I will be the devil's advocate and tell you not to cut that part out.

I pulled the intake and modified it on a gasket repair. I went a bit hog wild on the intake and cut that center section out and smoothed the inside of that port. About 3 months later, my engine wouldn't idle worth a crap and come to find out the intake manifold cracked like an egg. Theres an old thread here with pics of it.

I think that bit in the middle might be there for the structural integrity of the dome shaped intake. On a pyramid style M1 or air gap, its not do important.

Was a good excuse to buy an air gap though.

 

PERFECT!! Thanks Aims for some real world experience on why/why not to cut the center. In this case, why NOT to. couldnt find your pics though, how can I search for pics without going through every post and thread youve been on?

 

 

 

WOW never seen that b4 today. You inlarged the 2 holes amd not cut it out ? Both cracks look tobe in same spots. Bad casting or over torque the bolts maybe ?

 

I did a bunch under the air horns.

I do not doubt that the intake may very well have been a bad casting, but I'm it was not torqued. Its possible the grinding I did weakened it enough to stress under proper torque. Its also possible the hughes plate was drilled a bit off and pulled the intake apart from the bottom.

 

don't cut it because it is part of the major structure of the intake. As it might crack.

However, it DOES give a good excuse to buy an air gap if it does crack. I fooled the wife into letting me get a fastman TB because my TPS went out. Little did she know :P