgot about corrosion due to the coolant.
Grade 5 isn't that much weaker than 8, however, when i bolt corrodes in head, you are gonna need every bit of strenght you can muster when the bolt corrodes in the head.
Anti-sieze would be a good idea
Grade 5 isn't that much weaker than 8, however, when i bolt corrodes in head, you are gonna need every bit of strenght you can muster when the bolt corrodes in the head.
Anti-sieze would be a good idea
Well I just picked up some Zinc coated stainless bolts for the intake. They are supposed to be good to like 150,000psi tensile strength.
McMaster FTW
McMaster FTW
Well a few people said the baffle on the lower isnt made correctly and I have to get a new one from FRP.
Well I took some pics of mine and let me know if this is the "bad" baffle. Also a few other pics.
It doesnt look like much oil could get in there, but I could be wrong.
Also, someone mentioned the distributor not fitting in correctly w/o grinding the lower. Is this the part I need to grind?
Gaskets
Misc
Well I took some pics of mine and let me know if this is the "bad" baffle. Also a few other pics.
It doesnt look like much oil could get in there, but I could be wrong.
Also, someone mentioned the distributor not fitting in correctly w/o grinding the lower. Is this the part I need to grind?
Gaskets
Misc
Attachments
The coolant passage/distributor housing on yours is different from mine. I was talking about the part opposite where you circled, where the t-stat sits. On mine, there was no cut out for the distributor module to turn. You should be safe there. You have the same baffle set-up mine came with that caused the oil consumption problem. I wonder though, since you appear to have a different lower casting than I do, if you'll have the oil consumption problem I did?
I'd call the tech line and see what they say about that.
I'd call the tech line and see what they say about that.
Kinda glad I bought one of the original Ford Cobra intake kits. It fit perfectly. I've been hearing a lot of negative things about the chinese castings
wow the baffle on my explorer intake covers about half of the lower intake. Id say the inside of the intake looks alittle rough but my explorer intake didnt look much better. Good luck with fitment issues, not sure if itll work or not, thats weird the china intake has been out for a while, weird to only just now start hearing bad things about it.
I got this picture from another site but this is what the explorer baffle looks like
I got this picture from another site but this is what the explorer baffle looks like
Attachments
wish one of you guys had a pic of what the new baffle looks like.
Maybe I could just smash the one I have down a bit.
It would seem to me that for the PCV to work I would only need a tiny area for air/excess pressure to get to. Correct?
And Im sure its not a huge amount of pressure.
Maybe I could just smash the one I have down a bit.
It would seem to me that for the PCV to work I would only need a tiny area for air/excess pressure to get to. Correct?
And Im sure its not a huge amount of pressure.
but does the size of the baffle really matter?
Im not really sure it does. Wouldnt you just need a small opening for excess pressure to get out?
Im not really sure it does. Wouldnt you just need a small opening for excess pressure to get out?
Maryland Stang
Active Member
jrichker said:
Amen to that Brother. I put anti-seize on everything I can. Even stuff I know I'll never have to take apart again. I wish Ford had the foresight to put it on the rear lower control arms of my Stang. Dang New Jersey salt trucks locked those bolts in there so tight it took me 2 days to get them out. It was really ugly.
$uperstang
New Member
Dude, Call FRPP and get the updated baffle or YOU WILL WISH YOU HAD DONE SO. Trust me, I had teh same issue with the same chinese intake. But thank God I have the tall FRPP valve covers so I moved my pcv to the driver side valve cover and it solved the problem with an air/oil seperator inline. Other than that the intake is awesome!
Yeah Ill probably just end up calling them.
Doesnt look like the old one would be hard to get off.
Drill out the rivets. Then I can drill and tap the holes and use screws.
Do you think cleaning up the casting on the ports will help flow at all?
Doesnt look like the old one would be hard to get off.
Drill out the rivets. Then I can drill and tap the holes and use screws.
Do you think cleaning up the casting on the ports will help flow at all?
well I called Ford, and they said they would ship a new, larger, baffle.
But what surprised me is that he said of the 1,000's of cobra intakes they have sold, only a few people have had PCV/Baffle problems....
I call
But what surprised me is that he said of the 1,000's of cobra intakes they have sold, only a few people have had PCV/Baffle problems....
I call
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