I have an early '01 Mustang GT (Late '00 Build Date) that appears to have a cracked intake manifold (common issue with these motors). I see some coolant that seems to be leaking from the intake manifold up front, here's a picture of what I'm seeing.
I did a quick search on Google, and came up with several pictures that look just like what I'm seeing and the intake manifold was the fix. I'm almost positive it's the intake manifold at this point. Either way, it's original and should be replaced.
The Mustang has 293k on it, and per the original owner (who had it for the first 271k) believe most of the cooling system is original (hoses, radiator, water pump, expansion tank, etc.). The intake is all plastic on my car, later Mustangs were updated to a plastic intake with an aluminum crossover (basically, the Ford Racing part I've listed below). There was a TSB on this issue years ago, but I'm well out of warranty at this point :-)
This car is my 3 seasons daily driver, and I have a 65 mile round-trip commute. No auto-x or track days in the immediate future, so my biggest priority is solid reliability.
I'm trying to create a plan of attack and wanted to see if anyone had some good experience in replacing the intake manifold and had some wisdom to share. I'd like to strike the elusive balance between fixing what's wrong and some key things "while I'm in there," but without spending a month replacing a whole bunch of unnecessary parts.
- Ford Racing Intake - I've read several threads where this is highly recommended over the Dorman manifold
- Intake Manifold gaskets - do I want Fel-Pro or Ford parts here?
- Upper and lower radiator hoses - my thought is that these are a no-brainer
- heater hoses that run under the intake
- Expansion tank
- O rings for the fuel injectors
- Spark plugs
- T-Stat
- T-Stat housing (supposedly required because I'm updating to the newer manifold)
- Alternator Bracket (required for the newer manifold)
Am I on the right track here?
Thanks!
