One of my off season projects for this year was to replace my sketchy looking intake duct tube between the AFM and the throttle body. I couldn't see any cracks all the way through, but it's just a matter of time. I know there are aftermarket repros available, but I've always kept my eyes open for other cars that had air intake tract hoses that looked similar to the 280Z.

With that in mind, and my never ending quest to find cheap ubiquitous replacements for OEM parts, I nabbed this on off a 2002 Ford Taurus:

Here it is compared to the stock connector. The angle is almost perfect, but there are some issues. First, it's a little too long and second, the big end (AFM end) is too big:

Taking care of the length is simple. Quick work with the razor knife to remove about a half inch from the small end where the hose clamp was and then put the hose clamp back on a little further up:

Second problem... The big end is a little too big. The AFM is 2.75 diameter, but the Taurus hose is 3" diameter:

So I made a spacer ring out of aluminum:

Put a little sealer on the joint and press the spacer into place. Now I've got an AFM with a 3 inch outlet instead of the original 2 3/4 inches:

Put everything back on the car and it looks like this. Cheap, ubiquitous, and although it isn't stock, it doesn't stand out like blue silicone tubes. One more step in having every molecule of air going through the AFM instead of around it:

And now that I've got the projects mostly done and have a couple miles on the car, I was able to take about a half more turn out of my idle mixture screw. The car used to like it at about 4 1/2 turns out, and now it likes it about 5 turns out. So between my tight sealing Delrin bushings on the throttle body (this thread here >>http://www.classiczcars.com/topic/57126-sticky-throttle-body-fix-delrin-bushings/), and the new intake tract duct, it seems I've got a little more air going through the AFM:

 

One of my off season projects for this year was to replace my sketchy looking intake duct tube between the AFM and the throttle body. I couldn't see any cracks all the way through, but it's just a matter of time. I know there are aftermarket repros available, but I've always kept my eyes open for other cars that had air intake tract hoses that looked similar to the 280Z.

With that in mind, and my never ending quest to find cheap ubiquitous replacements for OEM parts, I nabbed this on off a 2002 Ford Taurus:

Here it is compared to the stock connector. The angle is almost perfect, but there are some issues. First, it's a little too long and second, the big end (AFM end) is too big:

Taking care of the length is simple. Quick work with the razor knife to remove about a half inch from the small end where the hose clamp was and then put the hose clamp back on a little further up:

Second problem... The big end is a little too big. The AFM is 2.75 diameter, but the Taurus hose is 3" diameter:

So (on the lathe) I made a spacer ring out of aluminum:

Put a little sealer on the joint and press the spacer into place. Now I've got an AFM with a 3 inch outlet instead of the original 2 3/4 inches:

Put everything back on the car and it looks like this. Cheap, ubiquitous, and although it isn't stock, it doesn't stand out like blue silicone tubes. One more step in having every molecule of air going through the AFM instead of around it:

 Very nice. My spacer would have been an 1/8" of duct tape.

Use this on your rubber and it will look great and last a long time ?