Okay so the 914 has been running great but yesterday it started to develop an old issue that seemed to have gone away after i fixed the hole in the exhaust. There was a large hole in stock exhaust causing back pressure issues and the car drove loads better after replacing it. But it seems there was something more going on. The car almost left me high and dry yesterday at a few lights when the engine would just cut out and then give me a hard time starting again. Note: Strong smell of gas when it wasn't firing up. Plus Idle seems a bit high. I'm thinking i have a vacuum leak but not sure whats going. Suggestions on what to look at first.

First thing would be to locate all vacuum leaks. A can of ether will help aid you with this process. Secondly, I would verify that the AFM flapper moves freely as you push the flap with your fingers. A slight backfire can cause these flaps to warp, thus restrict full motion.

Is your fuel pump near exhaust? Ditto on fixing vacuum leaks.