PAMR MX wrote:Thanks for all the help.
I got the cowl off in this monsoon of a rain storm and found loose intake clamps right away. Almost all of them we're loose. One hose clamp on the Y pipe was totally off and just dangling. One double clamp on the fwd crossover was so warped and bent that it was not sealing at all. That one had a pretty big fuel leak. The y pipe hose probably had an 1/8" gap or more. Lots of leakage!
It will be interesting to see how much economy boost it gives. I know for sure it's going to be a heck of a lot smoother.
Will give a report of the change in GPH.

Glad to hear it PAMR MX! It is always nice to find a glaring issue that is easy to resolve rather than trying to chase down some elusive problem with no obvious sources. I have found in my 180 that the fuel burns and cruise speeds are within a few percent of what is published in the cruise performance charts. I generally plan for 12 gph and 125 knots to be conservative, but 130 knots at 10.5 gph is what I find more often than not in the 7500' - 10000' altitude range. I did install a six point EGT/CHT, and find that it is an excellent tool for setting the mixture for various scenarios.