NOTE: ONLY REQUIRED WHEN USING A PHENOLIC INTAKE MANIFOLD SPACER.

Doing this was needed in order to be able to use the foam heat insulator that sits beneath the intake manifold when using the X35Designs intake manifold phenolic spacer.  This foam insulator rests snugly on the tops of the injectors as well as the high pressure fuel lines.  However, there is a “lip” around the edge of the foam that holds it under the intake manifold.  Without trimming that “lip”, the insulator will hover above the lines and injectors about 3/8″ and not make contact.

I couldn’t help but felt this allows for heat to soak into the fuel system as well as not “supporting” those components, keeping them firmly in place.  Doing this also happened to help since I added an additional 1/2″ thickness around the coolant pipe, so a bit more room was needed to accommodate this.

Some may simply throw this insulator out as I am not 100% sure how effective it is at what it was intended to do, but why not re-use it if possible?

At first, I attempted to use a regular razor blade.  Though it was sharp enough and cut well, it failed to be able to navigate the contours I was hoping to achieve.  So I found that my right-angle air grinder with a sanding attachment normally meant for porting/polishing worked great!  It was so easy and was like sculpting through butter.

Here’s a photo of the insulator (Ford PN: AA5Z-6P013-A).  I had already started shaving one half of the “lip” (bottom portion in this photo), so you can see the difference:

Here’s how it looks :

The sanding attachment cuts through like butter and is very easy to shape.

I ended up having to trim these chamfers on the ends as it kept the foam that was around the coolant pipe from wrinkling too much as it was pressed tightly against it.

One change I would make would be to somehow secure the drill into a vise or put this sanding attachment onto a drill press.  It might be a bit easier to sculpt when holding the foam with both hands and having the sanding be stationary.  It cuts so well that it can quickly get away from you if you are not careful.