Yes! Ive noticed its affected by gasoline MUCH worse than rubber from Nibbi or something.
Removing the bowl for example. If I get gas on the o-ring of one of the Chinese carbs, its a huge hassle to get it to fit again. The Nibbi on the other hand, I just remove that bowl full, gas all over the o ring, no problems.
I've had the same experience. Come daylight I'm going to hand lap the cheap Amazon manifold and go in town to the air and pump guy who has a seemingly endless assortment of orings (and other such things). I think with a bit of hand lapping and a new oring I can solve my immediate problem leak while I do some more research about a new, longer, and curved, manifold.
I'm just about done building this cart. A new center-mounted solo seat will finish the job.
FWIW I'm very pleased with the electric start Tilliotson 212. It's stronger than the Predator I had and quieter too (go figure--because it has the same exhaust on it that the Predator had). They were on sale for a while for about $350. I snagged a couple of 212 predators when they were on sale for $99. They are spares that will most likely end up on the log splitter or a generator when the time comes.
I'm resisting the urge to hot rod the Tilliotson with a cam and stuff 'cause it's plenty fast for me now and I don't want to compromise it's reliability.