Hi I'm new to the forum. You have a lot of good info in the forum.
Question: What are differences between 428 PI Ford original equipment intake manifold and blue thunder intake that is similar. Does the BT have good mfg quality, good fit, non-porous casting? Are there typical problems with buying the old Ford PI intake? Do the coolant passages rot out?
Thanks for all your thoughts.

 

Hi and welcome to FTE!

Blue Thunder is tops imo. The Ford PI intakes that I've used all had various problems like you mentioned. The exhaust crossover cracks, pushrods rub in the holes, bolt holes don't all line up, coolent passages corrode, etc. I don't know what the QC problem at Ford was or was it just my bad luck. Oh, a lot of these manifolds have been cut too.

Hey enjoy the site!

Barry

 

Thanks Barry
I won't buy a used PI. Do the original cast iron CJ intakes have similar problems? Sounds like I should go with BT.
Phil

 

I've not heard of nor had any problems with the CJ intakes except that they weigh a ton! Didn't mean to scare you off of the PI's, there are some good one's out there I'm sure. It's just buyer beware, the tripowers have the same problem with the crossover and coolent ports.

Barry

 

I've never had fitment problems with PI intakes ( and I've had three of them) they do corrode out the exhaust crossover, but since I always plug this, it ain't no problem to weld it up to fix it. Never had one that corroded the water passages, but they can be welded as well. The cost of the BT intake is the biggest drawback.

 

See, baddad457 got all the good ones and I got all the junk!

Barry