**NEW** PI intake by Ford Performance

Generalee0527

Generalee0527

1st Gear Poster
Joined
Jan 4, 2024
Messages
65
Location
SW GA
Vehicle Details
97 Tbird, pbr front brakes, Sport edition 4.6 w/ 346k total miles by me the one and only owner.
Country flag
Screenshot_20240801-143226_Brave.jpgnice NEW production that is Made in USA
 
It’s a rebranded Dorman, manufactured by MPI. Don’t get swindled by this scam intake by made in USA and FoMoCo being molded into it.
 
XR7-4.6 said:
It’s a rebranded Dorman, manufactured by MPI. Don’t get swindled by this scam intake by made in USA and FoMoCo being molded into it.
Click to expand...
For the derps like me, can you explain why this is a bad thing?

:zwthstupid:
 
So Ford really put their name on a Dorman intake :rolleyes2:? I know they were selling relabeled Monroe shocks as Motorcraft at one point. Relabeling a taxi grade intake as "Ford Performance" is a bit much.

Looks just like the Dorman PI replacement. At least the Ford one seems to have threads for the COPs, instead of using self tapers.


1722539571061.png
 
On the LMR instagram page it has pics of the underside; short valley runners and integrated gaskets like the Dorman. It’s literally made by the same manufacturer ford is contracting, the tooling to make the real deal PI intakes was destroyed.
There’s a 10-20 horsepower loss from a OEM PI to a Dorman and many know it, because it is essentially a npi intake with PI ports. LMR and Ford Performance seem to want to hock it for a ridiculous profit, adding some feelgood Ford and USA text to the mold isn’t exactly fixing the flow issues.


BTW anyone remember what genuine FRPP PI intakes used to cost 15 years ago?

$185.
 
I was thinking I got the whole kit from Nick for ~200, tubes and all.
 
XR7-4.6 said:
On the LMR instagram page it has pics of the underside; short valley runners and integrated gaskets like the Dorman. It’s literally made by the same manufacturer ford is contracting, the tooling to make the real deal PI intakes was destroyed.
There’s a 10-20 horsepower loss from a OEM PI to a Dorman and many know it, because it is essentially a npi intake with PI ports. LMR and Ford Performance seem to want to hock it for a ridiculous profit, adding some feelgood Ford and USA text to the mold isn’t exactly fixing the flow issues.


BTW anyone remember what genuine FRPP PI intakes used to cost 15 years ago?

$185.
Click to expand...
I bought a kit from a Ford dealer that included gaskets for around $240 about five years ago. I see the pictures they have posted. It sounds like they are going to dyno it so it will be interesting to see what they get compared to the real PI. I'm not ecstatic about it, but at least there is something that I could use if my intake blows out tomorrow. Right now, my only quick option is Dorman NPI intake manifold.


For what it is worth. The 9W7Z-9424-A has dropped in price dramatically. I wonder if you order that part number though if you will get the real PI or one of these new intakes.

Link to the other thread I started on these:

PI Intake Availability

Just posting this here mostly so I can find it again. As we all know the actual Ford PI intakes have been out to stock/unavailable from most vendors for a reasonable price for a while now. This thread has at least one guy that seems to have some inside information on what is going on. The end of...
forum.birdcats.com forum.birdcats.com
 
Last edited:
I'll say this, the ford one in the picture has the brass inserts for the factory bolts. The dorman parts come with plastic cutting bolts to replace all the factory hold downs. Not sure it would be worth it for the extra money.
 
Grog6 said:
I was thinking I got the whole kit from Nick for ~200, tubes and all.
Click to expand...

When I had a Ford discount mine was definitely under $150, I think the fordpartscounter guy at the old place got them for similar. It’s not something you can blame inflation on either, they tacked $100 onto the price well before the pandemic, it’s just Ford being greedy, and rebadging a Dorman is par for the course.
 
The manifold on Lazarus is gold, lol. It's glued on with black rtv; it's going to be a bitch getting it off. I have some tungsten wire somewhere. It's tough enough to cut the rtv, and small enough to fit in the crack easily. Like 10 mil tungsten wire, between two Popsicle sticks. NOT your fingers, lol. It will slice you to the bone effortlessly, lol. Way worse than seatbelt thread.
 
I would probably be pissed if it did. :)
 
I don’t understand why they can’t make a decent manifold, I don’t think making a piece of plastic that can get good air flow is rocket science. If someone can make one that can get good airflow #’s they would sell like hot cakes. So does both the pi and non pi both suck? I thought only the non pi aftermarket intake manifold sucked. Would a aftermarket pi intake be better for a non pi 4.6 then a aftermarket non pi intake for better performance?
 
KEVIN8989 said:
I thought only the non pi aftermarket intake manifold sucked. Would a aftermarket pi intake be better for a non pi 4.6 then a aftermarket non pi intake for better performance?
Click to expand...

From my understanding the aftermarket PI intakes have a poorly designed intake runners so they will not flow as well as the original Ford PI intakes. The aftermarket PI's probably are a bit of an improvement over the non PI intakes. Problem is they use o-ring style gaskets to seal to the heads instead of gaskets, so they won't easily or at all work with non PI heads.

I get why Ford isn't investing much into parts for the old 2V modular engines anymore. They are less and less on the road now; taxi and police fleets have been phasing them out for years. So there's no profit in it for them making better quality parts for obsolete engines.

Hopefully these new "Ford PI intakes" actually do use the original intake gaskets like @KevinVarnes mentioned earlier. If they do, they will at least be an option to keep our cars going. Otherwise we will be stuck buying used intakes or the aftermarket junk.

You can add me to the list of members glad to have bought an OEM PI intake years ago!
 
KEVIN8989 said:
I don’t understand why they can’t make a decent manifold, I don’t think making a piece of plastic that can get good air flow is rocket science. If someone can make one that can get good airflow #’s they would sell like hot cakes. So does both the pi and non pi both suck? I thought only the non pi aftermarket intake manifold sucked. Would a aftermarket pi intake be better for a non pi 4.6 then a aftermarket non pi intake for better performance?
Click to expand...

Aftermarket non-PI intakes never were that bad to begin with other than the cheaper multi piece molding process used vs. the OEM design, the problem is the Dorman intake was originally designed to be a non-PI replacement since that was at the time the common manifold.

The Dorman “PI” intake was essentially revision of their existing non-PI design, and mind you the overwhelmingly largest market for these was taxis, whose going complain about the performance loss?

The big misconception among the public at large is that PI heads are what make power from npi to PI but it’s really the cams and the original FORD designed intake manifold that account for the bulk of the “performance improvement”, with the heads only accounting for a couple horses tops from a better flowing exhaust port and more efficient combustion chamber. So these crappy aftermarket intakes leaving power on the table literally makes a PI motor a half npi in terms of output.

You’re now better off bandaiding a used OEM PI intake together as far as I’m concerned. Or for that price just keep saving for a Bullitt or whatever you can find that’s actually an upgrade over a real PI
 
I doubt in CA that would pass smog, I love my V8 but my SC has much more options from a performance standpoint living in CA.
 
I would be very surprised if Ford went through all the effort to reintroduce a manifold for an outdated engine just to not bother springing for CARB certification. Considering how SN95s rust around here, I wouldn’t be surprised if half the 99-04 Mustangs still on the road are in CA!
 
Doesn't need CARB certification when it's a direct 99-04 "replacement" part.
 
I think I can use the crank from the red cougar, for my rebuild of Lazarus. I found it today, along with the other two cranks I had, that had rusted.Judging from the numbers, they are both mark cranks. The one from the red cougar was still in wraps, covered in grease. :) I took it out due to wasting a head; stuffed a valve and broke a guide.
Any issues with putting a cast crank in a mark block? Or should I reuse the iron block?
 
dDUBb said:
Doesn't need CARB certification when it's a direct 99-04 "replacement" part.
Click to expand...
Good to know. Although that seems like a major loophole for anyone selling performance parts to just market them as replacement parts, but then I really shouldn’t expect a government bureaucracy to make any sense.

I did just watch LMR’s video on it. As expected, it is down about 10hp up top, and about 20 ft-lbs in the midrange compared to the real PI manifold. However one thing I see that I do like is they finally have the aluminum crossover mounted such that coolant is no longer going through any plastic! That always pissed me off that Ford knew coolant going through plastic was a problem and went to the trouble of redesigning it to incorporate aluminum, but still decided to leave just enough plastic to make it still a problem, just not their problem! Fucking assholes! With the new one having the aluminum crossover sealing directly against the heads, I would say for anything where performance is not a major concern, I call that a win! I have refused to use the Dorman or other Chinese manifolds because of the cheap plastic, and in my experience they only last a few years, but for the next panther platform that comes in my shop with a leaking manifold, I’m glad to have this as an option.
 
MadMikeyL said:
Good to know. Although that seems like a major loophole for anyone selling performance parts to just market them as replacement parts, but then I really shouldn’t expect a government bureaucracy to make any sense.

I did just watch LMR’s video on it. As expected, it is down about 10hp up top, and about 20 ft-lbs in the midrange compared to the real PI manifold. However one thing I see that I do like is they finally have the aluminum crossover mounted such that coolant is no longer going through any plastic! That always pissed me off that Ford knew coolant going through plastic was a problem and went to the trouble of redesigning it to incorporate aluminum, but still decided to leave just enough plastic to make it still a problem, just not their problem! Fucking assholes! With the new one having the aluminum crossover sealing directly against the heads, I would say for anything where performance is not a major concern, I call that a win! I have refused to use the Dorman or other Chinese manifolds because of the cheap plastic, and in my experience they only last a few years, but for the next panther platform that comes in my shop with a leaking manifold, I’m glad to have this as an option.
Click to expand...

I still like idea of mounting the crossover directly on the heads 4V style, lopping off the pads from the intake that hold the crossover in place. Only thing that bothers me about that thought is there aren’t bolts at the front of the #1 and #5 ports but it might work. Only issue then is the heater outlet
 
I found the mmr-style an-line ports on amazon, cheap, to replace the crossover competely. They would also work for the apten mod, in the place of the crack pipe.
 
About 6 months ago the manifold on my mom’s 03 Lincoln Town Car started leaking. Rather than looping it off, I cleaned up that area, filled in the channel with JBWeld, sanded it smooth, and just used RightStuff RTV to seal the crossover to the now solid plastic section. Wherever performance is a concern, that is the route I will continue to go.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

Back
Top