rapidride2

Okay so here is the latest. I adjusted the carb's idle circuits by use of the vacuum gauge method. I backed each screw just until the car started to lose more vacuum and the gauge took a dive. i them backed each screw out until the highest vacuum reading. I did each screw twice to zero it in The ignition timing is at 11 degrees with or without the vacuum advance attached. This tells me that the distributor vacuum advance is not working. There was no idle quality difference with it hooked up or unattached. My plans are to get a hand held vacuum pump and see if the dist. vac. mechanisim actually moves or not. The timing stays at 11 degrees no matter what. I am not sure how much the dist vac. advance for this car should be for this car. But if i don't see it work with a vacuum hand pump i will plan on changing that out,,,if i can find one. I'm assuming this car should be advancing at idle??? Won't this affect my vacuum at idle problem? Are there any factory part numbers out there? I don't have the distributor out of the car as of yet.

Okay. The next time i get to my pop's house i will check/adjust the timing to 6 degrees (factory specs) and i will also spray some carb cleaner around the intake, carb base etc. in the hopes of finding a vacuum leak. One more thought,,,When i disconnect the vacuum line from the booster the engine idle raises up. Anything else i can try or check? As of now i do not have a handheld vacuum pump.

Comparing apples to oranges i hooked up the same vacuum gauge to a bone-stock 1978 malibu with a 305ci in good running condition and it pulled 14.5" of vacuum???

Well, i checked manifold vaccum at the line WITHOUT the check valve. I have only about 13.5" of vacuum. This is after adjusting the carb for the highest possible vacuum reading at idle with a vacuum gauge. I then installed the checkvalve on that same line and had about 12"of vacuum. I am losing 1.5" of vacuum running through the check valve. I bypassed the check valve and the brakes DO work better. If indeed i need 17-21" of vacuum i am well short of that. Is this manifold vacuum spec. "gospel" or simply desired? If the 17"-21" is what i need i could definitely see the brakes working even better. I have already adjusted the carb to reach the highest point of idle vacuum. I have not had a chance to check ignition timing. If indeed i need 17"-21" of vacuum how do i get it? What should i check for? Thanks againto all who assist.

Well i decided to check into the check valve. I am going to bypass this temporarily to see if braking performance improves in the driveway. I will try to clean out the check valve with some brake clean. If this part is bad,,,, where can i find one that is in good cond??? Ames only offers one from 64-up... Thanks.

Thanks for the heads up. The rubber vacuum lines were replaced. However i did not check the vacuum reservoir. I am assuming this should be checked with vacuum??? If so,,, is this done with a vacuum pump? I am assuming pulling a vacuum and seeing if it will hold that specificied vacuum? Am i on the right track here?

Excuse me as the 58' bonneville of my fathers is well before my time. However i recently overhauled the entire brake system,, new wheel cyls., brake shoes, drums etc. We had the faulty moraine power brake booster rebuilt by a reputable person found through hemmings. This car has a single line/bowl master cyl. Before rebuilding the faulty booster the pedal was super rock hard but the car would stop. Definately not safe to drive with the hard pedal. After installing the new booster, bench bleeding the master cyl. and pressure bleeding the brakes the brake pedal is easier to depress. However not as easy as i thought it would be. It acts now as a regular manual brake car,,, not the faulty powerboosted, rock-hard pedal car it once was. But not as easy as a power brake car i am used to driving. All air is out of the system. Is this a characteristic of this system? Is this because of the single line master cyl.? Any help would be appreciated. Thanks ahead of time.

I have one pending. I will hit you back if am still in need. Thanks for your consideration. Matt

I am in need of a sparkplug cover for a 1952 320 straight 8 in good to excellent condition. I am located in Saint louis. Thanks, Matt.

I am looking for the correct passenger side frame clips that hold the fuel line on my 52' roadmaster. Cars inc. and Bobs Automobilia do not list them in their catalog. Does anyone know where i can get a few of them at? Thanks, Matt.

I am looking for someone who can reproduce the fuel pump suction line that has the rubber hose attached to the metal line. I have my original but the hose is ruptured. I have seen a few n.o.s. on ebay but don't want to use a 58 year old hose. Is there anyone reproducing these? Thanks in advance.

My father has a 58' bonneville with the delco-moraine powerbooster. I have paged through the rebuild section of the shop manual. It didn't seem all that overwhelming at least in print form. My questions are: What is the degree of difficulty in rebuilding this unit? Are there rebuild kits for the delco-moraine unit? Who are reputable rebuilders who are familiar with these units? The rest of the entire brake system has been rebuilt. This is last part that will heal the STIFF brake pedal. Thanks to all who can assist. Regards, Matt.