Air cleaner stove door vacuum actuators

How does one repair or replace air cleaner vacuum actuators on a 1970 GS455 air cleaner assembly, (there are two ) Thanks.. Pat

If both are bad I would think that an odd coincidence. Perhaps the problem is further back in the vacuum system.

Both diaphrams seem bad. a vacuum hand pump connected directly to actuators just draws air...

The actuators ARE designed to be replaced. What you have to do is (after you find a correct replacement, in an old ACDelco Emissions Catalog, possibly, or some repro vendor catalog) is to drill out the spot welds and then rotate the cover to disengage the rear "lip" where it slides into the snorkel. You'll then need to disengage the actuator shaft from the flap in the snorkel for full removal. I suspect that many of the actuators are basically the same, other than the shaft coming out of them being tailored to the particular snorkel usage.

In earlier times, they were more readily-available, with the repair kits having two small sheet metal screws as the retention mechanism (rather than spot welds). Might have seen 1 or 2 in all of the swap meets I went to in the '80s-2000.

The other thing might be to remove them and disassemble them . . . might be a somewhat delicate operation to get the two halves separated well enough to reuse them.

The purpose of the actuators is to help keep the air temp inside of the air cleaner closer to 100 degrees during startup and cold weather operation. This allows the carb's fuel map to be a little leaner for better emissions performance/compliance. DON'T forget about the thermostat on the base of the air cleaner, as that's what controls/modulates vacuum to the actuators themselves!

Now, back in the later '60s when Dad bought a new '69 C-10 pickup (350 4bbl), I (like many others, back then) flip-flopped the top of the air cleaner for (allegedly) better performance. I could not tell any real difference in cold weather with the air cleaner top flipped and when it was closed and let the actuator do its thing. I know what they are supposed to do, but the results might show up better on an emissions test (in cold weather) than in actual "feel" . . . at least in our more-temperate winter weather in N TX.

In the absence of any replacement actuators, I'd just hook up the vacuum lines to the bottom of the air cleaner's thermostat, then no hook up from the vacuum source to the thermostat. If you want to put that vacuum source vacuum line on, then put a ball bearing in it to seal it off (near the plug-on point to hide the additional little "hump" in the vacuum line).

Perhaps somebody in the restoration industry (possibly in the Corvette area?) might have some sort of rebuilding service for these air cleaners? But then, too, so many of those snorkel air cleaners were replaced with the "better looking" open element air cleaners, as I recall. One observation of mine is that all of that induction noise might sound "nice", but when you go back to the snorkel air cleaner you might realize just how much nicer the car is without hearing all of that stuff. Personal prefs more than anything else.

Just some thoughts,

NTX5467

The mounting bracket and the diaphragm assemblies are available from aftermarket/reproduction suppliers.

On a previous GTO build, I used these from AMES Performance Engineering:

https://secure.amesperf.com/qilan/Detail_Web?part_num=N175WH&order_number_e=MzUwNjIwOA%3D%3D%0A&web_access=Y

AMES part number: N175WH

This is in the Air Cleaners & Air Cleaner Components section of their GTO/LeMans catalog.

Website: http://www.amesperf.com/index.html

Tel: (800) 421-2637

Thank you! this is the best lead I have seen, the firebird catalog has a ram air diaphragm assembly that is exactly like the GS ($245.00 a pair) instead of $59. like the pair those. I will look to see if the cheaper ones would work, we know it usually doesn't work out that way. That AMES website is amazing, Looks like you could build a car from their catalogs ! Too bad they don't have a Buick catalog. Thanks again, Pat

Thank you 95 cardinal , They were exactly what you illustrated, I ordered them (77 bucks with ship ) they work perfect. didn't have to drill the spot welds, I just bent the tabs at other end and snuck them out bending bracket up then back down, rebend tab with channel locks. Car warms up nicely now and comes off high idle. Thanks also for turning me on to amesperformance. Quite a GTO catalog, many parts interchange with GS. I am happily surprised at all they have. Thanks again, Pat

Hi, Pat. I need to replace these actuators on a 1971 Buick GS 350 air cleaner. Would you please post the Ames part number of the actuators you wound up using on your '70? If I followed the earlier post correctly, these are the $59 a pair units (plus shipping). Thanks. John

John, the part number is N175WH , they also have all the proper yellow stripe vacuum tubing and they come with the mounting brackets if needed, good luck, Pat