The Mustang intake manifold is one of those vital components in the Mustang engine. It's so vital that, without the Mustang intake manifold, your Mustang isn't going anywhere. Here's what the Mustang intake manifold does and why it is so vital to the performance of your Mustang: As we all know, the Ford Mustang, like most cars on the road, is powered by gasoline. This gasoline is fed into the Mustang cylinder heads, where a series of small explosions moves the cylinders, which powers your Mustang. However, without the air provided by the Mustang intake manifold, those explosions wouldn't be possible. You see, the air that the Mustang intake manifold is what provides the combustion for these explosions. Without air, you're just sitting there.

The Mustang intake manifold works by collecting the air that is provided by your Mustang cold air intake and funneling that air down into the cylinder. Most engines work on a four-stroke system, with the first stroke being the intake stroke. During that process, a valve opens and the cylinder sucks in the air it needs for the other three strokes, the compression, combustion and exhaust strokes. The responsibility of the Mustang intake manifold is to make sure that the cylinders have the right amount of air for the rest of the process to take place and for your engine to run at maximum efficiency.

A lot of owners like to customize the Mustang intake manifolds on their GT Mustangs in order to get a style benefit as well. While the factory Ford Mustang intake manifolds are very functional, they don't give your Mustang's engine bay much style. Adding a new Mustang intake manifold to your Mustang GT can give it a look that will match the rest of the styling in your Mustang's engine bay. One of the most popular options for 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2014 Mustang GT models is the Boss 302 manifold from Ford Racing, which gives the engine bay a very good look.

For other Mustangs, popular Mustang intake manifolds come from companies like Ford Racing, Edelbrock and Trick Flow. Most of these products are going to offer much greater performance than the stock unit, and many are tuned to work best for a specific application, like drag racing or street driving. Mustang intake manifolds are also available for any Mustang on the road--just browse the CJ Pony Parts website until you see the intake manifold that fits your Mustang's year, trim (like the Mustang GT) and engine combination, then make your order.

Installing a new Mustang intake manifold gasket is not a difficult process, but isn't likely a project for the novice mechanic. If you're looking to see if you want to tackle this project on your own, CJ Pony Parts' Bill Tumas demonstrates how to install a Mustang intake manifold onto our 2013 Mustang GT. Check out the video installation guide, which you can follow for your installation, or to determine whether you want to tackle the installation of your own Mustang intake manifold or leave it to the professionals.

CJ Pony Parts offers many Mustang intake manifolds that you can install in your Mustang as either an upgrade over a poorer performing or looking model, or as a replacement for a broken Mustang intake manifold.