Frankenstien

I'll report back ... in case you, NTX5467, or anyone else is curious as to the outcome ... for now, life has interfered with work on my Dad's Riv ... I'm expected to drive boats for a bit. FFF

EmTee & NTX5467 ... thanks for the additional thoughts / info ... the NOS octane booster I intend to use label's featured info says it's "Blended with Nitro-Methane" and the FIRST AID TREATMENT portion says "Contains petroleum distillates." ... that is the extent of the contents info on the bottle's label ... below is an excerpt from the MSDS sheet for the product ('PER01-092 12012 OCTANE BOOSTER RACING ANG.pdf'): I don't see any mention of alcohol there, per se ... Presumably, also adding methyl hydrate (to mitigate any water condensate that may have accumulated) is akin to adding methyl alcohol / methanol, and is, perhaps, to be avoided? ... based on your observations, NTX5467? FFF

EmTee ... I am a little surprised at how strongly you (and, frankly, others I've encountered online) feel about old gasoline (really old gasoline has a varnishy smell that helps to differentiate it from 'fresh' gas ... my car's tank was last filled on 23JUL2011 with Chevron [Canada] Supreme Plus [94 [octane (M+R/2)] gasoline ["94 OCTANE IS ETHANOL-FREE ... "] with 76,161.4 miles on the odo ... so, since its' got 76,187.5 on the odo now, that means it's gone only 26.1 miles in the 11~ year interim ... and I've somehow lost the better part of 5/16~ of a tank to ? ... evaporation? ... can't be thievery ... the car's in a locked garage [that remains well above ambient external temperature and humidity conditions ... in winter]) ... anyways, I've been down this path a few times before and I've never encountered any of the problems you list EmTee ... dropping the fuel tank? With all due respect, that's just not happening ... siphoning out all the old gas? ... granted, not as big of a deal as dropping the tank, however, that's not happening either ... I'll dose the gas in the tank with my NOS octane booster mentioned in an earlier post and later fill the tank with the same gasoline as mentioned earlier ... if I bend pushrods and / or valves get stuck early on during use of the car, you can say I told you so ... besides, I still don't have resolution of my potentially low engine oil pressure issue anyways, so, am more inclined to accept some further risk to the engine, however, I do not expect any issues such as you describe. FFF

... so ... circling back to the fuel pump replacement task, I've got the carb fuel inlet pipe disconnected, the inlet filter housing removed and found no debris in the filter cavity (I'm surprised there was no metal or other (nylon? ... seems to be available for this purpose these days) gasket behind the large, cylindrical inlet / filter 1"-20 housing ... I have yet to find a proper exploded view of it [for: Rochester QuadraJet 7042240] ... the only replacement filter available to me locally is a FRAM CG3389) ... anyways, during two 10-second cranking tests (with 30 seconds in between for starter motor cool down) the fuel pump did not pump a drop of fuel, as expected ... even though the fuel tank is 11/16~ full ... as NTX5467 suggested earlier on, I'll remove, carefully identify (as near as I can make out, those f. p. hoses are 3/8" & 1/4" I.D., respectively ... apparently 9/32" no longer exists [unless you go with 7mm] and 5/16" is too big for the smaller f. p. hose nipple as tested on the Delphi replacement fuel pump) and replace the two short sections of flexible rubber fuel hose connecting to and at the pump ... my problem may be as simple as a supply hose cracked badly enough from age that it leaks air in enough that the poor pump is doing nothing but trying to pump air ... ... another concern is the age of the gasoline in the tank ... I have a bottle of 'NOS MAX RACING OCTANE BOOSTER' ("NOS Increases octane effect up to 6 full octane numbers or 60 points (1 octane number = 10 points). " ... and ... try as I might, I cannot find that NOS product on Permatex's website) that I can add to the tank, however, that's 17.25625~ U.S. gallons to treat (if fuel tank capacity is 25.1 USgal), NOS advises a 12 fl. oz. bottle will treat 12-16 U.S. gallons of fuel, so, at least I'm not over-dosing the fuel in the tank ... ... thoughts? Thanks, FFF

EmTee ... I don't plan on towing because the only things I have to tow are boats and this car looks like it has to go too far into the water (R brake lines, drums, ect. could be immersed) to launch or recover my trailered boats (1 lake boat into fresh water lakes, 2 others that are salt chuck boats going into the Pacific Ocean) ... I also don't believe it has air shocks (there's a new wrinkle for me ... I didn't even know you could order Rivs back then with air shocks! What was the idea? A trunk full of gold but the car could still be levelled out?), however, I will look today when I have the car lifted ... good thought! I guess the one chrome bolt low on your bumper would only register with the most savvy of observers ... FFF

NTX5467 ... don't hold my feet to the fire on the C.M. origin / source, but I am nearly 100% certain that what I have is factory installed ... and I also did establish just now that there is 12VDC power to the transducer (so, apparently, the [RV?] shop that did the vacuum trailer brake install and presumably left the Power Unit's vacuum source hose flapping in the breeze saw fit to not bother disabling C.M. electrically) ... with the ignition on, there is power to the green wire / 'LIGHT' connector, with ignition on and the 'Apply' button pushed (on the end of the steering column stalk), there is power to the black wire / 'ENGAGE' connector and at the brown wire / 'HOLD' connector, there is no power with ignition on, nor with ignition on and 'Apply' button pushed, nor with ignition on and brake pedal pushed (I did not try pushing both at the same time) ... I still have to lift the car and trace the vacuum trailer brake hose from the draw bar hitch connector forward to whatever vacuum source was tapped ... FFF

NTX5467 ... yes (and thank you for the link, I drilled into that last night ... it will seemingly take some digging to see if there is anything there I can make use of) ... I'm pretty sure my Cruise Master system is factory installed ... I have the turn signal stalk with the 'Apply' button on the end (no switches, just the end push-button with script on the end of the stalk: '◄ CRUISE' pointing towards the button) and, EmTee, I'm pretty sure I have a(n) (functioning? maybe not under the current circumstances) indicator light on the dash ... in between the L turn indicator light and the dreaded 'OIL' light ... can't quite make the un-illuminated script out ... it will not light up with ignition ON and the 'Apply' button pushed ... ... at any rate, my focus is to find factory parts illustrations / servicing illustrations of the actual appearance, types, locations and connections of the vacuum tubing involved at and around the Power Unit (LR of top of engine) and Transducer (L inner fender-mounted) in order to figure out where the Subject (of my thread post here) disconnected vacuum hose is supposed to connect. TeamBuick has an excellent resource to the '1972 BUICK SERVICE MANUAL - SECTION A - CRUISE MASTER', (pages) 65-2 through 65-17 here. (I hope I am not violating their rights by posting snapshots of illustrations (below) from their free online resource, or, for that matter, violating any policies of this site - if so, I will redact the snapshots immediately) However, after rotating pages 65-9 thru 15 90°CW in order to properly study the illustrations provided, I find that the illustrations (i.e. page 65-12 - Note: some illustrations are for 'All Series', some for select Series, i.e. my Riv being a Series '4Y') stop just short of showing that which I seek ... the actual Power Unit / Transducer vacuum source connection (at the carburetor / intake manifold? yes?), as intended by the factory. The illustration on page 65-10 is not for my Series, and, the illustration at page 65-11 (All Series) shows what appears to be a vacuum source hose nipple at the rear, center, carb base, but no vacuum hoses are illustrated, per se (see photos of my existing installation posted by me earlier in this thread, here & here). I'll have to trace the vacuum hose that is currently connected to my carb base ... my money is on the vacuum brake connector back at the draw bar hitch location but I will have to check it to be sure. Maybe you cannot have the two types of devices (C.M. and trailer brakes) competing for vacuum, otherwise why wouldn't the RV shop installing the vacuum trailer brake connection have just tee'd the hoses at the carb base? (to a substitute 'T' fitting for the existing straight hose nipple fitting) FFF

Frank DuVal ... very appropo advice that I had not thought of myself ... thank you for that one ... in my case, an uncontrolled fire would not only take out my Dad's boat tail, it could conceivably take out all my other vehicles in the garage, and, as my garage is directly below / integral to my home, things could get severely nasty ... Thanks for the compliment on the car ... my Dad had two boat tails and was always showing me brochures for the latest new Rivs ... he often talked about buying a new one, however, his depression-era upbringing and resulting save-up-for-a-rainy-day mindset would not allow him that extravagance or to indulge that aspiration. FFF

NTX5467 ... thanks for the description of 'Cruise Master' cruise control ... I found an online reference to the Buick Chassis Service Manual at TeamBuick ... excellent resource ... however, I am, so far, stymied in my online searches by profiteers ... as far as the Buick Parts Manual is concerned, or, any illustration excerpts from same ... which is what I'm really after. Any thoughts on finding an online reference to the latter? And, after thinking about this stray vacuum hose some more, I remembered that my Dad had a(n RV?) shop install vacuum (/ electric) (?) brakes on this car (there is a larger removable round plug in a matching receiver with a relatively large I.D. hose attached to it (you can see it in my earlier photo attachment above) ... all adjacent to the 2" draw bar receiver hitch .. for which the old boy had a 2 5/16" ball hitch draw bar and weight distribution bars [installed under chain tension]) for the purpose of hauling a larger (28?') Airstream trailer from Arizona out to Florida and back one snowbird season ... my money is on said shop needed a vacuum source and may have asked my Dad if he really needed cruise control, which, knowing him, he would have told them he didn't use or need it, so, the shop may have disabled the C.M. cruise control in order to obtain their vac. src. ... I'll look to see if they took the precaution of disabling C.M. electrically ... by pulling any related fuse(s) ... that is, if, in fact, I've surmised what's transpired correctly. Thanks, FFF

... and, one last pic ...

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... thanks NTX5467 for your thoughts on clamps ... I myself am a commercial salt water boat driver ('Captain' to my Deckhands), so, the use of stainless steel stuff is kind of a no-brainer for me ... on or in anything ... I absolutely hate coming across corroded ferrous fasteners, clamp components and the like ... manufacturers will typically cheap out and use ferrous stuff ... I get it ... cost per unit ... but it's still irritating to have to deal with ... ... anyways, I have a little mystery I'm hoping those here who are helping me out can maybe solve ... based on their own experience and / or knowing of appropriate resources I can access and review myself ... ... there is a relatively short piece of larger I.D. vacuum hose attached at one end to what I'm pretty sure is the cruise control vacuum diaphram unit ... installed above the LR end of the intake manifold ... the other end is attached to nothing and is just pointing upwards ... loose as a goose ... there is no hose nipple at the rear of the carb, or in that vicinity of the intake manifold (or the rear area of the air cleaner, although, I'm pretty sure that c.c.? device wants an active vacuum source to function) to accomodate it ... so, until I figure out what it is, what it does and where it's supposed to go, I've temporarily plugged it to keep debris out of it ... I have noted a newer-looking run of similar size hose that attaches to the center rear of the top of the intake manifold via a newer-looking PCV? metal device (see pics, attached) ... any thoughts on what's transpired here? Thanks, FFF

Larry ... I have been duly schooled ... thank you ... however, I'm still going to use SS hose clamps and keep those p.t.h.c.'s in a box ... EmTee ... I hear you ... and thanks for the well-wishes as to me not getting to know the old girl too, too well ... ... upon re-reading my own Reply ... well designed ... in that the oil pump can be serviced w/o dropping the oil pan ... maybe not as much so in terms of the pump's actual durability ... RockAuto parts arr. Thurs. ... got a DELPHI MF0086 f.p., an SMP PS57 o.p. sw. (they had ACDELCO D1805, however, they're 'Wholesaler closeout' inventory, sound like potentially old stock to me and came from a diff. R.A. w-house, meaning 2 shipments to my U.S. mail drop instead of 1 ... adding expense in an additional p/u fee and increasing the odds of parts arriving diff. days ... not good given lingering border crossing issues post?-pandemic and get 'er done efficiency consid.'s) and a WIX 51258 o.f. ... FFF