A shortened runner intake perhaps?
Perhaps?
The one thing that does not compute is the worked-over stock Gen1 intake I have now is definitely
not a bottleneck. I have seen countless dynocharts on 4.6L DOHC cars with shortened runner Cobra intakes and their results are very comparable to what I have in peak power and rpms. That and the countless timeslips from the Blue Flame comfort me that the current intake is
at least as good as any Cobra intake with the exception of the wildly modified for high rpm setups.
The problem becomes comparing apples to oranges with the stock 4.6L vs the bored and stroked 5.3L. The math says the "stock" intake will be a choke, but since I know the intake flows much more than stock, the math gets fuzzy real quick since I really don't know
how much more. Of course all the experts say the intake will not flow enough for the ported heads and I am going to need to upgrade. But in reality, there is so little real world data out there on this type of build, especially naturally aspirated as everyone seems to go forced induction and/or C-heads. Trying to compare intake flow from N/A to FI is pointless and comparing the B-heads to the C-heads is equally non-productive.
All I know is if the peak power is not near what it should be, the intake will be first suspect.
Meanwhile, should I stumble across a shortened runner intake ready to go, I just may be tempted to change plans just to keep the naysayers at bay.