Why is my heated manifold blanked off??

On my 1.8ex the manifold liquid heating on the n/s has been blanked off by a previous owner, the pipe coming from the cooling system that fits straight on has been blanked and then another blanked pipe has been fitted to the manifold, why would somone do this is there any advantage? Surely the heating helps fuel atomisation from cold I know it has the electrical emhedgehog aswell but I just don't know its been cut off should I re connect it??? Also looks rubbish with some random wheel bolts blanking the hoses!

auto or manual choke fitted?

Yomp said

auto or manual choke fitted?

 Sorry I did forget to add it has a weber manual choke, I assume the system went through the old pierburg for the waxstat? Do manual choke cars still run the heating I thought it would still be in use to aid cold start? 

This is a pic of my MK2 1.8 with weber conversion. Does this help?

Yomp said

This is a pic of my MK2 1.8 with weber conversion. Does this help?

 yeah thank you! That does really help, you see your pipe going to the manifold? That's blanked off from going to mine as you can see in my pic which I thought I should be fitting to the manifold and your picture confirms that by the looks of it

You must have 2 blanks then.

Yomp said

You must have 2 blanks then.

 Yeah you're right, bit hard to see but if you look at this pic there's 1 hose coming up from the manifold blanked with a wheel bolt, then the one from the solid pipe which should be in the manifold is blanked and tucked underneath it

That's it then!

One issue the Pierburg had was the flow of the coolant through the manifold gets restricted over time by the "O"seal that goes between the manifold and the head. It seems to shrivel up and block the hole over time which caused over choking and other issues when the auto choke was fitted. Not really the Pierburgs fault but it got the blame for most things!
Its not really an issue with the weber fitted but if it is blocked you won't get engine heat into the manifold as quick.

I'm taking my MK2 to North Sweden in Feb on a road trip to watch the Swedish Rally so one of many jobs, I've just replaced the air intake pipe from the exhaust manifold to the filter box.
Not sure if it actually does much in our mild climate but it may help over there!

Yomp said

That's it then!

One issue the Pierburg had was the flow of the coolant through the manifold gets restricted over time by the "O"seal that goes between the manifold and the head. It seems to shrivel up and block the hole over time which caused over choking and other issues when the auto choke was fitted. Not really the Pierburgs fault but it got the blame for most things!
Its not really an issue with the weber fitted but if it is blocked you won't get engine heat into the manifold as quick.

 Got the pipe sorted ready to go on but very rusty possibly from having a old wheel bolt in it, going to flush the whole system & replace the thermostat at some point soon, ahh I see! I know the pierburgs get a bad time on here lol still got mine in the garage, is that o ring a manifold off job?

Yea manifold off job to replace the o seal and its a right pain to get off! You can do it - just - but you need long reach allen keys. Personally I would leave it unless its giving issues.
I had blowing exhaust manifold gaskets on the mk2 and it ended up being easier to take the head off but getting the  down pipe spring clips back on wasn't the easiest of jobs either as my MK2 is a syncro and the manifold is different which meant a struggle to get the special tools in.

Yomp said

Yea manifold off job to replace the o seal and its a right pain to get off! You can do it - just - but you need long reach allen keys. Personally I would leave it unless its giving issues.
I had blowing exhaust manifold gaskets on the mk2 and it ended up being easier to take the head off but getting the  down pipe spring clips back on wasn't the easiest of jobs either as my MK2 is a syncro and the manifold is different which meant a struggle to get the special tools in.

 Ahh right yeah sounds like a lot of work for little gain, I also need that intake pipe where did you find that one? Ouch sounds like a pain my dads told me about the joys of the downpipe clamps on these old vws haha would love to fit a stainless manifold but undecided if it's worth it, enjoy the road trip sounds great! 

MK1CabbyWhite said

Ahh right yeah sounds like a lot of work for little gain, I also need that intake pipe where did you find that one?

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/51Mm-Flexible-Alloy-Car-Air-Ducting-Hose-Pipe-0-9M-/330824352155?hash=item4d06ab019b:m:mCz5ZX3Wh4DEOv1cszdrn8g

Its enough to make 2 but its about as short as I could find.

Yomp said

MK1CabbyWhite said

Ahh right yeah sounds like a lot of work for little gain, I also need that intake pipe where did you find that one?

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/51Mm-Flexible-Alloy-Car-Air-Ducting-Hose-Pipe-0-9M-/330824352155?hash=item4d06ab019b:m:mCz5ZX3Wh4DEOv1cszdrn8g

Its enough to make 2 but its about as short as I could find.

 cheers thanks for that, I'd buy the other half of it if you had it knocking about