I'm concerned about stock hood clearance as well as ground clearance.
Martins manual states to have 1/4" milled off the lower intake. I've read here that others have had 1/8" shaved off the top and bottom- 1/4" total. Not sure what the advantage would be to doing that unless the ports change size a bit and doing both would keep them matched up?
Definitely would be cheaper to do only the bottom vs both.

Also, is it worth to spend any money on getting the lower ported while it's in the machine shop? I've read conflicting opinions on this.

 

The ports are tapered a little bit. Nothing that a little dremel work won't fix.

Sometimes, you also have to use shorter bolts.

 

I did not shave my intake (Cobra upper and lower), but did shim my K member down a bit. Cutting my hood using Martin's directions clears just fine.

 

I've had my father take 1/8 out of the upper and lower. Machining for me was free at the time so I can understand your concern regarding cost.

The idea was to not shorten the treads in the loser manifold that much and keep the port distortion to a minimum.

I take the above out of my intakes and space the front K-frame down 3/8ths at all six mounting points. Keep in mind that this may introduce a bit of bump steer since you are essentially, from the K-frame's point of view at least, lowering the front suspension. Mine had a nasty case since I also lowered the whole car another inch. A set of 1993 LE Miata steering tie rod ends fixed the problem.

-Jason

 

Good to know. Thanks Jason.
I think I'll just go with shortening the lower this time around.
I just gotta say, i got Martins kit parts this week, and the welding is just spectacular. Also he's gone out of his way to accommodate my schedule so I could avoid some hassles and extra expense getting the parts across the border. Getting pumped for this build.

 

Took my lower in to get milled. They said best they could do on my lower is .150" because of the tall castings that meet up near the milled area. They're not sure they can mill any off the upper as they have no way of securing it flat. It's a stock fox body.
Btw, this is the best machine shop around...do a lot of cascar engine rebuilds.
Any trick to this?

 

Brad how much is the machine shop charging you for this? i'm just curious I never even looked into it for mine..

sorry i don't have an answer for you though.

on mine, I decided not to bother since I plan on using aftermarket intake in later years, and according to the manual, most aftermarket intakes will require custom hood.. so i just went o cut a hole in the hood!

 

$60

 

Wow 60 bucks won't even pay for a scoop much less putting one on! Been there done that...

 

Have you considered using the 91-93 Tbird or 94-95 Mustang intake? They are substantially lower in the right places, although slightly more restrictive. Depends on your hp needs versus fitment ease.

Mike

 

The engine is actually a '95, but I swapped out the SN95 intake to the Fox for ease of wiring and so I could use the A9L. Kinda committed to the fox intake for now.

 

I am actually swapping from the A9L set-up to the SN95 for better tuning.