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plan "B" ? serious suggestions on upgraded components wile my heads are off...94 3.8

3814 Views 55 Replies 5 Participants Last post by  Markstang
plan "B" ? serious suggestions on upgraded components wile my heads are off...94 3.8

ive gotten a 3.8 here and im hitting up plan B. Plan A was split port swap on my stock 94, and do the windstar intake swap wile im at it!. ...

Did not work out...i cant fix the high idle issue...and seems noone is willng to be payed to work on it...so here i am its been 2 years , i want to drive my dang car again, so if i pretend i did nothing and go back to stock block....

what parts from there up can i buy to get the best performance...

I might as well throw out i was thinkin into turbo's, i kno ebay ones can break and are unreliable, but can i buy one off a fellow stang owner, and just get the piping kit off ebay?

the split port and windstar setup is still on the car at the moment, dont want to get all pissy and tear it apart when i have nothing to put back on...need serious thoughts so i can make a good decision on buying all the necessary parts.. i appreciate it once again guys
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There has got to be someone there with enough brain cells to find out where the vacuum leak is.....this is kinda sad.

and im not downing on you bud, but seriously only a couple things can cause what i recall you describing, and the fact noone can find the problem is just.........

If nothing else, pull it apart, and take pictures of the lower intake, upper intake, and throttle body all seperated from each other from all sides and post the pictures, the problem would most likely be obvious to one of the people here.

I just put my 4.2 back togeather with split port heads and its running great, we litterally first fired it friday night.
yea and im not a stupid guy *in my opinion* so this really gets to me that i cant solve this problem...but i mean ye all probably used mustang heads and everything for the split port swap..i used windstar heads off an 2001 windstar, the upper and lower intake off that aswell, it isnt the same low profile intake ive seen used in this thread...i thought it would still work...

I just towed the mustang from the garage i brought it to be fixed...they said theyd do it...ended up burrying my car in a snow bank for over a month, when i flipped and got them to pull it out, he hooked onto my rad support and tore my whole radiator, ac condenser and even bumper came tearing off.... im not taking this car to another garage, they wont even pay for the repairs, so im on my own...



if everyone seems to think this is a simple vaccume leak...i think i remember someone saying spray the entire engine bay with carb cleaner wile the car is running? is this something i can do before i pull everything apart and send you pics??


Check these pics, dont mind me on the bonnet haha just excited thats the day i was taking it to the garage to get fixed...the rest are 2 months later after he tore it apart, i just went and took the car back

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Start over. I'd get the heads checked at a machine shop, they can even check the intakes to see if they are warped. I realize you did a bunch of research, but something went wrong. You'd be better off finding the older Windstar intake as well, the 96-98 I believe.
k what would be the next step??? i did do what you just recommended before i tore my stock 3.8 apart, the machine shop shaved so a lil to make sure its clean for the mls gasket and no warpage, also cleaned up the mating surfaces of the lower intake, he drilled the whole for the temp sensor and all for me... bathed them in a solution and a small coat of grey paint. ..if i was to assume i have good parts...and assuming these parts are compatible....whats the next step? ...im determined in fixing this, i literally cant find anyone in this city that is willing to be payed to work on it...im on an island here and unless its brand new, noone wants to touch it
i was suspecting a falacy in the upper or lower intakes and associated hardware.

IMRCs removed and the shaft ports not filled in,
upper and lower not mating properly,
lower and heads not mating,
idle controller leak,
main vacuum lines from the manifold open,
idle controller not present,
Throttlebody not closing.
about all i can think of to make it rap uncontrollably on start.
i was suspecting a falacy in the upper or lower intakes and associated hardware.

IMRCs removed and the shaft ports not filled in,
upper and lower not mating properly,
lower and heads not mating,
idle controller leak,
main vacuum lines from the manifold open,
idle controller not present,
Throttlebody not closing.
about all i can think of to make it rap uncontrollably on start.
Holy ****.....imrc..thats the shaft in the lower intake with all the butterfly flaps in each opening correct?,,,,cuz i pulled the shaft and DID NOT fill between intake tubes....is this what your mentioning boss??

Throttle body is fully shut

How would one know if the lower isnt sat on the heads properly? I mean all bolts lined up and tourqued in, ....would sprayin carb cleaner all around vaccum lines and the lower intake mating edge get a response if theres a leak? Like sputtering or is there positive pressure meaning the carb cleaner will just be blown back away from the problem area?


This has gotten me closer, keep it coming guys, any smalllllest thing u can think of would be greatly appreciated
Holy ****.....imrc..thats the shaft in the lower intake with all the butterfly flaps in each opening correct?,,,,cuz i pulled the shaft and DID NOT fill between intake tubes....is this what your mentioning boss??

This has gotten me closer, keep it coming guys, any smalllllest thing u can think of would be greatly appreciated
BINGO, if those arent sealed up, especially on the back of the lower where the shafts exit and connect to the actuator, Those need to be sealed up with JBweld or such!

I would roll a big ball of JBweld for each port hole and smash it in all the way, make sure it will be sealed very strongly!, and then sand the surface to its smooth.

Or just put the shafts back in and lock them in the open position from the back of the manifold.
Im going to tap and plug the 2 exit shaft holes on the very back of the intake.....but do i need to seal every small hole between intake ports?? Or does vaccume pressure not be affected by that?

There was also some sort of gellie/ gunk in the corner of what i believe as oil ports in my head when i took off the lower manifold, any thoughts as to what would cause that?

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Yes, you have to seal all the holes or there will be flow problems between the cylinders. Basically, the engine cannot meter the air properly since it is just going all over the place. Seal all the holes.


FInd someone to dip that poor manifold in a cleaning bath, most machine shops can/will do this cheap. It looks HORRIBLE and you don't want that corrosion to stop a gasket from sealing.
thank youuuuu sir, and they look SHOTTT, not sure if you seen the pic a few posts up, of my car burried under a snow bank....that lower intake was dipped/cleaned and even painted by a machine shop before i installed them in december....when i took off my lower, that white crusty stuff was even on my plastic o-ring gasket......i dunno it falls off when i whipe my finger over it, im just curious how it got all through on my gasket
I bet your excited now that you know how to fix your stang, im sure your not the first one to not realize those holes need to be plugged on the first goround without the IMRFs.
So any news on this, did you get it all fixed up bud?
heys guys sorry its been awile on the update, i got it together last week, and the idle is lower, still a bit high WITH IDLE AIR HOOKED UP. but when i DISCONNECT IDLE AIR the idle almost suffers and will stall if i dont hold a bit of gas....

Theres still a ((escaping air sound)) from what i can understand..i mean if i keep the car running from under the bonnet with the throttle body, its a constant moving air noise, coming from the back part of the motor it sounds, but frig theres nothing disconected, all my hoses are on...its hard to completly pinpoint because one of the bolting flange on my passanger exaust is makin some noise aswell,....i sprayed the whole motor and vaccum connections with brake cleaner wile it was runing to see if i could get a choking on the car where the leak was at, buttt all i did was choke myself when the fumes from the burning carb cleaner go in my face hahah.....



Ive been doin some serious thinkin, cuz i wanna drive this car again, suposing its as gutless as a honda civic motor....and i think my problem is im mixing these stupid windstar parts up with my mustang when im not totally skilled and understanding in the function of every lil part and thier compatability......i wanna just do the SPLIT PORT SWAP...and shut down the windstar intake thing....the windstar setup would require a hole in my bonnet, if i could even get it running correctly, id have to rewire the iac and stuff to be able to close the bonnet....and i cant even get this running the way it is...the injectors i have seem to be lose in my heads, its like there to short for to fully insert in the fuel rail...i think if i just go mustang everything, ill be in the clear...anddd not need a tune. is this correct guys??
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i alsoooo have allllll the 94 stock 3.8 heads and intake, EXCEPt the throttle body, i cut that thing to pieces trying to make a new TB for the windstar setup.


Could those MLS 98+ gaskets i bought for the split port swap heads....be reused as replacement for the FELPRO gasket 94-97 used....i mean i still got my 94 block,,,but using 01 heads...so i was told to get 01 MLS gaskets...its still the same block, so i went back to 3.8 litre single port heads, should still work eh??
Anyone still following? I noticed im a little ways down the list, i figured by posting it would bring me up top...maybe not..
your posts are confuising

are you using the 01 heads now or te single port heads????
no bud im into a split port and windstar intake swap....but im not able to get it working correctly, just sayin that if we cant figure out why i hear leaking air, or if i find its a serious problem like a cracked intake...then i have alll my single port stuff still here, except throttle body....if i had to take my windstar setup off the car...would it be just as easy to install 99++ mustang parts to carry on with split port....or would it be better and cheaper to just go back to single port and have my old heads that blew the gasket just machined and cleaned
I'd either get a new Windstar intake or use a Mustang intake and see what happens.
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