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View Full Version : Details on swap of 2018+ Intake manifold on Gen2 Coyote



shark92651
03-27-2021, 05:32 PM
I decided I wanted to swap the intake on my 2017 Gen2 Coyote to a 2018+ Gen3 intake. I watched a few intake comparison videos and it looked like a gain of around 30HP is possible on the top end of the power curve. The trade off seems to be some torque on the low end, especially when in high gear with the IMRC delete. I don't really want to debate whether or not the swap is worth the effort, but rather wanted to detail the process, particularly in how to reuse my painted Gen2 cover with the Gen3 intake.

Here is a shot of my stock 2017 intake with the painted engine cover in place.

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51077119677_3a954b1119_c.jpg

This is the 2018 intake as it came out of the box. Notice the CMCV/IMRC units on the back, they will be deleted. They were just in the way of my engine cover and my tuner thought their benefit was negligible, so I decided to just remove them.

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51044859296_262c26f613_c.jpg

I removed all the IMRC hardware and cut down the plastic boss that holds the pigtail connector with my dremel. I found some inexpensive aluminum IMRC lockouts on eBay for about $18. I powder coated them black before install.

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51044860391_807d02bf8d_c.jpg

The attachment points on the Gen2 cover do not line up with the ones for the Gen3. I pulled out the rubber sockets and made some z-shaped standoffs out of 16ga steel (1/16" thick). I bought the steel at a Metals Supermarket and they cut them to size for me. I used my vise, a torch, and a hammer and punches to bend them into shape. These standoffs basically raise the rubber sockets 1/2" from their original height in the intake. Here they are after powder coat.

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51044953532_aac43ae1a9_c.jpg

To get the brackets in the proper position, I laid down some painters tape and snapped them onto place on the cover and just set it up there and aligned it by eye. Once it looked good, I marked the back edges of one of the brackets with a pencil, removed the cover, and then marked that bracket for drilling holes. I intended to mount the brackets with rivets, but I didn't make the edge of the bracket wide enough so I used some SS machine screws, washers, and locknuts instead. If I had to do it over again, I would make that edge where it mounts about 1/2 - 3/4" wide so I could just rivet it in place. Once I had one bracket mounted, I placed the cover back on it, marked the next one, and repeated this process until all four brackets were in the proper position.

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51044131698_e6ff1755de_c.jpg

And here is a test fit of the cover. It sits about 1/2" higher than on the stock manifold, but does not look too bad and no need to mess around with cutting down a Gen3 cover and getting it painted.

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51044132423_9380fdb046_c.jpg

shark92651
03-27-2021, 05:33 PM
Today I finally got around to installing the intake and it wasn't that tough of a job. I removed the existing air cleaner, MAF tube from the throttle body, along with the heater bypass hose, the catch can, the PCV hose and everything else that was in the way. I transferred the throttle body from the 2017 intake to the 2018 intake. Before I disconnected the fuel line, I pulled the fuel pump fuse and turned the engine over a couple times to drain as much fuel out of the line as I could. Even so, some spillage occurred when the line was disconnected, and also some coolant when the heater bypass hose was removed so have some towels or rags ready.

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51077024956_3f26d20526_c.jpg

There are some good instructional videos out there that detail the entire process for a Mustang, so I won't go into too much detail here. Here is a shot with the fuel rail and the intake removed. It was kind of a pain to pull the CMCV/IMRC pigtail connectors out of the back. There also was a couple press-in harness mounts on the back as well that I had to pop off.

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51007840725_82922c4d35_c.jpg

Here is the new intake back in place with everything reinstalled or reconnected. Since I deleted the IMRC, I just capped all three of the vacuum ports at the front of the intake - the only one used is the passenger side PCV. Interestingly, it looks like they moved the "vacuum tank" input from the rear of the intake to the front of the intake on the Gen3.

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51007841465_727a63f472_c.jpg

And finally with the engine cover installed. It didn't turn out too bad.

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51076328528_516a8d2213_c.jpg

I turned the key and it cranked right up with no issues - success! The only thing left to do was install the updated tune I received from Lund. Lund also killed the P0116 error code so that saved me from having to send my PCM back to Ford to correct that. Maybe it is in my head, but I swear it runs a little smoother now than it did before. After some shakedown test drives, I took it out for some datalogging. That WOT to 7200 RPM really pins you against the seat! My butt dyno is very happy with the swap. I really should get it dyno'ed at some point to see what the actual numbers are.

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51077137226_87692bdd08_c.jpg

Alan_C
03-27-2021, 10:47 PM
Thanks for documenting the swap to the Gen 3 intake. This is a upgrade I am considering down the road, only I will keep the CMCVs. In my case the car is not a roadster but a 1970 Mustang Mach 1. With the higher curb weight, I want to keep all the low end torque I can.
Most people will not be able to tell you did the swap, great job.

edwardb
03-28-2021, 07:04 AM
Nice work and nice write-up.

q4stix
03-29-2021, 03:15 PM
That's a good idea with the higher standoffs to reuse the Gen 2 cover. I'm sure that will help for appearance options of the Gen 3 Coyote crowd too

shark92651
04-19-2021, 02:57 PM
Another update to this thread. Shortly after the intake manifold swap, I was taking the car out and my Spectre MAF tube fell out of the coupler and killed the engine. Luckily I was able to pull into a residential side street and put it back in to get the car running again. I know I am not the only one to run into this since the Spectre tube and elbow do not have bead rolls on them. I decided to swap out to the the Treadstone parts that FFR now recommends for the Gen3. The Treadstone MAF tube has bead rolls machined into each end and the entire intake is simpler with a single silicon elbow and only three hose clamps instead of five. With the shorter air filter there is more room and less chance of the filter rubbing on anything. I sent data logs to Lund but there was virtually no difference between this setup and the previous one, so the tuner recommended no need to update the tune.

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51126950135_738f04ac9d_c.jpg

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51126140231_1fdc7bcff3_c.jpg

For comparison here is the old Spectre air intake setup

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51077029721_fcaccee4ed_c.jpg

Paul2STL
04-20-2021, 11:03 AM
Do you have the Treadstone part numbers. The ones in the instructions do not show up on the site.

shark92651
04-21-2021, 11:30 AM
Do you have the Treadstone part numbers. The ones in the instructions do not show up on the site.

MAPHL35 MAF Mass Air Flow Adapter Pipe, Nissan, FORD and GM, Hitachi Style - 3.5" Low
S35090BLK 90 Degree Silicone Hose Couplers 3.50" - 3.50" (Black)
AF10044 Universal Hi-Flow Air Filter Medium, 3.5"

Yeah their website is not the best. I am not 100% sure what the part number is for the red air filter since I ordered the black one. When the order did not ship after a few days, I emailed and they told me the black filter was out of stock and asked if I would take red, which I did and I think it probably looks better in my engine bay anyway. To me it looks like a Small, not Medium, but I don't see the 3.5" neck in Small on their website. You may want to just email them with the pic of my filter and ask them what it is.

nuhale
04-21-2021, 11:42 AM
Did you just use the PCV stem & grommet that you had on the spectre setup and drill 7/8" hole in the silicone 90?

shark92651
04-21-2021, 08:30 PM
Did you just use the PCV stem & grommet that you had on the spectre setup and drill 7/8" hole in the silicone 90?

I reused the PCV stem. There didn't seem to be a need to use the rubber grommet in the silicon elbow. It's hard to cut a clean hole in it with a drill. I ended up using an xacto knife to clean up the hole to an appropriate size and then pressed in the stem and it holds fine without the grommet. Would probably work fine either way.

toadster
02-07-2022, 04:17 PM
great writeup! I think I may want to do the CMCV delete on my Gen3

I know MMR makes the two billet plates for $45! Assume cheaper ones can be found?

found a zip-tie solution ;)


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1DuIv4BmJ-0

shark92651
02-07-2022, 08:38 PM
Yeah I considered the zip-tie solution, almost went that route. The ones I found on eBay were only $18 so not too bad.