[MK2Racer]

I overheated my 82 and the thermostat gasket got toasted, and started leaking. I replaced both the thermostat and gasket, but when I tried to bolt the upper radiator hose back to the block, it seems that the bolts just go right through the holes where they are supposed to screw into the block. I dont think theyre stripped, because they came out fine and I never had a chance to screw them back in, they just push all the way in. Is there supposed to be a nut on the other side?? I didnt see any when I took it off... Also, where it bolts on, where the holes are, is that actually part of the block itself, or is it something that comes off and can be replaced (if it is indeed stripped)? Also, in a somewhat unrelated problem, I broke off a small plastic piece when replacing some vacuum hose. It runs into my EFI from the side of the engine. The part I broke is where it comes FROM the side of the engine. Three vacuum lines come off of it, and two go the the EFI. The engine seemed to run ok, once I plugged the vacuum leak on the EFI side, but I dont know what that does, or if I have a vacuum leak on the lower part. Sorry for the long post.

 

[SilverMk2]

The 3 bolts I believe you are talking about thread into the rear neck part. I bet you could either use a nut on the far side, drill out the hole and retap it at the next size up, or helicoil it in the existing size to fix it. Altough to do the latter items you would probably have to remove it anyway, so you might as well replace it. You can just replace this part it bolts to the cylinder head with 2 bolts. The only problem is that this part shares a gasket with the intake manifold. You have two options here, you could remove the entire intake manifold and do it the right way (sort of a pain). The other option would be to scrap off the old gasket around the intake manifold and cut just that section from the new intake gasket, this would save you from having to remove the intake manifold. I'm not sure about what vacuum line you are talking about also.

 

[MK2Racer]

Hey thanks. If I do take off the intake manifold, is there anything I should do or look out for? As long as Im in there, should I look for or replace anything anything in particular? Ill post a pic of the line if I can get my camera in there. There are two vac lines coming from the efi on the drivers side of the car. They both run down, to the drivers side of the engine, into a small square thing that you can attach vacuum lines to. When I broke it off and ran the engine, it ran like shit (due to huge vacuum leak, I think) so I plugged the EFI side, the the part I broke, and it seems to run stable, but Im sure I need that for something I just dont know what. I couldnt find it in the book, so...

 

[FWDsux]

Sonds like some EGR lines....all those plastic boxes down there like the BVSV which is blue and right under the thermostat housing, are freakin expensive. I think the BVSV was like 140 for my 83. As long as you plugged the vacuum leak, I wouldn't think there'd be any problems, just the EGR not doing its thing so emissions would suffer.

 

[SilverMk2]

If they went to the blue vacuum valve sticking straight out of the t-stat neck (pointed at the fender) they are the charcol canister vacuum lines. You should fix it eventually since the gas tank vapor are only being relieved when you pop the gas cap (or leak out). If you take the intake manifold off make sure to get all the other gaskets as well. You'll need all the injector grommets/orings, middle intake gasket, some of the copper fuel line fitting. You might want to change the fuel filter while you are there. HTH