i'll try this again as i was a little unclear in my post a few days ago. i have a 1977 242, V.I.N. VC24245H1108886 that i bought at an an auction. according to the shop manual, it should have a wax thermostat on the engine as part of the emission control system and it doesn't. the engine # is 498849. is this consistent with a '77? i have had it running but it is hard to start. i discovered that the throttle valve won't turn from stop to stop, binding up at about 1/3 the distance of travel. can this be replaced or do i have to replace the whole intake manifold? there is another intake manifold in the trunk along with a spare pressure regulator and fuel distributor (all presumably from the same engine as the spare manifold). the intake on the engine has a # of 1219733G. the # on the spare intake in the trunk is # 1266906H. just trying to find out what i have here. are either or both of these intakes consistent with that engine and can i just replace the existing manifold with the spare (providing i can't replace the throttle switch) without replacing the fuel dist. and pressure reg., assuming they are the correct ones? i realize that this is a real rats nest but if anyone could help me make sense out of what i have it would be appreciated or if you could just tell me where to look for the info. thanks again for your help.