Finished PI cam & intake swap

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Wes8398

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For anyone interested in the results of the swap, I thought I'd give a little update. Everything's up and running again, and I have to say that this swap is worth every dollar spent on parts and every bit of elbow grease you put into it. We had a little hiccup with the driver's side chain skipping a tooth or 2 the 1st time, but it's now all cleared up - cams degreed in and everything running top notch.
I have to say that the "seat of the pants" gains are quite noticeable. Most of what I read about this swap made it sound like you only really got top-end gains; but I beg to differ. Down low feels greatly improved as well! Of course, it now pulls hard throughout the RPM range too, instead of flattening out around 5 grand.
All in all, I highly suggest this swap!! Just be careful with your timing chains! We took every precaution, including turning the car over without the coil packs plugged in, and turning it over by hand many times (when degreeing the cams), and the damn chain STILL managed to skip a tooth or 2 when we fired it up the 1st time. We figure that happened because the tensioner wasn't pushed all the way out. My suggestion to anyone doing this would just be to keep the timing cover off the car, get the wires and brackets and parts out of the way, and turn the engine over (with the starter) before you button everything up ... just to be sure that it sounds right, and that the chains stay where they should be.
 

Twista

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Grats Buddy. Your on the right path now. Show those new edger GTs what a NONPI turned to almost full PI can do :comando: Do you plan on doing PI heads in the future??

Also...
Can i have the price of just the parts you brought?
 
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Just curious... did you use the adapter plates? I'm getting my PI cams/intake installed within the next 2 weeks so I'm very excited to hear your upgrade went well with great results.
 

AUTOBAHN

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Welcome to the club!!! O0 O0
I did the cams with the front cover on, and by myself. Would never do it that way again. I was lucky though and it came out perfect.
PI cams, PI intake, 3.73 Gears, and it runs like a raped ape!!! ^-^ I've suprised a couple new edge stangs already.
Mike -- Cruising the Bahn in Germany
AUTOBAHNhere.jpg
 
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Wes8398

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To answer the questions asked:
Twista - I paid $60 for the PI cams with less than 8,000 miles on them (from an '03), $75 for the PI intake (w/ alum. x-over of course) also from an '03, and then about $120 in new gaskets, alt bracket, and so on. I've had this car for just about a year now, and from day 1 I started researching the PI swap. Once I read so much and talked to so many people about how great the swap was, I decided I was gonna do it. I just stockpiled parts over the next few months, waiting for really good deals to pop up on forum classifides and jumping on 'em. I've seen some PI cams go for up to $150 a set, and same with intakes. So if you're impatient, you'll pay twice what I did. If you can play the waiting game, and keep a close eye on classifides from a number of different mustang forums, then you'll get as good a deal as I did.
I do not plan on doing PI heads, ever. The minimal gains yeilded from the heads (5-10 rwhp) are *mostly* from compression increases. I might eventually go forced induction with this car, which wouldn't be a good idea with the compression increase from PI heads. This leads me to the next question.
sanchezcruz_20 - The adapter plates I think you're referring to are only for those who choose to do the PI heads. The adapter plate brings compression back down. But I also remember reading that these plates cause the intake to sit too high (hood clearance becomes an issue), AND that because they eliminate/minimize the compression increase, they also negate most gains seen from PI heads. This is all in reference to untouched (non-ported) PI vs NPI heads, of course. If you're looking for a big p&p job, the PI heads offer a lot more potential than NPI's.
Whistler98 - A friend I met on another Mustang Forum helped me (actually, I helped him) do this swap. He invited me to his house, where he's done a handfull of these swaps already, and we did the swap there. He had the Comp Cams degreeing kit and a print-out of what #'s he was looking for. The hardest thing to do was to get the magnetic base of the guage to hold. We took 4 plus hours degreeing these things, cause the base kept knocking loose or the extension arms would move. It wasn't hard, but VERY tedious. I would suggest fabbing up a bracket for the base, so you can actually attach it somewhere.
 

AUTOBAHN

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Great deal on parts!! O0
I paid $100 for my intake, and the cams were brand new $60 (Ebay) very lucky on that deal.
I used adapter plates that are about 1/8inch thick w/ PI gaskets on one side and NPI on the other, still fits under the the strut brace.
Mike
 

jrock02301

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i used the plates too but mine had the gaskets molded in to it so it was alot more solid paid 85 for them and the cams and intake were 140 for all
 

padge

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I'm liking this thread... I bought some PI cams off Ebay for $56 and PI Intake (alum. x-over) for $66 USD. I haven't got them yet though. I also just bought some 4.10's, C springs, and Tokico Illumina's. I CAN'T WAIT until all of it is installed, I'm so stoked :banana:.
 
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Wes8398 said:
To answer the questions asked:
Twista - I paid $60 for the PI cams with less than 8,000 miles on them (from an '03), $75 for the PI intake (w/ alum. x-over of course) also from an '03, and then about $120 in new gaskets, alt bracket, and so on. I've had this car for just about a year now, and from day 1 I started researching the PI swap. Once I read so much and talked to so many people about how great the swap was, I decided I was gonna do it. I just stockpiled parts over the next few months, waiting for really good deals to pop up on forum classifides and jumping on 'em. I've seen some PI cams go for up to $150 a set, and same with intakes. So if you're impatient, you'll pay twice what I did. If you can play the waiting game, and keep a close eye on classifides from a number of different mustang forums, then you'll get as good a deal as I did.
I do not plan on doing PI heads, ever. The minimal gains yeilded from the heads (5-10 rwhp) are *mostly* from compression increases. I might eventually go forced induction with this car, which wouldn't be a good idea with the compression increase from PI heads. This leads me to the next question.
sanchezcruz_20 - The adapter plates I think you're referring to are only for those who choose to do the PI heads. The adapter plate brings compression back down. But I also remember reading that these plates cause the intake to sit too high (hood clearance becomes an issue), AND that because they eliminate/minimize the compression increase, they also negate most gains seen from PI heads. This is all in reference to untouched (non-ported) PI vs NPI heads, of course. If you're looking for a big p&p job, the PI heads offer a lot more potential than NPI's.
Whistler98 - A friend I met on another Mustang Forum helped me (actually, I helped him) do this swap. He invited me to his house, where he's done a handfull of these swaps already, and we did the swap there. He had the Comp Cams degreeing kit and a print-out of what #'s he was looking for. The hardest thing to do was to get the magnetic base of the guage to hold. We took 4 plus hours degreeing these things, cause the base kept knocking loose or the extension arms would move. It wasn't hard, but VERY tedious. I would suggest fabbing up a bracket for the base, so you can actually attach it somewhere.

Actually, the plates are for those of us who DON'T want to do the PI heads. The plates allow the PI intake to be mated to non-PI heads without having to use RTV and eliminating the debate over which gaskets to use. The PI intake bolts right to the PI heads with no adapter plates needed (as they were intended to). The plates are expensive, especially when purchased as a kit, like the one Livernois Motorsports sells. The kit contains a "modified" PI intake which will clear the stock hood even with the added height of the plates. So, although it is expensive, the peace of mind is worth it to me knowing that I'm not depending on RTV for a proper seal.

I'm just glad to see you are happy with the upgrade and can't wait to complete my install as well!
 
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By the way, I'm glad to see you finally got that timing issue all squared away. I was following your thread at modulardepot.com and was a getting a little nervous about my upcoming install, but looks like there is nothing to fear :dancing6:
 

Magic

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Wes8398 said:
The adapter plates I think you're referring to are only for those who choose to do the PI heads. The adapter plate brings compression back down. But I also remember reading that these plates cause the intake to sit too high (hood clearance becomes an issue), AND that because they eliminate/minimize the compression increase, they also negate most gains seen from PI heads.

Just to clarify, the intake adapter plates have absolutely NO effect on compression ratio. The intake adapter plates as mentioned above help with adapting the PI intake to NPI heads.

The increase in compression ratio when adding PI heads to the NPI motor is solely due to the fact that the PI heads have a smaller combustion chamber (when compared to the NPI heads)= increase in compression ratio.

Hope this clears things up.
 

nesqwick_05

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any other companys sell the adaptor plates? livernois doesnt sell them alone i dont think, and i just dont like the whole rtv thing...
 

ck5.0

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Anyone do it with the Anderson or similar tool????
 
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nes said:
any other companys sell the adaptor plates? livernois doesnt sell them alone i dont think, and i just dont like the whole rtv thing...

Livernois will sell them separately, but you'll have to contact them directly via phone or email. The plates are expensive, so an alternative would be to look in the classifieds sections of some of the various mustang forums. I'd also try contacting detroitspeedshops.com, they also carry the Livernois kit and may be able to sell you the plates separately.

Just FYI, many people have done the intake swap without the plates successfully using RTV. It's just a matter of personal choice, and whether or not you wanna spend the cash. Good luck.
 

AUTOBAHN

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ck4.6 said:
Anyone do it with the Anderson or similar tool????

I used the Anderson Tool to do the cams :mad:. You have to be super careful using it. I wouldn't recommend it for anyone. I've heard the actual Ford Tool is better.
Mike
 

ck5.0

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What did you have to be careful on? Just wondering. I keep hearing about the Anderson tool bending. I know that Snap On makes one to, any ideas as to why the ford one is better?
 

DropTopPony

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The Ford tool must be thicker or made of better material...i used an Anderson Tool before and it did bend and i wouldn't use that same one again.
 

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