Hi,
That pipe is to feed warm air to the carb, mostly during colder weather. It is not essential
for engine health nor normal running. My car doesn't even have one, nor did it ever, as it was
delivered to Australia originally.
You can remove it. You won't notice any difference.
However, your air filter container will have a vacuum valve on the side. Just make sure, by looking
into the intake port,( the one from the plastic shroud) that the flap is positioned to allow cool air flow from the
front. That's its default position anyway so all should be good.
If you wish to keep up appearances later, I've seen various aluminium pipes on ebay of suitable diameter.
Nigel
