Got the Shaker installed today...
3 hours? I don't think so....
I'm a fabricator and don't like to do things twice so maybe I was too careful - it was more like 5 hours end to end.. Hopefully some of this information will help you or someone you know do this job a little easier or will clue them in that they may actually need to have someone else do this job if they're not pretty familiar with hand tools..
The instructions are actually a little sparse in places. For instance - they tell you to pull the hood insulator blanket off, but don't tell you how to get the expansion buttons out without damaging them.
The template - wow... A giant photo-copy. I only wish it would have been perfect. The alignment marks on the template were fine in the rear-center and rear-left (driver's side) but the rear-right alingment mark was off by over 1/8". Now 1/8" doesn't sound like much, twisting the template so the rear-left and rear-right were aligned, moved the front-center alignment off by 3/4"
I spent a good hour just getting the measurements right and getting the flat paper template to try and conform to the compound curvature of the hood. It paid off as the hole in the hood turned out to be perfectly located..
Cutting the hood. They tell you to make sure you have the hood elevated, but they don't tell you how high. I used a 4x4 about 2' long laid across the air-inlet hose (left to right). There is much of the double-panel that you will be cutting through with your jig-saw. Take it nice and slow. I spent a good 45 minutes just cutting out the hole in the hood with a fine tooth carbide blade. I stopped plenty of times to clean the blade and let it cool.
One thing they don't tell you is that when you are about 2/3 of the way done with cutting the hole, the center of the hole starts vibrating a LOT and it threatens to bind on your jig-saw blade (not good)... I used a styrofoam block on top of the engine to support the bottom of the hood (the hole) to keep it from screwing up the operation..
The front mounting bolts are a royal PITB. I will re-engineer this. As it was - I did end up notching the front facia a little to make enough room to get the tools in place while still being able to see what you are working on. The job does go a little easier if you pull the 2 - 8mm bolts out that hold the coolant reservoir in place and move it aside while you get the bolts started.
Don't tighten the bolts until you test-close the hood and make sure you have the scoop centered in the hood-hole. Make your adjustment and then tighten the bolts.
The hood ring and facia panel are not marked front/rear. There is a notch about 5" wide on one end of the ring and facia - that goes to the rear.
They tell you to trim the bottom of the intake for the clamp that holds the ball-socket mount on. My intake needed no trimming at all. Born on date of my car was 12/04.
Extra stuff you will need:
* They want you to use thread-locker on the allen bolt that retains the ball-socket mount but they don't include it in the kit.
* A Rat-Tail file will be handy when you finally realize that you may need to notch the front of the engine cover to get at the throttle-body bolts.
* Duct tape (
Red-
Green is my hero) - It's handy to tape the throttle-body bolts to the socket. It sucks when you drop the bolt out of the socket and it is buried somewhere under the cover that takes you an additional 20 minutes to remove and re-install..
* 2" brown masking tape (the good stuff not cheap stuff) to tape off the hood before you put the template on it. The blue painter's masking tape releases too easily and will wad-up as you are using your jig-saw on the hood (not good).
* Xacto knife to cut the template hole - it works a lot better than a razor blade or carpet knife.
* Pop-Rivet tool to pull the 1/8" pop-rivets in the hood trim ring.
If you ever need to take your car to the dealer for service - you best give them a heads-up on how this scoop/engine cover is attached. They're going to hate your guts if you don't...
One thing that I wish the kit had was an insulating gasket to insulate / seal the engine cover to the hood.. Rain water is channeled pretty well, but if you end up in a monsoon or carwash, your engine compartment is going to take on some water. I don't even want to think about what snow and ice would do with this system...
The end result was gorgeous. The car looks good and looks factory.. And yes - the shaker shakes!
Also - thanks to Glenn (tapd117) here for sending me the Yellow letters "MUSTANG" for the engine cover.. They look great! I just need to figure out how to post pics!