2001 GT intake question

[Galadrium]

I was curious to know if my 2001 GT has the PI intake manifold with the aluminum coolant crossover instead of the plastic one.

I've tried searching but cant figure it out exactly. What does the non-plastic crossover look like. Does anyone have any pics of what I am looking for?

Thanks in advance!

 

[Night Shifter]

you should have the intake with the aluminum crossover

does your intake manifold look like this?
View attachment 218221

or is the whole thing plastic?

 

[Galadrium]

Looks like I have the all plastic one. How important is it to replace the manifold? This car has almost 40K miles on it.

Thanks again!

 

[TheSalad]

My opinion would be to start looking for a replacement one with the aluminum crossover. When you find a good deal, buy it.
If you don't mind that one day you will be driving your car and you will suddenly get coolant all over the place and that you most likely be left stranded, then just hold on to the intake until the old one breaks, then replace it.
If that bugs you then you could just take a few hours on a Saturday and swap them out.
If you can't do the work yourself, I suggest learning how to do it You could get always pay someone to do it too, I guess.

My 96 GT had the plastic intake on it for over 95,000 miles and nothing ever happened. I replaced it with the aluminum one when I did my PI swap. I had a friend that had a 98 that cracked his when we went drag racing. Luckily the crack was small enough that he could drive home without any serious leakage or engine damage. Not all failures are that inconsequential though.

 

[Night Shifter]

yep you definitely have the plastic one...very clean engine bay though

if i was you, id look into finding a replacement..eventually it will crack...sometimes it wont even be noticeable but the leak will be there

 

[Galadrium]

I think I'll be looking for a replacement manifold. Thanks for all the help guys!

 

[wmburns]

Check the coolant level for extra service life

FWIIW, the two things that most often kill the plastic intake cross over are:

• Hot gas in the cross over caused by low coolant levels.
• Over tighting the t-stat housing.

Keep those two items at bay, and for street service, it is possible for the plastic manifold to last the life of the car.

There is of course a certain percentage of ppl that will do everything correct and the plastic manifold will still crack. The percent is lower if the coolant level is always maintained.

 

[RedDaemon]

definitely a plastic crossover like everyone before me has stated.

i swapped out my manifold about this time last year before i drove down to NC for the summer. there was nothing wrong with my plastic intake at the time but I thought to myself, "If I drive down to NC and it busts at some point along the way, or it happens while I am down there I will need it towed to some shop (or dealership) and wind up having to pay more money that way than doing it myself and KNOWING it wasnt a shotty job using crap hardware (Dorman FTL)".

Took me a little more than a day to complete (wasn't in a rush and tried to clean a bunch of stuff up while a bunch of stuff was taken off) including replacing the o rings and caps on the injectors. I don't regret the decision one bit and havent had any problems with it since.

heres my writeup if you need guidance:
99-01 PI to PI Intake Manifold Swap Writeup - Mustang Forums at StangNet

 

[Night Shifter]

glad you mentioned the dorman RED..

OP make sure when/if you replace you mani, that you replace it with a ford racing mani and not the dorman version. unless you want to lose performance

 

[Galadrium]

heres my writeup if you need guidance:
99-01 PI to PI Intake Manifold Swap Writeup - Mustang Forums at StangNet

Actually, reading your writeup is what made me think about replacing it. Looks very well done and straight forward. I'll let you know how the install goes.

 

[RedDaemon]

good luck with everything

 

[fast97gt]

you can gettim new and used for resonable. i had 3 im down to 2 now, i bought them all from the same junk yard for $200 for all 3. 02-04 mustangs, 01-08 crown vics and grand marqius have the aluminum x-over and are PI intakes. the 05 and newer CVs have a insilation peice on the intake runners to keep the heat transfer down in the intake. more commonly known as "heat soak".