A question of mental imbalance
 

One of my goals while on vacation was to replace my starter and clean the throttle body. Between Pedro's DYI's and Wayne Dempsey's book and tech forums, I have managed to wrestle it to the ground. Two questions-
A major fun part was removing the inlet tube with this gawdawful bladder attached to and shoved underneath the motor opening. (Picture 1) what is this growth and is it necessary?
The second question concerns my attempt to remove the lower bolt on the starter. It seemed if I removed a rubber hose from a plastic tube there would be easier access to bolt. Unfortunately the plastic tube broke. (Picture 2). What have I broken and can I repair it with a spliced in tube? The tube is real oily inside.
After dropping a 15mm wrench into the lower cavity of the engine I have decided to walk away and drink scotch until I'm mentally clear again.http://986forum.com/forums/uploads01...1404614891.jpg
http://986forum.com/forums/uploads01...1404614934.jpg

For starter bolt use really long extensions and go in from behind passenger seat. Easy.

You are exercising sound judgement.

The broken tube would appear to be the oil fill tube. They get brittle with age. No big deal though you will need to replace it with the factory part to insure you don't leak vacuum. Your car will run poorly if you try a cobble something together and it leaks.

As for the bladder attached to the intake tube. I deleted mine and plugged the hole. Just make sure it is sealed, no leaks. Not sure what Porsche's angle was with this muffler - sound or backfire protection who know. It is a pain to deal with.

The bladder is part of your tuned intake called the Helmholz resonator. It has two purposes. One is to cancel acoustic waves from the intake valves that travel up the intake and can foul your MAF sensor readings. The other is simply intake noise suppression.

Thanks for the info