Gday guys, I am trying to get my beetle running it has been sitting since 86. I noticed the intake pre heat pipe has corroded right through, will the car still run with no pre heat? Just want to see if the car runs before I start pulling it all apart.

Cheers

yes it will still run but the manifold may ice up a bit and cause it to run rough
depending how big the hole is you may get a backfire

it will leak exhaust but the bug engines cope with a fair amount of leak and only pop a bit but shouldnt hurt too much untill you get a chance to swap it out, up here none of our 3 bugs run heat risers but thats because its rarely under 20 degrees

Excellent, cheers I will see if I can get it running!

One thing to note mate is that if it its the intake manifold section that is corroded the hole will be inside the engine bay (i.e. above the rear tin) and it will be leaking exhaust fumes into the engine bay which via the fanhousing will also get into your heating system.

May not be much good on a long run! CO poisoning is nasty and has a cumulative effect - every time you drive the car you will get worse.

If you like a touch of 'hoodride' a good TEMPORARY fix for this would be the self adhesive backed foil that is used as exhaust wrap. it would seal quite neatly til you find another intake - at least it did on mine as I had the exact same problem and it stopped my clothes smelling like the insides of old VW's until I found a replacement part.