Speedy recovery man, take the good with the bad we all know that news could have been alot worse and hopefully you will be 100% in no time, best of luck
If your getting unmettered air from the intake that could definitely do it, try the stock air box and get a revision for that and see what happens, you could also smoke test your intake see if you have and vacuum leaks or a bad gasket before putting the stock air box back on, best of luck
I'd drive both and see what you like, personally for me id get a mach 1 ( and regret not getting 1 when i bought my s550) especially if its not a track car, for me I love the way they look, I love they come with a tremec transmission, and everytime you want to upgrade something your not paying...
Depends how hard you are on the car, how hot you get them, how many back to back pulls you make, how many miles are already on them and many other things.
If you think about it the old roush cars and now whipple cars come with cats on them from the factory and they last. Im mot saying you will...
Can try heating the pully with a soldering torch so it heats up and expands then pull it off and then do the same for the new 1, heat it up push it on as much as you can then use the bolt to pull it the rest of the way, best of luck
Did you reach out to benny at levittown ford hes on here all the time, he got me my ford performance track shocks and struts at a killer price when everyone else was telling me they are on back order