GT40 Explorer Intake Prep – What do I need?

[Terrorist 5.0]

I cannot speak from experience on everything, but you don't need the Fox style EGR coolant stuff, SN95 EGR just bolts on to the elbow, and you don't need to drill and tap the lower. The IAT is located on the intake boot. The drilling and tapping the lower was a Fox thing.

Good call on the RTV too.

 

[ttocs]

nah trust me polish it.

 

[kas_lar]

You don't need a fox body egr agapter, what you will need is an sn95 throttle body adapter. It is a 45 degree elbow. sn95 egr valve bolts to this adapter.
IIRC, fms sold a 65mm piece, pp/mac was 70mm, tf is 75 mm. (eddy was either 65 or 70mm).

You will also need to modify and plug some of the vacuum outlets.

This may give you some ideas.

Thanks for replying. I've crossed out the vacuum outlets I can see in your pictures that I need to remove.
Did you install another pipe where I circled in blue?

EDIT: I've got the TF 75mm secondhand here in europe

 

[kas_lar]

Just an FYI, if you have not already got the 75mm tb the throat on the GT40 intake is only 70mm. You can port it to 75 and if you have the time/tools go for it but if not you might be able to save a few bucks with a 70mm and not lose any performance.

Thanks – I've got a local machinist who can port the intake. I think I'm going to pay him to do it by hand.

 

[kas_lar]

Hi all. I had great success removing the old gaskets yesterday, and I tried cleaning it again. I think I'm going to have a local machinist sandblast both of the intakes and port the front intake to 75 mm to match the 75 mm TB.
I'm also thinking about paying him to clean/polish the runners, but I'm not sure if that's just money out the window.

 

[ttocs]

I forgot that you will need the elbow to fit the sn95 throttle body. I am not sure what the diameter is on it or if you can take 5mm of material out of it to make them all line up. Someone else will need to comment on that, but beyond that I am not sure what the plans are for the car but imo ya don't need a 75 mm till you get into boost or better heads at the minimum. 70 is plenty.

Is it just me or does the lower look like it has been ported? The holes look a little bigger to me and some are not perfect?

 

[Wmac]

Thanks for replying. I've crossed out the vacuum outlets I can see in your pictures that I need to remove.
Did you install another pipe where I circled in blue?

EDIT: I've got the TF 75mm secondhand here in europe
View attachment 46749

Yes, cap or plug the front ports. The rear "twin" cap can have one side capped, if the upper will bolt down without interference with the valve covers. I have taller covers, so had to use a barbed ell.
Use all your existing hardware where possible. Lower bolts, t/b studs, egr bolts or studs, etc. For the upper, 2 short bolts and possibly thread all for the other 4. Measure each, cut 1/4" shorter. The 2 in the center are slightly shorter than the outside two.
For gaskets, if ordering from R/A, all for 96 explorer. Consider multiplies, won't cost much more for shipping. You will need to make your own adapter to upper.
If Summit ships to your location, Ford Racing has inexpensive lower gaskets, pkg of 5 upper gaskets and the trickflow adapter gaskets. They usually have the egr and t/stat gaskets as well.

 

[Wmac]

The intake is virgin, no port work whatsoever.

As mentioned, consider bead plasting over sand plasting. Not as messy or as aggressive. Bead blasting leaves a very nice finish and can be clear coated to maintain the finish.

If ported or blasted, the baffle plate should be removed. Just spiral rivets, pry up and twist out. Can be easily tapped 1/4 - 20 unc. Red loctite on short s/s bolts.
Wash thoroughly to remove ALL debris.

I wouldn't waste time or money on the upper. Good washing and maybe painting.

 

[Terrorist 5.0]

Wmac makes an excellent point that I haven’t seen mentioned. Any porting on the upper is a waste of money for an otherwise stock motor.

The real gains are in porting the lower, and even then, still an otherwise stock motor. Won’t really benefit much.

 

[kas_lar]

Hey guys,
Getting my early Explorer GT40 lower ready for my ’95 GT convertible. I’m not porting anything — it’s just a nice slow SN95 cruiser


Before I send it off for vapor blasting, I’d like to confirm what I’m doing here:

• 3 red X’s: I plan to remove those small vacuum tubes completely and tap the holes shut (thinking M10 bolts with thread sealant). The guy at the vapor blasting will be doing it for me.
• Blue X: Originally had that double-T fitting (last photo). I’ll probably reinstall it, block one side and leave one outlet open in case I need vacuum later.

Would be great if someone could confirm this plan — especially the idea of fully capping the three red ones.


Thanks as always for the guidance
— Kasper
’95 GT Convertible – BBK 75mm TB, Trick Flow elbow, Explorer GT40 upper/lower, EGR retained

 

[ttocs]

unless they are just throwing in the removal of the old vac ports I would just get some rubber caps to put over them with a clamp and save the cash

 

[kas_lar]

unless they are just throwing in the removal of the old vac ports I would just get some rubber caps to put over them with a clamp and save the cash

It's almost free. He owns me for breaking a center cap a year ago

 

[kas_lar]

Quick update:
1 – I’ve made my own gaskets for the elbow/intake/TB They don’t look great, but I hope they’ll work.
2 – I’ve capped off three front vacuum pipes (with loctite) myself.
3 – I’ve noticed that the EGR port on the GT40 upper intake gets blocked when the Trick Flow elbow is connected. Is that going to cause a problem?

Also, look at the Trick Flow elbow where my pinky is inside the hole — is that for the EGR coming from the headers?

Thanks for all the help!

 

[Wmac]

Plugs look ok, gasket looks ok. The holes that you circled are for the t/b bracket.

The egr valve bolts up below that on the trickflow adapter, but it looks like someone cut the bottom of the "ear" off. You may have to drill and tap a new hole.

Remove your egr valve and mock it up.

 

[ttocs]

is locktight a good way to seal the openings? I might have gone with rtv first myself, if not they make little rubber caps that can go over the nipples, or just remove the port and put a bolt/plug in it.

 

[Terrorist 5.0]

I myself like small vacuum caps you can buy at any parts store. The least hassle, looks the cleanest, and isn’t permanent.

 

[Wmac]

He'll be ok with the plugs, won't see them once flipped over.

The next hurdle will be the egr valve, may have a gross exhaust leak with only 1 bolt. I would check this asap by removing the egr valve and decide how to seal it.

Should look something like this.

 

[kas_lar]

Hi everyone.
Thanks for helping out again and again.

I'm almost ready to order and I'm going with Rockauto with these items for my GT40 upgrade:

FEL-PRO MS95952 - would this be okay?

FEL-PRO ES70599 - o-rings for stock injectors

I'll try to reuse the bolts as much as I can.

 

[kas_lar]

Just a quick and funny update.

I ordered Fel-Pro MS95952 intake gaskets from RockAuto, shipping to Denmark, and dropped both of the intakes off to be sandblasted at a machine shop.

I’ve always wanted to have the intakes ported, but the machine shop guy said that it would be a lot of work, and I even bought a cheap Dremel tool myself. I tried to port it myself, but I didn’t get far before I started cursing and burning/wasting the heads/bits of the Dremel tool. I gave up…

But then suddenly, in a Facebook group for Swedish Mustang parts, I saw a BigDog-ported GT40 for sale. The cost of the parts including shipping was less than what I paid for my current GT40 here locally in Denmark. I bought the BigDog-ported intake and had it shipped across Sweden, and the lower intake is now being sandblasted.

I need to cap off the IAC on the lower and cap the ports on the upper. The upper intake is painted black, and I just need to freshen up the black colour and I’ll make the lower one silver.

I’m planning to port-match the Fel-Pro upper gasket and order a 1262 lower gasket.

 

[ttocs]

I can't say I have ever seen one ported so extremely including one that I knew that was extruded-honed, and the area around the tops look a little strange to me.

A dremel is mickey mouse for this job. I had the lower ported and then I ported the uppers TB opening to 75 mm but I used a 60 gallon compressor with a die grinder/carbide bit to hog it out. With that it does not take much time but a dremel, yea good luck.