Intake plastic nipple broke, antifreeze spewing everywhere. Now what?

[BETTERBULLITT]

Long time since I've been here. Lol.

So title says it all. Driving yesterday, got the nice hint of maple syrup. Thought, "someone's car leaking antifreeze" looked at beater Honda wagon next to me and figured that was culprit.

Then smoke starts rolling from under my hood. Thank goodness I was one block away from destination. Parked and watch car puke antifreeze all over it self.

Plastic nipple broke on intake. New intake needed. $850 for a new Ford part installed.

Now the thinking begins. Do I replace it?

Or is now the time to just go all out and nuts on a 20 year old car?

Have the car set up for blower, but never got one. Now am eyeing forged motors and mammoth blowers. The sickness is back.

Any aftermarket intakes that are any good or should I just stick with Ford OEM and be done with it.

I have been eyeing the new gt500 and the redeye's. It would be a year or two before I would go that route though, since 100k for a toy just seems ridiculous to me.

So, should I just get rid of my old baby and save for new one? Just fix intake and be done? Or go nuts on old car?

 

[tsemmett]

There really aren't any aftermarket intakes worth owning on a mildly modified car. A new intake from Ford Performance Parts is like $270 though; are you seriously paying $600 for someone to install? If you have a basic set of tools (sockets, a 10" adjustable wrench, pliers, screw drivers and such), changing an intake manifold is not hard on these cars.

I'm in kind of the same position as you; I was eyeing a 392 Challenger and comparing it to building my car. I don't want to spend $60k+ on a car, and am going to build mine, but I have a ton of tools and a fair bit of experience in this, so I can do most of the mechanical work myself. If you're paying labor on top of parts, you're probably better off buying new. One could easily spend $10k-15k getting a decent engine and transmission in these cars, adding labor would likely double that.

 

[BETTERBULLITT]

Yeah that's what I am thinking. I am not a mechanic, can do basic stuff but definitely not major work.


The $850 quote included an intake and about $170 in other parts like a thermostat and some hoses.

Labor was about $350 to 400


Starting to figure building this old thing out may not be worth it when I could just get a newer car with higher performance and better tech.

May just have to sell the old girl.

 

[tsemmett]

I'd be curious to know where they ordered those gold plated hoses/thermostat.
You could seriously do this for like $300-350 in parts total, and a few hours of work with basic hand tools. The only specific thing I can think of you would need is a 10" adjustable wrench (aside from a socket set and some basic tools) for the EGR tube; the rest is just unplugging connectors/lines, and pulling the bolts (less than 20 bolts).

I hate to suggest newer cars, we're supposed to be enthusiasts I guess (and I don't like the new Mustang), but that may be for the best.

 

[BETTERBULLITT]

Yeah, I talked to Justin at Modular Head Shop and he said same thing. To install it myself.

I hear you man, I love the rear ends of the new Mustang GT's but the front is blah to me.

I like the look of the new edge mustang's much better.

The Coyote engine does make me drool though lol.

 

[tsemmett]

Coyote swaps are becoming more common and more cost effective in these cars. It's something I'm looking at still; I haven't decided what route I want to go on the engine side (currently building an IRS unit first).