installing intake, hard??

if you have any mechanical background you should be able to do it. i did mine for the first time with a buddy, well i basically just watched him do it. and i did it by myself a few weeks ago without any problems. really the only thing that can go wrong is putting the distributor in wrong, which i almost did

It's not that hard but it's time consuming it it's youre first time doing it. Just get yourself a Haynes or Chilton's manual for tech reference and you should be fine. There is a write up in the 94-95 forums FAQ section and you should find it helpful.

Some tips - first off - while you're there and having to drain the cooling system, if the water pump, belt or any hoses clamps are old - replace them then -- easier to do. Second, be sure you have a torque wrench - it's quite easy to overtighten and break the relatively weak aluminum castings of the manifold. Nothing worse than ruining a brand new part. Third - take one of your lower intake bolts and one upper bolt to the hardware store, and buy 4 bolts like the lowers, and 2 bolts like the short uppers. Cut the heads off of all six. You can screw them into the 4 corners of the lower, 2 corners of the upper, and they act as temporary dowels to hold your gaskets in place, and align your manifold when you set it in place. Start a few of the regular bolts, and then unscrew the 'dowels' put the rest of the bolts in and tighten things up. No more than 18-20 ft-lbs. is necessary on the lower, 10-12 ft-lbs on the upper. There is a specific pattern for tightening the lower bolts - and you won't 'guess' it correctly. Get a manual. Oh - use masking tape and a Sharpie permanent marker and mark EVERY SINGLE line you disconnect - fuel, vaccum, electrical, etc. so you can put things back where they belong. Don't assume you'll remember anything.

Lastly, if you've not done a manifold before, I wouldn't undertake it completely alone -- get someone that's been through it to at least look over your shoulder. There are lots of MAJOR things you can screw up that could cost big bucks to repair - mainly in the area of being sure that the coolant stays where it's supposed to stay, and the oil stays where it's supposed to stay. Good luck. Oh - I'd guess the 'book' on an upper/lower intake change is in the area of 2-4 hours - times $50-$80/hr. Gives you an idea of the range of costs you'd likely see for the install. But our guesses don't mean much - you gotta ask the folks who'd do it for you.

Yeah...in the 94/95 forum they have a great right up on it...check it out over there...

Basically...just pay attention to where all your vacuum lines and connections go...use tape to label them...it will help out greatly...

Relieve the fuel pressure (screwdriver to open the scrader valve after taking off the cap...watch out for spray)...and just start unbolting and unplugging...and you will have to remove the injectors and they have o-rings on the ends of them so make sure they are still there and if not you can get some from a ford dealership...and put everything back on your new lower intake and upper intake like they are on your old intake...clean the gasket area really well because it will be messy...and put a nice thick bead of silicone on the block ends...(trash your block end gaskets and just use the silicone)...and use some screw in studs (into your heads) to drop the lower on and tighten the lower intake down properly using the tightening bolt sequence...and then just start putting it back together...

But just check the writeup in the 94/95 forum and that will help you get a visual image of the install...and you won't have to mess with the TB adapter as they have on the 94/95 cars...

Good Luck

I've got a question to add to Wil's question:

How concerned should we be about gasket shavings from removing the old gasket getting down and sitting ontop of the valves? The paper towel method did not work as well for me this time.

I installed an Explorer intake on my car a couple months ago with a friend. It was easy, but was kind of time consuming. It took us about 6 hours, but we were taking our time. Just be sure to mark where everything goes and keep bolts and all the little stuff in marked plastic bags. Also, make sure you mark the position of the distributor!!!

You want to keep as much debris out of the motor as you can - obviously. I've done many of these - if you're careful with shop rags/towels, you can cover much of the lifter valley and stuff the ports so that little if any get into spots it shouldn't be. The shop vac is your friend too. One tip - before you start scraping, use rags and brake cleaner to clean as much of the oil off the lifter valley area as you can. It will make it easier to vacuum up any bits that you don't catch in your rags. Shop vac out each port before you pull the rag out.

I used a combination of your tips Mike. There was a lot of little stuff sitting on the valves so I ended up soaking everything down pretty good with break fluid then sucked it all out again with the shop vac. Clean as a whistle. Thanks

Kewl....