Well, after dealing with vacuum leaks for a long period of time with the car, I decided to pull the upper plenum while I was installing the exhaust studs in the rear head.
While the plenum was off, I pulled all the plastic tubing out, and then headed to the local hobby shop, and purchased several 3 foot sections of aluminum tube. (Forget the size, but believe it was 5/32)
I used a spring bender, and slowly started shaping all the tubing to match the original. I then lightly sanded the outsides of all of the tubes with some 320 grit sandpaper, wiped clean, and gave an even coat of Etching Primer to bond with the aluminum. After letting the etching primer cure for 30 minutes, I top coated with a coat of high-temp Caliper paint, bright red.
Reinstalled the lines underneath, and lightly tweaked the ends of the tubes to fit the angles...
The car popped right off after re-assembly, and my vacuum leaks are all gone.
Pictures:
During the removal of the manifold, I broke the bolts that held the manifold to the Y-Pipe...
In my perusal of Home Depot, I found these lovely Socket Cap Oiled Steel Alloy bolts, and I have had good luck with them in Exhaust and HiTemp applications in the past... I went ahead and put them in place of the stock bolts..
They are m8x1.25x40MM, although 50MM will work too.
And man, those exhaust studs look great. Will be much easier to work on if I have to.
[This message has been edited by Synthesis (edited 09-29-2006).]
