Could this have anything to do with bad idle/performance?

Seems that the leak is up by the engine.

Thanks

 

Its possible, but not very likely.

 

turbo or n/a?

 

n/a

 

if its a realy big leak it could hurt low end performance similary to running to big of an exhaust. otherwise its just gonna end up making more noise.

 

yeah i had a huge exhaust leak and it didnt really seem to hurt my idle, but once i got it fixed it was much easier to take off and didnt require me to push the gas down near as far as before so i assume that means it helped out my bottom end alot. mine is a turbo so the principle might not be the same

 

An exhaust leak on a 88 Vert will not affect idle at all.

It will reduce your horse power due to your 5/6th ports not actuating but you can run with no exhaust and idle at 750rpm.

I've taken everything off but the manifold itself and drove around. It's like a Nascar!hehehe.

I would look for other causes.
Dirty BAC,etc...