I'm putting together my rebuilt 1.6 diesel and am wondering what the ported plate on the block is to the left of my oil filter mount. The plate on this engine has a tube (barbed) coming out of it that has a plugged hose over it. What is the plate with the barb supposed to be for? If I don't need the port in the plate I'd rather have a plate without one (less stuff to be in the way and/or fail). Does anyone know where I can get a blank plate, assuming that I don't need the port? I see them in pictures all of the time. A picture of the plate is below with the red arrow pointing to it.
The older style vacuum pump (diaphragm) had a hose plugged into it that goes on that barn on the plate. It being blocked off shouldn't cause any problems, as long as you're using the newer vane style vacuum pump.
As Colby said. However, you can connnect this port in this plate to the port in the valve cover and to the intake manifold to try to equalize the pressures in the block, and aide air flow to the intake manifold for removal.
Everybody else lists their cars here - but not me.
Thank you for the responses. Since I changed from the diaphragm to vane type vacuum pump I guess I'm OK with it blocked. I'm looking for a solid plate but don't want to get rid of this ported plate until I know for sure that I won't use it.
