had a man come by the other day and saw a ford aluminum manifold i had hanging in the shop. he offered to trade a air gap edelbrock intake for it ? what am i missing ? can it be warped or did ford build a valuable alum intake ( 4 barrel ). just curious if he knows something about this manifold that i don't. any help would be appreciated. thanks in advance.
Ford made some very nice FE intakes that bring top dollar. As far as that goes just about any Ford performance parts are bringing big bucks
Most Ford intakes are cast iron. If you have an aluminum intake labeled as a Ford part, it will command a few more bux than run of the mill aftermarket. THEN, if it actually has a Ford part number, it can command a large premium. Usually the really good intakes to have are ones with a Ford part number, but no (or VERY small) Ford label. Modern Ford intakes will have an FMS number and Ford labels, but these are Edelbrock intakes sold by Ford Motorsport.... or whatever name they are using this week. IMO these are worth whatever the Edelbrock version is worth. The obsolete aluminum intakes sold 'over the counter' by Ford are often mistaken for 'factory' intakes. These are the intakes with LARGE labels like "FORD" "SHELBY" or "COBRA". These were never on a car from the factory, but instead are much like the modern intakes.... Made by an aftermarket supplier, to Ford's specs. The "SHELBY" intakes are the worst. Folks always assume the intake came on a Shelby car. True factory Shelby intakes don't say "SHELBY" anywhere on them. Hope this helps. A picture would end all doubt though.
Yeah. Other than emssions plumbing, they are pretty much aluminum copies of the cast iron 4v intake from what I can tell.
The value of an original Ford aluminum intake can vary from as little as $50 to a grand.(or more in a few cases) Find out what you have before commiting to a trade. Ford made more intake variations in aluminum for the FE family than all others combined. "Buddy-Bar" made many of these, Edelbrock made a few.
thanks for all the info. i will look for numbers on the intake. i have a camera but don,t know how to post yet. i have a granddaughter who is teaching me a little at a time. its a slow go at best. willsee if i can get someone to post a picture for me. thanks for the info.
If you can email pics, send em to this address: baddad457@bellsouth.net I'll let you know what you've got.
I got one of the 80's Some of the stock racing classes require OEM equipment. The manifold I have is an 84 4V the guy I bought it from just welded up the emissions ports and re-milled it flat. This is a good manifold for that because it has alot of the properties of the Holley manifolds http://store.summitracing.com/partdetail.asp?part=WND-8124&autoview=sku These motors came from ford with I believe Holley 600 cfm carbs on them (not sure about the 600 cfm part) and if you read on the 5.0 forums there are alot of people that swear that these are made by Holley. So far it is actually a good manifold for a daily driver on the cheap. If it is one of those manifolds you can get them off of E-bay for $25-$50 bucks. The air gap is worth more but make sure that it will fit your application. If it is one of the single planes it may be great on the strip or a weekend driver but the driveability may not be the best for your application also as you said the possibility of getting a warped manifold, if it is not too bad most machine shops can mill them flat.
You could have saved all that trouble just by inserting thin stainless flat stock where the exhaust crossover ports are. Some of the hi-po gaskets lack the opening for this port and serve the same purpose. Ford cast the 80's intakes. They made 2 bbl versions too.
i have numbers tonight. RF-E3ZE-9425-FC i don't know if this helps or not. i haven't found anyone to post a picture yet but i am still looking. don't know if this helps but the high parts have small squares on them. thanks in advance for any help.
Just a guess, but it sounds like the HO 4v intake. The "E3" part of that part number should mean 1983 design. This would be right for the factory Mustang intake. Also, there is a checker board style design in the casting, covering the top of the intake over the prominent areas. I would venture to say, without seeing a pic or looking up the number, that is what you have. I am 98% sure. Don't trade yet though. Get us a pic to be sure, or wait for someone to look up the number. If this is the intake you have, I would trade it in a HEARTBEAT! Right now these Ford intakes are going for 25-50 bux, and less if you are at the right place, right time. The Air Gap is a much better intake for street use IMO. They can have hood clearance issues in some cars though. Also, there is a Chinese knock off of the AG intake that is of VERY POOR quality. The knock off is NOT labeled as Edelbrock, so if it has the E'brock label, you are okay. At this point, if everything is still kosher, you just need to check the intake for exactly what engine it fits, and check it for damage. There is very little that can go wrong with an intake that cannot be seen by the naked eye. Warping would be the least of my worries. I would look for cracks and breaks in the casting.
No that is not the problem it is the upper deck where the carb sits on. With some of the 4v carbs there will not be a complete sealing surface I wasn't even worried about the sides. You have to remember there is a spacer between the carb and the manifold for the EGR assembly and there are ports for it to run that way. We gotta love the EPA huh.
