vacuum questions and exhaust questions.

Im a new owner of a 1988 dodge ram 50 sport, it has the 2.6l and only 100000 miles. it was given to me and the previous owner said it didnt need any work. well it runs great and everything but while i was giving it a good look over, i noticed it was missing things. i cant manage to upload pics of what im talking about but ill try my best to explain. So coming off the header theres a pipe connected to a valve. I would like to know what this valve is and what else its supposed to be connected to because i know its supposed to have a hose connected to it and a big hose or something. Also, theres a silver metal box to the very right side of the engine bay and theres a metal clip to hold something, i would like to know whats supposed to go there. There is also lots of nipples coming off of this box thats supposed to connect to hoses but i dont have those hoses. So if anyone can answer these questions for me and tell me where i can get a new valve thing i was talking about and new hoses and a diagram for those hoses, i would extremely appreciate it because i have a haynes repair manual for it but it doesnt answer my questions and i cant find anything about the stuff online.

The large metal valve on/near the exhaust manifold is a part of the secondary air injection...like the function of a smog pump on domestic vehicles of the period. This system provides filtered air to the catalytic convertor. There should be a large diameter rubber hose connecting to the air filter assembly near the firewall.

The metal box and clippy thing are also part of the vacuum system related to smog controls. The clip holds a diaphragm-equipped valve. The Montero has the same piece if you need to find one locally in a wrecking yard.

Haynes and Chilton's manuals are useless for the vacuum line diagrams. Check out the FAQs on the Mitsubishi board at 4x4wire.com...no offense to this board.

Russell

Do anyone know where I can get the aluminum piece under the carb and above the intake manifold? Mine is split