sakins.02vert

Ok, I'm not sure if I understand. So the heat riser is the thing on the pass side exhaust manifold, you saw it was not hooked up. You can see it from the first pic I entered. The ball stud has nothing on it. I'm with you there.

You're saying there should be 8 inch metal rod connected from the ball stud on the heat riser going up to a vacuum pot up near the carb?

Here are a couple more pics of my setup (sorry they are a little blurry), do you see the vacuum pot? I'm wondering if someone removed the rod and vacuum pot? My engine was rebuilt back in 1999 by someone else. It now has a Holley carb, Edelbrock performer RPM intake manifold and who knows what else they changed. the original air cleaner stuff is gone too. Guess it didnt clear the hood with the higher intake.

if the vacuum pot is not there, do I need this?

Also, how would I know if this heat riser is stuck shut? Maybe that has something to do with my rough idle and acceleration hesitation?