Spart
Well-Known Member
- Thread starter
- #1
First of all I tried to contact PMAS directly to sort this out, but their web contact form is broken.
I don't really know another way to get in touch with them, and this info will hopefully help someone else anyway!
First of all, I don't know if I got an updated version of the intake or what, but what I got looks different in a few areas from pictures I saw in the big 70+ page PMAS thread, the product page on the PMAS website as well as the instructions on the PMAS website. Most notably, the MAF looks to be a regular Ford MAF mounted directly in the airstream, with the plug perpendicular to the airflow. The perpendicular plug creates some clearance issues you have to work around. I'm not sure if the MAF being directly in the airstream creates a long-term issue with an oiled filter that I need to be worried about.
On the positive side of things, my intake came with provisions for a sound tube delete - a cap on the intake itself, and a plug for the firewall. This is much appreciated as I can't see how you could ever use the sound tube and the heat shield at the same time. There just isn't room for both.
Onto the hardware issues!
You need to supply your own fender washer to bolt the heat shield in place. The instructions specify installing the heat shield with the factory bolt, which has a washer. The hole in the PMAS heat shield is physically larger than this washer though, so in order for it to be secure I had to dig around and find a fender washer that fit.
Not a huge deal, but small stupid stuff like this is a bad show stopper when your DD is torn apart in your driveway and the hardware store is ten miles away. Looking at the pictures in the PMAS install instructions, the version of the heat shield in those pictures appears to have a smaller hole for the mounting bolt. I'm guessing they opened it up due to issues with tolerances without giving consideration to how big the washer on the factory bolt is.
The supplied hose clamp connecting the PMAS to the silicone reducer that clamps to the throttle body is too small. The hose clamp that I received in this position was marked 91-114. When I attempted to secure it, the end of the hose clamp wasn't fully engaged by the worm gear on the clamp and instead of tightening, it bent and stripped the end of the hose clamp.
This was a bit of a show stopper, since around where I live a big hose clamp isn't easy to find. I ended up driving 30 miles to an O'Reilly Auto and bought a generic silicone intake coupler, not for the coupler but for one of the hose clamps it came with! That hose clamp fit perfect and is marked 94-118.
If this was my DD, I'd have been stuck hitching a ride or undoing everything I had just done and reinstalling the factory setup just to go find a hose clamp! Not good.
Now, onto the issues with the instructions.
The first problem I ran into is how they say (and show) to remove the tubes connected to the factory intake for the crankcase breather, sound tube, and whatever that third thing is.
The instructions say to remove the plastic clips but you do NOT want to do that. Instead you want to push in on the clip and remove the hose. I didn't know that though, and following the instructions I spent about fifteen minutes carefully removing one of those clips. Once I got it out I was just thinking "this can't be right, I almost ruined this thing!" and sure enough, one peek at a competitor's intake installation video revealed the easy truth!
Here is the pic PMAS includes in the instructions. Don't do this!
Again don't do what is being shown in this pic! Instead, press inwards (towards the hose) with your finger on the large part of the clip shown being removed. While pushing on the clip, pull the hose away from the intake. When you get the hang of it, it literally can be removed in a couple of seconds.
One more thing about the sound tube. I had planned to leave mine intact. As such, I hadn't looked into how to remove it properly. The instructions gloss over this thusly:
Also, with regard to the MAF orientation, the instructions state the following:
Anyway, I was able to successfully install this intake on my own and overall it was relatively simple. Knowing what I do now, I could do it again in about 45 minutes.
The sound is great and so far I'm loving it.
I don't really know another way to get in touch with them, and this info will hopefully help someone else anyway!
First of all, I don't know if I got an updated version of the intake or what, but what I got looks different in a few areas from pictures I saw in the big 70+ page PMAS thread, the product page on the PMAS website as well as the instructions on the PMAS website. Most notably, the MAF looks to be a regular Ford MAF mounted directly in the airstream, with the plug perpendicular to the airflow. The perpendicular plug creates some clearance issues you have to work around. I'm not sure if the MAF being directly in the airstream creates a long-term issue with an oiled filter that I need to be worried about.
On the positive side of things, my intake came with provisions for a sound tube delete - a cap on the intake itself, and a plug for the firewall. This is much appreciated as I can't see how you could ever use the sound tube and the heat shield at the same time. There just isn't room for both.
Onto the hardware issues!
You need to supply your own fender washer to bolt the heat shield in place. The instructions specify installing the heat shield with the factory bolt, which has a washer. The hole in the PMAS heat shield is physically larger than this washer though, so in order for it to be secure I had to dig around and find a fender washer that fit.
Not a huge deal, but small stupid stuff like this is a bad show stopper when your DD is torn apart in your driveway and the hardware store is ten miles away. Looking at the pictures in the PMAS install instructions, the version of the heat shield in those pictures appears to have a smaller hole for the mounting bolt. I'm guessing they opened it up due to issues with tolerances without giving consideration to how big the washer on the factory bolt is.
The supplied hose clamp connecting the PMAS to the silicone reducer that clamps to the throttle body is too small. The hose clamp that I received in this position was marked 91-114. When I attempted to secure it, the end of the hose clamp wasn't fully engaged by the worm gear on the clamp and instead of tightening, it bent and stripped the end of the hose clamp.
This was a bit of a show stopper, since around where I live a big hose clamp isn't easy to find. I ended up driving 30 miles to an O'Reilly Auto and bought a generic silicone intake coupler, not for the coupler but for one of the hose clamps it came with! That hose clamp fit perfect and is marked 94-118.
If this was my DD, I'd have been stuck hitching a ride or undoing everything I had just done and reinstalling the factory setup just to go find a hose clamp! Not good.
Now, onto the issues with the instructions.
The first problem I ran into is how they say (and show) to remove the tubes connected to the factory intake for the crankcase breather, sound tube, and whatever that third thing is.
The instructions say to remove the plastic clips but you do NOT want to do that. Instead you want to push in on the clip and remove the hose. I didn't know that though, and following the instructions I spent about fifteen minutes carefully removing one of those clips. Once I got it out I was just thinking "this can't be right, I almost ruined this thing!" and sure enough, one peek at a competitor's intake installation video revealed the easy truth!
Here is the pic PMAS includes in the instructions. Don't do this!
Again don't do what is being shown in this pic! Instead, press inwards (towards the hose) with your finger on the large part of the clip shown being removed. While pushing on the clip, pull the hose away from the intake. When you get the hang of it, it literally can be removed in a couple of seconds.
One more thing about the sound tube. I had planned to leave mine intact. As such, I hadn't looked into how to remove it properly. The instructions gloss over this thusly:
"If desired" - I don't see how you could possibly leave the sound tube in place and use the PMAS heat shield. Anyway, in order to remove the sound tube you've gotta take a 10mm nylock nut off about 1.5" of thread, located behind the driver's side cylinder head. This is a PITA and I used a standard wrench to do it, which took a good while. It would have been nice to know that I should have sourced a 10mm ratcheting box wrench for this task, which would have sped things up quite a bit. Again, props for including the firewall plug and cap for the intake.
Also, with regard to the MAF orientation, the instructions state the following:
Again, my MAF housing differs greatly from the one I see in pictures. Instead of the MAF being mounted parallel to the tube (which gives greater clearance) it's mounted perpendicular to the tube. If I installed it with the electrical connection pointing up towards the hood, it doesn't look like there would be enough clearance and my hood would probably crush my expensive MAF sensor, or rub on the wires and cause a short. You're a bit limited by the factory wiring harness as to where you can install the MAF. The area with the most clearance would probably be on the bottom of the tube, but the harness won't reach. So I installed my tube with the MAF pointing towards the front of the car and down slightly. It's hard to see but the MAF is to the left of the tube in this picture, in between the tube and the heat shield with the wire running down towards the filter:
Anyway, I was able to successfully install this intake on my own and overall it was relatively simple. Knowing what I do now, I could do it again in about 45 minutes.
The sound is great and so far I'm loving it.
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