So, I'm doing a little brain storming here. The 5.4l I'm going to be getting is a f75e NPI head with the all aluminum intake. It looks like this intake might not be as tough to deal with as the PI intake in the plenum area. It faces forward instead of the slight driver's side angle of the PI. Kind of like the old 92-95 npis did. Shouldn't be that hard to make an intake tube.
I know I'm going to hear 'but the long runners!', but I don't think they're that much different. The car intakes sit very deep into the valley, the trucks far less so. I think it's more a shape difference than anything. Anyone ever measure one to be sure? Also keep in mind the car NPI intakes had some very tight turns, the pi was much improved. The trucks are also much more gentle than the car NPI.
The fuel line on the svo s/c unit was just a stock line, with the front crossover tube cut and replaced with some fuel injection hose. Why not do the same on the 5.4 manifold?
I know the truck intake is tall, but once you get done adding the adapters and a second intake gasket, it's really not as far as you'd think. Plus using the aluminum intake, the injectors line up. If I have to add a scoop or a reasonable cowl hood, I think it's not that big of a deal.
Any idea if the inside diameters are similar in the NPI vs pi truck intakes? I'm suspecting by the time they got to the trucks, they might have given them a little more breathing room.