1998 5.4 Intake Manifold Differences

[4XFORD]

Hey folks, great to be here. I grt some sturdy information from all of the inputs here.
Now it is time for my questions .
Gotta ‘98 EB 5.4 4x4 ( dated 11/97 on the door tag) and here is the issue:
I decided to put a new intake on due to deterioration to the temp sensor little curved up 1/16” tube on the crossover.
I am having a super difficult time trying to find the correct replacement intake manifold.
The stock unit is complete aluminum and here is where the confusion sets in.
On the stock intake / heater hose connections there is a large L shaped tube coming from the rear of the intake area connected to a heater hose ( see first pic )
I can not seem to find a replacement intake manifold ( after market) that has this L shaped pipe/tube protruding from the rear of the intake.
Seems every year aftermarket intake manifold has a straight up 3-4” tube/pipe located ON THE FRONT PASS SIDE CROSSOVER. ( see second picture).
Am I missing something obvious here ?
So I guess what I am left with is: What is the correct aftermarket replacement intake manifold for the version I have ( first picture with the L shaped pipe at the rear of the intake)?
The year and model 5.4 LOWER intake box has some kind of electric flapper located in the front . Every replacement intake I look st to use, DOES NOT utilize lower intake manifold “ flapper” .
I am am a lost soul. I have looked at the forum in and out and can not seem to get a clear answer to solve the problem of replacing the intake manifold.
Final note, is it so obvious that I am just missing that I just “re use” the upper intake with a new set of intake gaskets ?
Is there a 5.4 “ PI “ intake that utilizes larger intake runners like on the PI 4.6 motors ?
allot of mustang folks just swap a early non PI intake for a later PI 4.6 and pick up a few hp.
Let me know what you think, my e mail has changed do I can only check the thread for replies.
Many thanks for your patience with my Ignorance! Hopefully I can get this weeded out!

 

[BrentDJ]

I can not seem to find a replacement intake manifold ( after market) that has this L shaped pipe/tube protruding from the rear of the intake.

That's Right. And you won't find any such new replacement. That's because that connection was relocated to the front. That was a Good Thing because the original design was not very good. You should have exactly enough hose to reach to the front. It didn't look immediately that the hose was long enough just eyeballing it, but everything went together fine. I just did this replacement for one of my two 5.4 1999 Expeditions.

What was so bad about the original design? well, here goes. The only logical conclusion I can make is that the Ford design engineers were having some sort of competition to see how many coolant hoses they could place as close possible to cylinder 4. Because there's the two heater core hoses, then there's the intake manifold coolant line that you are asking about, there's also another thin coolant hose that runs into and out of the throttle body. Finally, if you have the deluxe climate control option for the rear passengers then you're also blessed/cursed to have heater core hoses that have an additional bifurcation for the rear seat HVAC. How many is that so far? 6? That was not such a good idea.

It's just too stupidly easy to accidentally disconnect one of the heater core hoses while changing plugs and coils, snaking throttle body passages or even by simply inspecting your PCV. Your misguided best intentions will result in at least a half gallon of hot coolant dumped right onto the coil and plug of cylinder 4 before you notice that you've become a victim of the Ford design team.

So that's why they moved it.

Take extra care torquing that manifold down. Follow the specs exactly. God help anyone who buys a Dorman intake manifold.

Good luck.

 

[4XFORD]

Finally !! Thank you for the response Brent DJ. Your reply has solved many questions for not only me but probably hundreds of Expy owners !
I will be sure to pass this on if i see any Expy owners doing massive head scratching!

 

[4XFORD]

The new replacement manifold ( with the coolant pipe straight up, located on the passenger side) does NOT have the electric connection or the “ flapper” unit usually located on the front of the LOWER intake.
There is NO electronic unit or connection at all on the lower intake.
Does the old connection just get eliminated not used ? .

 

[4XFORD]

Well this is one of those
“ I’ll answer my own question” post
After much investigation, asking 3400 questions, reading ALL of the posts here, and in the F150 forum I finally have come to a conclusion :
The electrical connection at the bottom of the lower intake is connected to a internal
“ flapper “ imm believe is called a “ runner” that moves in conjunction with a computer signal, this movement of the “ runner” in the lower intake increases the bottom end TQ as much as 20 lbs if the computer is demanding a rich or lean signal.
This “ runner” connection can be disconnected and will not throw a code if disconnected however the motor will lose the capability of increasing or TQ via the swirl caused buy the position of electric runner.
As far as the differences, I can not see an exact aftermarket replacement. There seems to be a bunch of variables and reasons for the difference between intake and application. A few of the variables include if your running a 4.6 or a 5.4 obviously. But also if your Expy is equipped with rear A/C and heat. I do not know if rear heat and A/c were options but it looks to be.
That “L” shaped curved tube looks to be a major connection in the rear heater hose goobly gabbly mess of heater hoses located at that passenger side rear located close to the heater core. one of the members that responded to my post was ONE of the best responses that I have received here in this forum. That response to my post by BRETDJ actually seemed to put all these little irritating issues together for an opportunity to repair my particular circumstances.
The final and best way to complete an intake swap is NOT TO INSTALL AN AFTERMARKET INTAKE, because as presented to me there is NO proper intake for an exact swap.
The early intakes are ALL ALUMINUM. If you need to remove the intake for whatever reason, all you need is a MASTER INTAKE MANIFOLD INTAKE GASKET SET. No need to replace the intake. I have found that the intake gadket sets vary in quality and actual items included with the set. Oreilly’s offers a Felpro set and a cheaper option with their off brand. Go with the FELPRO gasket set. The FELPRO gasket set is extremely beefy and all of the gaskets are reinforced with a thick metal frame and deep and thick gasket material. The FELPRO set also includes the main intake gasket alignment pins made out of aluminum as compared to the cheaper set offered. For some reason the cheaper set of gaskets included a thermostat and O ring gasket. Neither of the intake gasket sets include an O ring fir the electric “runner” on the front of the lower intake, so just leave it alone unless there is a reason. Both gasket sets include the upper/lower gasket and a throttle body gasket which I think was the overall variable that seemed to put this all together.
The FELPRO kit number is MS 98007 T
and is what I believe is the BEST solution if you need to remove and replace the OEM aluminum intake.
I hope this weeds out some questionable items with these all aluminum upper intakes with a separate lower intake with the electric variable air runner.
There may be different ways to instal the newer Dorman replacement with the heater hose tube in the front and no separate lower intake, please let me know for future reference and for the Expy forum users.
Now I understand why there was 6 months between my original post on this and a repost now, because it is so simple.
Use FELPRO Gasket set MS 98007 T and you should be fine.