The aluminum manifolds came from the factory with a silver or aluminum appearing coating on them. My '78 L82 was the same and all original ones I've seen are the same. It wasn't a particularly attractive finish either...it looked pretty unprofessional to my way of thinking.

I swapped my original intake for an Edelbrock Performer intake and am very happy with the increased performance. You would need taller valve covers if you change to roller rockers.

Yes...Chevrolet did put a lot of engineering into the engine design, but they have to balance a lot of compromises...emissions, performance, cost, etc. If every manufacturer was doing what your friend says, then there would be no reason for an aftermarket other than for oe replacement parts for repairs.

The thing you need to do is decide what kind of use you're putting the car to and plan a complete well balanced and matched combination of parts to achieve that. Just slapping parts together can hurt performance as much as help it.

NICE valve covers!!!  Where did you get them from?

With regard to your original question about the hose, as long as you put a plug cap (autozone, etc.) on the carb nipple the hose goes onto, you can eliminate it (cap off the other line too) and put a chrome water neck on.

I am down to one hose on the vacuum advance & carb thanks to an aftermarket intake and newly rebuilt qjet.  I even closed off the exhaust warmer opening for the egr valve on the intake with a gasket and home made cover plate.  Runs great and pulls well.  I get around 15mpg, even with all the Pb in my foot. 

Theoretically, GM did tune it however, Guns is right.  They had to take the EPA Nazis into consideration, as well as the Feds on fuel economy or charge the gas guzzler tax.  So is the engine optimized?  Yes, for the constraints GM had to deal with at the time. 

Now that these babies are 25+ years old, they aren't required to meet the orig specs (except maybe in Calif).  In Oklahoma, we did away with inspections.  I'm running side pipes, no AIR system, no egr, aftermarket breather, no cats, aftermarket (MSD Streetfire) distributor and mild cam and it runs a LOT better than bone stock with all the breathing restrictions.  I kept everything so if it comes to it again, I can add it all back on but that would definitely suck.

Try the experiment for yourself.  Put the stuff on and see if you notice a difference.  At most, you are out 2 sets of intake manifold gaskets and a thermostat gasket.

I think most of you are missing the point, I'm not trying to be rude, and really appreaciate the needed information as I'm an idiot when it comes to these engines. cilrah2007-03-02 18:55:27

Dude ! You're on to the recipe for one sweeeeeet ride.