intake manifold, it never ends!

["Ted Williams" <tedw@domain.elided>]

Ok,

So using Ian Lomax's wonderful advice, I took off the throttle bodies to get
at the two "hidden" bolts holding the intake manifold on my 78 Alfetta Sedan.
It was pretty easy to then just take the thing off (ok, had to work at
breaking that 'aged' gasket holding it on). Once off, I realized that my old
manifold and my "new" manifold aren't exactly the same. They appear to bolt on
the same, but with some minor differences. I'm wondering if they will be a
problem.

The old manifold had a hose connected towards the front (just under the
thermostat housing)...its a small hose, that runs into a large bolt that then
attaches to the manifold. When I follow the hose the other way, it intersects
with 2 other hoses at a "T". From what I can tell, and from where the hose
connects to the manifold, it looks like this hose is used to compress air or
something. Could it be part of the windshield wipers fluid jets? I couldn't
figure out exactly what it did. The "new" manifold I have does NOT have this
connection. Do I need to find one with it?

The other difference I noticed is the actual thermostat housing is slightly
different on the two. From what I can tell, it won't affect it fitting back on
the engine.

I'm really hoping to get this thing back together this week, and get it back
on the road. It'll be nice to have two cars again. Not to mention one of them
being an Alfa.

I also managed to put the cat back on the car. It had a Shankle straight pipe
in place of the cat, but I am getting it smogged just as soon as its up and
running, and figured I'd get that task out of the way. Not too hard to do
actually.

Cleaned out the trunk and found a couple years supply of hoses and belts in
one of the side compartments...along with the old original wheel lugs...and
one original hubcap...oh, and a TON of road dust and dirt. The car is tan now,
but I figure it might just be a different color, hiding under all the grime.

Anyhow, thanks for any help on figuring out what that hose could be, and if I
need it attached.

Ted

HMB, CA
78 Alfetta Sedan
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