This winter, C&L Performance is finally coming out with their intake manifold for the 2005-2009 Mustang GT. Go to "cnlperformance.com" for details.

 

The manifolds are being sent out for testing in a few weeks.

 

C&L has a GREAT writeup on this intake manifold at http://www.cnlperformance.com/05_3v.html. It is ALWAYS nice to see companies bringing products to market and actually explaining how and when it helps instead of just saying "40hp with a simple 10 minute bolt on!!!!". That definitely raises my opinion of C&L quite a bit. And my opinion wasn't low to begin with.

 

I heard $799, cast instead of plastic, +24hp, +28tq. I haven't heard if it needs aftermarket fuel rails, the Steeda CMCV plates, etc.

 

In for actual dyno results.

 

It's been in the making for long enough....... hopefully it does not disappoint.

 

It eliminates the CMCV plates all together. The runner is longer to make up the difference.

A MAJOR advantage to this intake is for people with ported heads. If you put a set of CMCV plates up to a Livernois ported head you can see that the runners on the delete plates are actually a good bit smaller and are a restriction on your nice new ported heads. The CMCV plates can also not be ported to fit. You CAN however port the C&L intake to match. So for built setups this manifold is going to gain some serious numbers.

 

My delete plates are billet and are larger sized ports than the economy plates. I have considered Extrune Honed the heads. But once again I have budget restraints.

 

I'm with Tom. I'd like to stay N/A. If this manifold shows good numbers I'd like to try it along with a set of ported heads. Yeah, I may end up spending a little more than what I blower would cost but the cost would be spread out over time instead of 6K at one time. Still time to decide.

Jon

 

Hey Jon, your not alone. I too am staying N/A, and this setup is VERY enticing!! Just gotta find out eventually, if it will fit under a strut tower brace. Mine is color matched to the car (blue with white stripes) and really stands out in the engine bay. if this is the same height, I'm good to go. knowing my luck, its probably not though.

 

I am glad this was helpful. Also, FAST is not coming out with theirs, nor trickflow, as far as I know. Hm 799$ for 24hp(C&L manifold) vs. $699 for 30hp(intake/tune). I doubt the gains will be EVEN 24hp, depending on the mods the owner has installed prior. I am sure you would have to put it on a fully stock car to get those kind of gains.

 

All we can do is wait and see what sort of numbers it. What horsepower per dollar spent would you have to see in order for it to make sense?

 

I checked, and it was 33$ per hp. But, I even stated earlier, if you have existing mods that lower airway restriction, gains will go down bigtime.

 

Actually, I disagree, and I think you're looking at it the wrong way around... On a stock engine, there's no way the VE is high enough to completely tax the ability of the OE manifold to support airflow, so the benefit will be seen by the engine built up to increase VE. Also, the road to power begins with a tune, so it's not an either-or type of situation. I wouldn't doubt that some adjustments to the fuel and spark maps would need to be done with the new manifold, so you're probably looking at needing a tuner anyway. At that point, you might as well add on a CAI kit for good measure. The stock manifold does an outstanding job (which is why FAST and Trickflow aren't bothering to release) until you get the engine breathing quite a bit more than it does from the factory. It wouldn't surprise me to see little or no gain with this manifold until you've got cams, ported heads, and long-tubes on the car. At that point, you're kind of "maxed out" in terms of N/A stock long-block building, so the manifold may be the cherry on top...

Doing just the manifold would be kind of like sticking a tunnel-ram manifold on a stock 302 with a 2-barrel carb on top.

 

It IS nice to see just how well these engines are designed!

Now if only Ford had use REAL connecting rods instead of the cracked powder metal rods!

 

one thing i think will help is a tune after because c&l said some cylinders were getting more air than other with the stock setup so with c&l you should theorecticaly be able to add more timing without pinging

 

It's more than that... With the C&L, the runner length and cross-section will have changed, which in turn will affect the VE of the engine overall, never mind specific cylinders... RPM and load dependent, the cylinders may wind up inhaling a larger air-charge than with the stock manifold, which in turn will require more fuel, and will require a different timing map to maintain drivability. None of this is a bad thing, but it's important to realize that most likely, this will not be a bolt-on HP increase. It will require the tune for support, much the same way that a good CAI kit will require a tune, if for no other reason than to correct the transfer function for the larger MAF sensor.

 

anything C&L comes out with is always good, as far as I have seen...

 

Sounds very practical. I just thought the more mods you have installed to diminish air restriction, the less possible power from any future mods. For instance, if you install everything possible to open up the airways besides heads, and you then install them, the potential gain would be less, is my opinion.

 

I wonder what kind of gains you would see from NA with a CAI, this intake, and ported/polished heads. I'm very interested but have no idea how much this would cost