PJ, it may be "Free at last" but it is not free for long. We've all been through this. The only permanent fix is a stainless steel shaft and stainless steel bushings in the manifold itself. I did it the hard way. Freed it up. Installed the manifold. Fought the losing battle. Then finally did what I should have done when the manifold was sitting on the work bench.
My '71 Dodge van came with the stainless parts. That's what gave me the idea to make stainless parts for my '36 Chevy.
Ray
