I can find intake runner boots ( the original cotton wrapped kind) for a 2.0, bit not a 1.7, are the runners the same size? can I just use these? any input apprieciated.

The 2.0 runners are much larger than the 1.7 ones. And on top of things the 1.7 runner boots are NLA. Your best best would be to open the yellow pages, find some hose/ducting supplier and head out with the old boots, they will have some hose that will fit the application.

If worse comes to worse, head down to Lowes or Home Depot in the plumbing section and find some pool hose that will fit the runners along with some good clamps.

I needed those a few months ago. Dave at GPR found something (presumably at an industrial hose place) that work great. They are not cloth covered like the originals but they fit perfectly.