Russ....I can tell you that all the original TC air cleaner manifolds had
the holes to which you refer. I'm afraid I have no clue as to why the
factory put them there and agree it would seem that a small amount of
unfiltered air can certainly enter there. However, unless you drive a lot on
dirt roads, I doubt it would make a lot of difference to the life of your
engine.
Lawrie
British Sportscar Center
-----Original Message-----
From: Russ Wilson <russ@scubed.com>
To: mg-t@autox.team.net <mg-t@autox.team.net>
Date: Monday, April 27, 1998 8:07 AM
Subject: TC intake manifold
>I bought an aftermarket intake manifold for my TC, which lacked this piece
>when I purchased it. The new manifold has four 8-mm-diameter holes in the
>bottom at the center, directly below the port for the air cleaner. Seems
>odd....I can only guess they are drains for oil dripping out of the filter,
>but they provide a direct path for air to bypass the filter.
>
>Can someone with an original manifold tell me if it has these holes? If
>so, does anyone know what are they for? Are they to be just left open? If
>there's no additional part I'm missing, I thought I'd secure a piece of
>foam to the inside over the holes - it would at least keep the gravel out.
>
>BTW, this manifold, while ascetically very nice, is poorly machined and did
>not fit as purchased. I questioned Moss Motors about it and was told that
>all the manifolds are like that - it is the best replacement they can find.
> The service rep read from something (it wasn't in the catalog!) that
>stated several hours of hand fitting may be required. In my case, several
>days of fitting and an hour of maching would be closer. (The most minor of
>three problems was that neither of the carburetor-mounting ports was flat.
>It was, in fact, while refinishing these to get a reasonable seal to the
>carburetors that I realized the four holes were huge air leaks - why worry
>about flatness!)
>
>Russ Wilson
>
>
>
|