Marko1968

Thanks. Will try and report the outcome.

Thanks, Pontiac. The transmission is being disassembled as we speak. Meanwhile I also bought the tranny master rebuild kit so I hope the rough shifting will be taken care of. Re vacuum lines: OK, I get how it works for the power brake booster. What about the line that ends in the wiper motor? Where does it come from? Are there any other lines which I am not aware of? Sorry if my questions are dumb, but that's how it is... here in Europe there are hardly any cars using vacuum (some old Mercedes and Mazda models, perhaps). Thank you again. I attach a photo of my 88 taken a couple of weeks ago, still with CA plates

Hi, hope this discussion could be put back to life. Like Sweed, I am also from Europe and have little to no recourse to expert advice on my 1954 Olds 88 (4 door base sedan). After 1.5 year of work, we got her running and boy is she beautiful... Rebuilt almost everything, inter Alia the power brake booster and master+wheel brake cylinders. The engine runs fine, brakes work well. I have the same situation with the fuel pump as someone here, the previous owner disconnected the fuel/vacuum pump and installed the tank-submerged electric pump instead. I have installed the combined fuel/vacuum pump but it is still unconnected to the rest of the system. Now, I cannot get the wipers working at all (the right one moves, the left does not), and there is something strange when the car is in reverse - the brakes seem to work 30% as compared to what they do when the car is in Dr or S gear. What also does not work is the windscreen washer. I have not recreated the full vacuum system as no one knows where to connect which hose. I can can see in plain sight that I have ports (dunno if out or in) open on the wiper motor, vacuum pump, and the air cleaner, Could not find the port on the gearbox, supposedly there is one. The transmission shifts upwards smoothly from 0 to 1, from 1 to 2, and from 3 to 4. The 2 to 3 shifting is rough, with a loud thump. Downwards, shifts from 3 to 2 and 2 to 1 are similarly rough. In either case (up- or downwards) the thump is smoother if the engine is on higher revs. I would highly appreciate the answers to the following questions: 1. Could it be that the vacuum is the cause that the brakes work poorly when in reverse? 2. Could it be that the vacuum is the cause of rough gear shifting? 3. Can someone please draw the full vacuum diagram, or literally list the vacuum lines and describe where each of them connects? 4. Any clever advice on any of the issues described here will be most appreciated. Also, any other advice is most welcome. Thanks!