FE intake manifold

[Peter L.]

 Happy new year to all!
   Quick question. Starting to assemble the engine for 04052, and came across an FE intake with the casting number C8OE-9425-A that came with a '68 Cobra Jet engine that I purchased some years ago. It also is cast 8C18 below that number.  Not sure what the application is. The confusing part to me is that on the runner for number 1 cyl., there is the casting CHG-AN and below that the date 7-24-67. I can post some photos if that helps. The build date for my KR is 15U. (july).
      Thanks for any help, Pete.

[silverton_ford]

Sounds like you have an early CJ intake.

Read this:  https://www.428cobrajet.org/id-intake

Hopefully others will respond to help give you some direction on which intake is correct for your specific car.

[gt350hr]

    Pete,
       You do indeed have the "early" CJ intake. They "seem" to have been cast for about 30 days. They mainly came on early San Jose Mustangs but have also been on Torinos and Montegos from other assembly plants. There was some overlap in production as I have one dated 8D4 and there are "C" manifolds cast a day or two earlier. It is "my" opinion based on much study, that the "A" intake was made from "short run tooling"/ casting patterns. As you noted the additional numbers on the #1 runner that was present on the "XE" prototype intakes was still there on the "A" intakes. To be sure I would have to see the factory blueprint s for the intake or the XE "log book" ( of changes to production based parts) which I am still searching for. The engine block ( or one head) should have the vin number for the original vehicle the engine was built for if it's not your original KR engine. In any case early is better than later and there IS a "performance advantage" with the A intake. How much depends on the engine build specs.
    Randy

[Peter L.]

  Hmm.... that's interesting. I have 3 intakes to choose from. I've read that somewhere in the 2 month range is acceptable  before the production date of the car. The other 2 intakes I have are the C80E-C. Both are dated for early April.
  Thanks for the info.

[Coralsnake]

Two months would be rather generous

Most intakes are within three weeks of cars assembly date

[Peter L.]

  So somewhere in the late June early July area would be correct. OK, thanks. Looks like I will be giving my brother an intake for his
April built Mustang.
  Just an update. Still picking away at 04052 and getting ready to put the suspension back in. It's so incredibly original underneath that all I did was give it a thorough cleaning. I'm more convinced now that the 21,000 miles on the odometer is correct.
  Slowly but surely!  Can post some photos if anyone is interested.

                                  Pete.
                           

[Coralsnake]

Yes pictures please

If you give me your build date, I can get you really close on the intake date

[Peter L.]

 The date on the door tag is 15U.  Just had my computer updated, and will post some photos soon.
       Thanks, Pete.
               

[propayne]

Pictures would be great!

- Phillip

[Coralsnake]

So if you have KR built 15U

I would say there is a high probability the intake was cast the last week of May or the first week of June

So I would like to change my answer to four or five weeks prior

I base this on dates I have collected

[Peter L.]

  Thanks Pete, that's great to know.

[gt350hr]

Two months would be rather generous

Most intakes are within three weeks of cars assembly date

   Pete that is certainly correct for KRs ( obviously all) from Metuchen. My 68.5 FB was built at San Jose where just over 300 were built and the "first in , first out" policy wasn't well practiced. The casting dates on my original engine are 6-7 weeks ahead of the trip down the car assembly line. The trans is 6 weeks and the diff case is 5, Even the carb is an 833.
    Randy

[Peter L.]

  Here are some photos of the underside of KR 04052. Nothing was done other than a good cleaning.

[Peter L.]

  OOps! Pictures are upside down. sorry.

[mark p]

WOW  that is clean!!!