Shelby Swap

An SVTP member swaps the Voodoo intake on his Coyote with great results

By Steve Turner
Photos courtesy of Alex Sanderson

From the moment we got our eyes on the Shelby GT350’s Voodoo engine, we wondered if its free-flowing intake manifold, cylinder heads, and such would be a viable upgrade path for owners of Coyote 5.0-liter engines. As it turns out, they definitely will. While the heads will require some special cams to work on a cross-plane engine, the intake and its companion throttle body are a direct bolt-on for the 5.0-liter engine despite its slightly larger, taller runners.

With Ford Performance Parts recently adding the GT350 5.2-liter Coyote Intake Manifold (PN M-9424-M52; $1,495) to its roster of products, SVTP member Alex Sanderson set out to try this intake upgrade on his 2015 Mustang GT, which already featured a Steeda cold-air intake, an X-pipe in place of the factory resonator, and a pair of Magnaflow mufflers.

“…The real magic is inside this intake, a little less precise, but inside both manifolds are the two support posts, on the Coyote, these look to be almost an inch in diameter whereas the GT350 posts look to be about 3/8,” Alex, a.k.a. sandeale, explained. “The runners where they meet the plenum are much larger in height. I managed four fingers wide with wiggle room on the GT350 whereas to get the same amount of wiggle I could only manage three fingers in the OEM intake.”

Rather than install a taller Boss or Cobra Jet intake manifold, he wanted more performance in a stealthy package. It turns out the GT350 intake was just what he needed.

“The inspiration came from my lack of interest in lowering the engine which could lead to fitment issues with new components (headers, possible forced induction), removing the OE strut-tower brace, and having to possibly cut into the hood,” Alex said. “And, I prefer being unique. This could have bit me in the rear, but paid off in dividends.”

As you can see in this video, the car made some really impressive peak-to-peak gains and kept pulling much harder to the 7,500-rpm rev limit…

Pulling harder at the top of the tach is great, but it’s better yet that this new combination doesn’t give up anything in the way of streetabilty thanks to a revised Lund Racing Flex Fuel calibration.

“Daily driving the car driveability is similar to the OEM manifold,” he added. “But the increase in power is evident when it’s called on for passing power or the occasional hoonery.”

For more on Alex’s intake swap, be sure to check out his thread on our forum.

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