Raising the Shaker - Step by Step
 

Here is a little Tip I put together on HOW to RAISE your Shaker...

http://www.mach1registry.com/shaker

Hope this helps anyone thinking about it.!!

Thanks, Dave. I have printed out your instructions and will be raising my shaker very soon. Hopefully, my rattle will go away at the same time. :THUMBSUP:

My rattle came back with a vengeance. So I used 2 1/4 washers under the post to raise mine. The rattle is gone. I started to use 3 washers, but was not as concerned with height as I was with eliminating the rattle. Less stress on hood maybe with 2, looks great and solves rattle.

my 2 cents

I had no rattle but raised the shaker this way. The washers eliminate the guesswork of remembering how many turns or getting the turns exact. Nothing worse than an uneven shaker.

I wanted to say thanks for the directions.... I raised the shaker and it really does look better to me.....It is noticeable and it fits perfectly with the lines of the car!

Re: Raising the Shaker - Step by Step
 

What is the max safe amount to raise the shaker? I used a bunch of small washers and raised it about 3/8 to 1/2 an inch. It also seemed to help the air intake sound as I got a "better" induction sound. It's probably just my imagination but I though it was pulling better in the 6,000 and up rpm range.

Anyway a few days later, I notice a place on the left drivers side near the front of the hood where the paint had flaked off. It's in the area that the rubber hood stops on the radiator support brace are mounted. I doubt there is any correlation between the two, but tomorrow I’m dropping it off at the dealers to be fixed so I removed the washers just in case raising the shaker had placed additional strain on the hood there. Like I said, I doubt it, but better safe than sorry with warrantee work.

Well after lowering the shaker, my “good sound” and little extra “oomph” at 6,000 rpms is gone. Call me crazy, but there might be something to this other than looks.

For anyone who might be interested - when attempting to raise my shaker I stripped one of the ball studs. At the time I didn't have a 15mm combo wrench and tried to use an adjustable wrench and rounded one off. I called my local Ford parts and they wanted $57 for a single ball stud. I said no and called CDC(Classic Design Concepts). They were very nice and offered to mail me a single ball stud for $15 shipped, so you can get 4 balls studs from CDC for a little more than Ford wants for a single ball stud. The CDC studs also have a torx bit head on the flat top portion of the stud so there are two ways to remove them if you have a torx bit set. The Ford ball studs are solid and smooth on the top. Just a note for you all.

Will the dealer do it for you if you take it in for the rattle? Didn't quite know why you guys were raising it until just now. I heard the rattle on mine for the first time 2 days after I bought it (day before yesterday).

Well I got my Mach back with the hood repainted and it looks great. That being said, once I got home I (re-) raised my shaker again. This time I used some rubber washers and raised it about half an inch. Nothing appears to hitting, rubbing, or rattling. On the drive home I just didn't get that moaning, groaning, loving, intake sound or feel the pull. Once I got it raised again......it's back.....the beautiful sound and the slightly extra "ummph".

Call me crazy :MADNOEL: but it feels like something more to me. Maybe raising it the half inch puts it more into the slipstream, I don't know but I swear there is more pull in the upper rpm ranges. :THUMBSUP:

Raised shaker, some problems
 

Thanks to the tip by 03Mach1, I raised my shaker, use caution on the ball studs, I didn't know they were plastic, when I finished, and screwed them back down with an open end wrench I felt the wrench slip, rounding off one corner, so be safe and use the box end to losen and tighten, the plastic studs. I used three ss washers (which are thinner than steel) which raised it about 1\4 inch, which was perfect for me, it put it even with the front of the hood.

Before and after raising it, the shaker was lower on the right side,
being anal retentive about my car it was driving me nuts!

Not wanting to put any more stress on the plastic studs, by putting more washers under that side I raised the ball stud plate with 3 ss washers under the front bolt, between the alum. mounting bracket and the ball stud plate, and a large thick washer under the flat thick adjustment plate.

Put the shaker back on, it was perfect!

Re: Raised shaker, some problems
 

Thanks for your post 'sharp4.6'. Having just raised my shaker, I raised the right side more to level the shaker. Now, the bottom of the shaker opening is also even with the top of the hood. Without reading you post, I might not have paid attention to getting the shaker level.

JB
Greenville, NC
:horse:

Glad to help.

i'll raise the shaker this weekend. i'm getting crazy because of this rattle.

where are you guys getting this washers from???
what size???
do you guys have some pics of the washers you're using???

thanks

i did it tonight. looks awesome.
i used some washers i had already,no more shaker rattles :COOL:

thanks for all the pics and explanation :THUMBSUP:

Thanks for the shaker raise info Dave. Love it! I did it almost 300 miles ago. I went to Home Depot and bought 4 each 5/16" jam nuts which measured 3/16" thick. This brought the bottom edge of the shaker even with the hood. It also gave the shaker a more noticeable mean look. I have not found any abnormal wear points on the hood and don't forsee any. Great mod.

Mach on!!! Doug

:gears:

I don't believe the ball studs are plastic. Looks like aluminum to me, this will of course be softer then your typical connector strength steel.

YES I had mine done last week at the dealer. I did not ask them to but I can tell by how it fits against the hood and the appearance from the drivers seat that they did in fact raise it ever so slightly. A good thing I beleive cuz the seal against the hood looks tighter now.:COOL:

Re: Raising the Shaker - Step by Step
 

Thanks Dave, I will give it a try. A buddy of mine raised his shaker and WOW!!! it does look awesome.

Tom

Rattler...
 

had the rattle since day one.......only at idle with the engine warm though..got the parts numbers from the TSB. at first the service department said "they" would do it for me for free, but if i wanted just the parts...$26.00 apiece.....times 4...?.WTF.....so i went to the sevice manager.
he told the sevice rep to "write it up" and give me the parts..not alot of difference in rubber compounds between the 2.originals kinda feel like a silicon and the replacements were rubber...think i could have got away with using the originals and a dab of bearing grease inside the bushing....which i used anyway...had to raise it 3/8 of an inch while i was in there..:) .....great mod....thank god no more rattle...

there is a thing on this site for that!

http://www.blueovalnews.com/2003/car...mach111303.htm

:THUMBSUP:

Re: Raised shaker, some problems
 

I, too, had thought about raising the entire main plate instead of just unscrewing each ball stud. Though, instead of using washers, I thought about using body shims. These are "U" shaped, and can be inserted between the main plate and the front/rear mounting brackets by just loosening the bolts (instead of having to completely remove the bolts as washers would require).

Thanks, Steven! I'm going to talk to my friendly neighborhood Ford dealer and see what they'll do!! ;)

Mark

:LAUGH:

Re: Re: Raising the Shaker - Step by Step
 

your crazy:LAUGH: :LAUGH: but i do think ur right about more to it than looks.

Re: Raising the Shaker - Step by Step
 

Thanks for the info Dave.