The Bean

The upper manifold is from a 1994 mustang gt. The car it came off of must have been burning alot of oil, and sending it through the egr system. The entire manifold had slimy carbon buildup caked onto the inside. The cleaning process consisted of removing the freeze plugs in the ends of the plenum, and using a dryer lint brush, a toilet brush, and simple green HD. After going through a whole gallon of concentrated cleaner, and about 7 cleaning iterations, I called it "good enough". It might be confirmation bias, but it seems that after using one of these water based degreasers on a part, solvent based cleaners are significantly less effective. I found that after all the cleaning, I was able to make a bit more progress on the remnants using penetrating oil. I think next time that will be my starting point.

After cleaning it received replacement 1.75" expansion plugs in the plenum, and an 11/16" plug to block the egr port. I also trimmed off the egr mounting flange that hangs bellow the throttle body flange. Next, a coat of paint. The temperature was much higher this time and I had a hard time getting a consistent wrinkle like I did on the bottom half.

Next up, the injectors. I received a set of standard 19lb EV1 injectors with the foxbody manifold that I bought. They had been sitting, so I bought a set of filters/shims/caps/o-rings for them. Before I got around to servicing them, I bought a bundle of parts from a local mustang shop that was closing. Included was a bucket of around 45 injectors. Fortunately there was a full set of explorer 4 hole deflected disc type injectors mixed in. After a quick test with a 9v to confirm operation, I ordered the caps needed for the newer injectors, the other parts are the same.

First remove the old filters with a decking screw:

Then rewire the ebay trigger kit to make it less sketchy to operate:

Next, fiddle with the ebay spray can nozzle until it seals, and clean the injectors:

After cleaning the nozzles with a q-tip, the injectors were flowed forward and backward until each spray pattern looked acceptable. A couple were sticking open at the beginning of cleaning, and were operating normally by the end. 

Finally, install new filters, caps, and o-rings:

A dab of oil on each o-ring, and store them in the only place they aren't likely to get dirty:

Big thanks to Nukem for the fuel rail!

In reply to Shavarsh :

You should be careful about the grey crossover lines when you first make fuel pressure. They seemed pretty crunchy.

When I cleaned my lower manifold I let it sit in a tote full of simple green solution for a few days, but cleaning it was still work.

Awhile ago I was excited to start this project, and drew up a trigger wheel for the crankshaft. I had it laser cut and plated in gold. Recently, I had the chance to mock up the trigger wheel, and found the 6.75" OD I used, is too large, and fouls on most things in the vicinity. So, redraw, reorder, skip the plating for round 2, and receive a smaller 6.375" wheel. The same OD as the balancer.

Next, chuck up the balancer, and make a round spot for the wheel to live:

While turning the balancer, I discovered something I didn't expect... the balancer is cast iron, not steel. This complicates things a bit, as I was planning to weld the trigger wheel on to the balancer. So, we pivot and use silicon bronze. I had a hard time finding the right settings to get the filler to wet onto the cast iron:

In the end, the bead is not terribly aesthetic, but should have plenty of adhesion to keep the wheel in place. I'm also fairly confident that I didn't overheat the cast iron, or the rubber in the balancer. So after a coat of paint it was installed:

Now to find a spot to mount the sensor...

In reply to Shavarsh :

I see 3 points with hardware in the photo. Two sump and one facing forward above. Start folding.

Alright, time to make a crank angle sensor mount. First, some pieces:

Then mock it up:

Weld it up:

Then test fit again:

This setup allows a little adjustment due to the slop in the bolt holes. After tightening everything up on a .019 feeler, the gap measured at around .012. From what I have read, 15-20 is a good range to aim for. So after paint, it'll get installed for real.

A couple parts that I have ordered recently have been delayed, or have come in so low quality that I'll be returning them. That left me a bit lost on where to make next progress. I came across the 2001 mustang airbox and elbow I picked up recently, and decided to try to find it a home.

The initial plan was to keep the airbox/filter in the wheel well, connected with a composite tube. However, at this point I am seeing that solution as unnecessary complexity. The thought has crossed my mind that I should stick a cone filter on the throttle body and call it good enough until its running. However, I think a compromise between the 2 paths may be the way forward. Here is a sloppy mockup with the upper intake, throttle body, and the airbox perched in the passenger side of the bay. 

This airbox uses a rubber elbow "silencer" to get cold air from the wheel well. I think I have room to mount the airbox close to where it is shown, and cut a hole in the fenderwell for the silencer to go through.

I'm interested if there is any feedback from the hive.  Moving the airbox to the fender well adds cool factor, and cleans up the bay, but will be more difficult to service, and take more time to fabricate. I can always implement that strategy later. However, I am worried about just sticking a cone filter on the throttle body, because this engine bay gets quite hot, and I don't want to have too much tuning to do when I add the CAI later.

Alternatively, I scrap the 2001 airbox, and fab a smaller rectangular airbox that accepts a flat filter, and might fit the space better.

In reply to Shavarsh :

Shop flat filter boxes in the junk yard. Keep it there and bring the air in through the radiator bulkhead. Then insulate all of it from engine radiant heat. If you must fab your own box Volvo 240 flat pad is a great proportion and size, but the box inlet/outlet is too small for 5 liters.

This placement looks pretty good to me. Looks like you just need an Al 45deg bend and a couple of silicones and you'll be golden.

Why not look at a flat filter that also gets ram air from the core support? That's actually what I'm doing for my track car and I think it would lend itself very well to your application here.

So, The flat filter is tempting, as a custom airbox is a relatively easy/fun project. However, I already own this filter/housing, and the flat filters that came on most of the v8 cars I am seeing in my search are about 12"x9", which is actually a larger footprint than the cone. I have a 45° silicone bend on order, still open to hearing suggestions though!

However you do it keep the service point in the engine bay. Like Duster I would put the inlet next to the radiator, not in the fender well. Do consider rainwater and splash water ingress! 

Turner and Duster, 

The motivation to use fenderwell air is mostly to make use of the stock rubber silencer shown in the photo below:

It fits into a very nonuniform hole in the airbox, which will be difficult to replicate without being able to mold rubber... Although, it might be a good use case for 3d printing.

First time you put a wheel off into a puddle at trail out that is going to fill if it sucks from the inner fender. This is a project for lost foam carbon fiber or Eglass. The original round can retention ring could even be molded into it. The Volvo filter is 6X12 ish, I will measure if you want, I think I have a spare waiting for the DD.

In reply to TurnerX19 :

Turner, I've been determining if a filter is big enough based on the hp of the car it came on. Is there a better way? The 96 F150 is a convenient 13x6, but WIX has that filter rated at 320 cfm and the cone in the 2001 filter rated at 500cfm.

Edit:

Interestingly, K&N has opposite data. When tested at 1.5" pressure drop, the F150 filter outflowed the 2001 mustang cone that they offer.

In reply to Shavarsh :

So use a dry cone for sure. I use a K&N on my Fiat for convenience, but there are plenty of good flowing paper filters. The flat pad in the Volvo I use paper. I think 500 CFM is a reasonable number for a clean element with your engine. I would not go smaller, cause a dirty anything flows less. The K&N on the Fiat plugs up every 5000 miles. Your fender well would be worse, but you have the option of through the radiator shroud, where it will stay clean at least twice that unless you rally cross.

TurnerX19 said:

First time you put a wheel off into a puddle at trail out that is going to fill if it sucks from the inner fender. This is a project for lost foam carbon fiber or Eglass. The original round can retention ring could even be molded into it. The Volvo filter is 6X12 ish, I will measure if you want, I think I have a spare waiting for the DD.

This is a stock air cleaner assembly, not a cold air intake. Speaking as someone who has hydro locked an engine with a cold air intake, these mount up high enough in the fender that any water it may ingest will be miniscule. There is zero reason to reinvent the wheel, you are using essentially stock parts that were used on thousands of cars with no issues. You will be fine with your placement as it is almost identical to the stock location.

If you wanted a panel filter, look at the stock intake boxes for for bodies.. same engine but different filter box. The advantage to those would be rather then the small circle inlet for the silencer, the fender opening is larger

In reply to anger_enginering :

My concern starts far earlier than hydro lock. Also a stock fox body inner fender is not Shavarsh's Pinto. I aim for the best solution that is reasonably makeable, it is a balance between easy perfect and attainable. From a personal side I also try to avoid original to my car too.

In reply to TurnerX19 :

He may not have a Fox body inner fender, but this area certainly looks like a prime, flat area perfect for that air box, and may also take up less real estate in an already cramped engine compartment opposed to the round one.

Also, neither would be original to the car. I am all for personalizing my car too, but again the flow from a Mustang airbox into an EFI 302 seems more common sense then trying to make something from a Volvo or other car work.. seeing as how it was designed to work with that engine to begin with. Again, my suggestion is just in regards to maximizing air flow in a tiny space. A flat filter was already suggested, I just reccommended an airbox that would possibly work in the required space. 

Had some free time and re-read that all from the beginning.

Quite a journey indeed. Really looking forward to see how the FI will treat you, and how programming the ECU will go.

re intake: I would first look at how the intake is protected in the wheel well in both the S95 and the fox mustang. As TurnerX19 said the cars are vastly different in design, and the existence and positioning of inner fender plastic liners does change the equation a bit. Also, is there a drain to get rid of unwanted water ingress before the filter in those boxes?

In reply to Piguin :

Believe it or not, they really ARENT that different in design. The Foxbody first came out in 78, so we aren't talking decades of suspension geometry advancement. They are also unibody cars.  1) the opening in the airbox is at the top, so it would be near the top of the inner fender. 2) it is forward of the front tire, so very little chance for slinging water and any that MIGHT it wouldnt be enough to be of significant worry. And considering the work already completed a splash shield of some sort would not be hard to fabricate if it was a concern. OR he could use a factory 79-85 ram air tube into the airbox. even the 4 cylinders of the 79-85 Mustangs used one, it worked to prevent sucking anything up in the inner fender (see picture below.. its actually not easy to find a good pic of a Mustang Inner fender from the outside) Either way, I think you are overthinking it. Again, the FACTORY would have taken all of those into consideration of the Foxbody and SN (which is still a foxbody underneath) 

If this is what the inner fenders look like, and

This is a Foxbody inner fender

this is a Foxbody inner fender

And I doubt there is any more chance for ingesting water from the factory inbox then from a ram air horn in the rad support. 

In reply to anger_enginering :

Thank you for actually finding a fox fender picture - my Google Fu failed me when I was trying to locate one while writing my post above.

And if anything, we do agree - All I proposed was to see how the factory dealt with the wheel well side installation in fox and S95 Mustangs.

In reply to Piguin :

No worries, took me a bit too. I have been messing with Mustangs of the Fox body and Sn variety since 98.. don't know much when it comes to alot of other makes and models beyond theory... But Mustangs Ive pretty much got. My best friend put a turbo LS in an 86 coupe with a tubular k member and stock hood. So seeing how he ran everything I saw first hand stuffing 10lbs into a 5lb container

Lots of activity here! Thanks for the interest. Yes, the idea to stick the silencer in the wheel well came from its stock location in the sn95. I'll wait until the silicone bend comes in to start building/cutting anything. The decision will be dictated by ease of service/fabrication.

Also, I agree. Its not easy to find a picture of the inner fenders on an sn95, especially finding one with the fender off, and the splash guard in place.