Thanks for the kind words, guys.

Great to see you back on BC, Harry.

Yes Mark, thank you very much. You are too kind.
I just have to say though, that I give full credit to Bill as the real engineer on this whole UIM topic here on the BC.
Initially, I had just taken the easy way out, buy purchasing the Canadian kit. Bill really "dug in with both hands" and came up with the best solutions. I was most honored to be able to supply Bill with a bit of "field testing" on a couple of my units, info, photos, etc. -You know, "the easy stuff."

I have conversed with Bill via PM, and also a very enjoyable lengthy phone call (or 2?). -all very enjoyable. "Bill you're the best!!"

I don't know how much time I can spend "cruising the BC" this summer, but I'll try to check in from time to time.

Also, I again have to say once again, "Thanks to everyone who makes it happen" here on the BC. It must take a lot of time and effort to administer such a great forum. And thousands of people directly benefit from everyone'* good work.

-'Later

You are too kind, Harry. My work has been only one small part of an effort by a lot of folks to come up with practical, economical solutions to this nasty problem. I would like to add to the "thank you" list....

Ken Spragg, who marketed the Ken-Co kit. He provided the engineering that really fixed the problem by reducing the hot stoveipe diameter and shielding the plastic with a metal sleeve. All of the best fixes are based on Ken'* work.

Jr's3800, who pulled together all of the information on the UIM problem, included his own experience and insight, and made it available here on BC in one comprehensive Techinfo article.

ron350, who machined his own pipe and sleeve and passed the spec.* on to the rest of us.

Joe Pearce, who helped me with all my hair-brained machining needs, showed me how to ream my upper for a sleeve, and machined the stainless pipe and sleeve for my car.

57Chevythunder, for educating us about the Ken-Co kit, willingly using his own vehicles as guinea pigs, for contributing to the development of our experimental ideas, and for providing me with UIM parts.

Bob Dillon, who conceived the idea of using readily available, inexpensive 7/8" tubing for the UIM sleeve, and who invested in a set of adjustable reamers to help others sleeve failed uppers.

vital49, for stressing that the poor design of the Lower Intake Manifold gaskets were as big a problem as the poor design of the UIM, and for using his vehicle to test our experimental ideas.

Bob Dillis, for test running an experimental sleeved UIM and Dorman pipe in his '97 SLE, and for providing me with UIM parts.

Popatim, for providing Dorman parts to play with.

Archon, for helping to test and document new concepts, for installing a shielded pipe in his son'* Grand Prix, and for providing me with UIM parts.

MyLittleBlackBird, for testing the ring-press concept, and for installing a modified, shielded pipe in Ben'* Dad'* L36.

Bignews1, for finding and bringing the new GM aluminum, LIM gaskets to our attention and for providing me with Dorman parts to play with.

Bill Boost, for helping others install sleeved uppers.

Lester Kovacs, and the product development team at Dorman, who provided us with an excellent cost-effective alternative for replacing failed UIMs, who first made widely available a low-cost reduced diameter stovepipe, and who have taken the time to consider further product improvements.

Jim Strong, and the development team at National Automotive Manufacturing who developed the newly available sleeved upper, and reduced diameter stovepipe marketed through Automotive Parts Network.

All the BC members, who tested our experimental parts, offered ideas, help, encouragement, and shared their ideas and experience with the rest of us.

Teuobk (Jeff), who provided us with the Forum that lets us help each other and share our ideas.

Willwren and the other moderators and admins, who keep this place running.

We may never know for sure, but it is not unlikely that the ideas we worked on here influenced the commercial development and marketing of better products to let the Series II L36 run as long and strong as it should.