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Hold on, the heat that comes up through the tube isn't used to warm up the engine, all it is used for is to move that butterfly open and closed in the air cleaner tube.
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Say what?!?!?! /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif /forums/images/graemlins/eek.gif Then what purpose do you think that the valve in the intake serves? It doesn't just open and close because GM thought it would look cool on the snorkle. /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif
When the sensor in the air cleaner senses that the incoming air is too cold, it closes the valve in the intake. Look closely at the setup and you'll see that when the valve closes off the incoming cold air from the snorkel, it also OPENS the passage from the flex tube. The engine is now sucking air that is heated as it is drawn past the hot exhaust manifold. (And yes, the sheet metal that the flex tube attaches to at the manifold end just guides air over the manifold. There isn't a hole in the manifold to send hot exhaust gas up into the engine.) The heated air isn't depending on thermal currents to somehow "push" the air into the engine. /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif
Also, that passage is obviously too small to feed a small block at wide-open-throttle. But when you romp the loud pedal, there is no longer a manifold vacuum signal, so the valve goes back to the "let's get air from the end of the snorkle" mode.
In later models, GM figured out that they didn't need to bother to use vacuum at all. There's a thermostat that directly controls the diverter valve, but it is spring loaded such that a strong intake signal (such as at WOT), can overcome the thermostat and allow cold air to come in via the snorkle.
As for the question about removing the charcoal filter from the air filter housing... Since you live in the People's Republik of Kalifornia, you'll need to take that up with the local emissions police. /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif The rules there are quite different than anywhere else. /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif
