In my last post I commented about “doing your homework” and “researching” before you buy something.  This will seem planned… as this post follows the last thematically.  And… it is.  🙂 

I’ve been a part of the online Mustang community for right at 20 years.  I can think of the days in the late 90’s when The Corral was literally a hodge podge of posts that were difficult to search because it was mini blogging. Ironic because Facebook is literally the same thing in theory it just connected everyone together in a different format that is easy to navigate on a smartphone.  But I digress..  Those message boards have evolved and now seem somewhat dated.

So once you join the online message board community you’ll find that it is littered with good and bad info.  These days it is fairly easy to join and search but in their infancy there was a lot of trial and error amongst the members.  The ones with good info were the guys that stayed true to the facts and applied them to the physics that is part of building a motor or setting up a chassis.  Very few rose above the fray.  Those that did usually started down the path of starting their own business OR they started offering their findings as services in their spare time.

Intake as it arrived back from Tom and Matt Moss

One such person that started offering his services is Tom Moss.  I was drawn into Tom’s findings because he set out in the early days of trying to see how you could make the most amount of power with a stock cam, stock heads, and a stock intake.  You can see all of his findings on his website.  It’s a wealth of tried and true, black and white, data results that can’t be challenged because the results follows the laws of physics.  That’s because it was all done with great detail and knowledge. 

TMoss Porting 

If you do much reading on the “Fuelie 5.0” from 86-95 in the Mustang you’ll gather that the bottle neck for the intake side is the lower intake.  That is the most restrictive part of the stock upper and lower. The Saleen intake is no different as it uses the F150 5.0 truck lower.  The ports that connect the upper to the lower on the truck lower are more of a straight shot to the ports on the head but they neck down as they approach the head. This is a restrictive bottle neck in design.  
With engine design you want max flow AND velocity. Engines are just a big air pump. More air into the cylinder = bigger bang = more pressure = more power.  Combine that with the right amount of atomized fuel and you have a perfect combo for seat of the pants fun in a car.  Porting about removing material in the right places (and sometimes adding material in other places) to increase flow and velocity.  You can actually decrease the velocity through the port of the intake by removing material in the wrong place. The flow of the air is like water.  Sharp turns create turbulence which is what you don’t want.  Tom and Matt have a lot of experience in porting a number of intakes over the years AND they will match the port to the gasket number you’re using or the head you are using. 

Tom and Matt Moss offer a quick turnaround service at a very nominal price for porting the lower intake. Depending on the work load, they can typically turn it around in 10-12 business days.  i’ve gotten mine back in less than 10 business days from the time I shipped mine to them. But, I’m pretty close to where they live. They offer other services too like cleaning and powder-coating. Email them through the link above for pricing and services. Scroll to the bottom of their webpage. This is the third intake they have done for me. My last car, Saleen 1993 #57 had a stock ported lower on it. This is the perfect modification for those wanting a stock look and massive improvements in performance.  The Saleen crowd needs to take note of these services. It’s a modification that you can’t see but you can feel when you mash the loud pedal.

It is worth mentioning that Saleen did figure out that the lower intake was restrictive and as a part of the SSC engine package in 1989 they ported the upper and lower intakes and the MAF sensors. While this may not be 100% accurate for an SA10, this is a modification I’d be crazy not to do because the Saleen intake used on these cars was one of the best, if not the best, flowing EFI intake of the day.  It’s design is still used by Holley today and the Holley EFI Systemax II lower intake actually bolts right to the Saleen upper without any modifications.  Some people have done this with great success.  It’s a good option for big power with a Saleen factory look. 

This is something that I highly recommend to any Fox Mustang owner.  Tom and Matt Moss are stand up guys with a massively good reputation in the pushrod 5.0 fuelie world. Thanks guys. I’m sure this isn’t the last intake I’ll send to you.