That iron rod behind the intake...
 

There's an iron rod behind the intake that goes onto a stud bolt holding down the upper intake and connects to another bolt down behind the lower intake. Is this piece necessary? It doesn't seem to serve a purpose but i don't want to pull it out and have my intake blow off or something.

oops...i just figured out I answered the wrong question....:rolleyes:

You can remove it if you want to, it gives a little more support to it but it isn't hurting anything. If you are doing a intake swap I would get rid of it, it may not fit right then.

Get rid of it. Mines been gone for 4 years now. Its probably one of those "noise, vibration, harshness" things ford added to quiet things down, but an aftermarket cam takes care of that anyway....:)