63 riv odd questions, AC/exhaust/etc.

[Guest Steeleco]

Hey folks, thanks for looking.

This is about the fairly beat up car I bought a couple months ago.

1. The fan for the air conditioner works good on my car but the airflow door does not open up (bad diaphram/vaccumn). So if I move the lever that the diaphram should open with my finger it does let air through. It does not seem to open vary far as if Im not getting all the air to come through. Any thoughts.

2. On the passenger side the exhaust headder has what looks like a small short pipe sticking out of it. Any Idea what this is or was?

3. As I have only driven the car short distances it seams like I have put a lot of gas in it. Although I don't see a leak does anyone know about an evaporation issue or something with these cars?

I know this post is a little goofey but worth a try.

Thanks,

Steele Cooper

[Don McClair]

I would check the manifold vacuum behind the carburetor on top of the intake manifold with a vacuum gauge and see what you are supplying to everything. It should be something above 14 inches and if it is low it could mean a carburetor rebuild is in order or something disconnected from the carburetor. This could account for increased fuel consumption and poor performance. Also, check all of your vacuum lines especially those that run to and from the little black vacuum canister that is probably located on the passenger inner fender. If you remove the canister shake it and see if it rattles. If it doesn't rattle it should be ok.

The tube sticking out of the passenger side exhaust manifold goes up to the choke on the side of the carburetor. If there isn't a metal tube connected to choke, use a golf tee to block off the hole going into the side of the choke to see your vacuum increases a little. Also many people would tighten that tubing fitting on the choke too tight and strip the threads as that metal is very soft. If you find that to be the case, you can file down a few threads and then pick up the filings with your shop vac. These are just some things that I have learned fooling around with these old Buick's.

Looks like a pretty nice "beat up old car."

[Eric's.64.Superwildcat]

Also, you might remove your air cleaner, take some photos of the engine compartment from different angles, and post them. There are some very sharp eyes on this board and they might be able to identify problem areas.

Also, it may be helpful to know a bit about the engine. Is it original to the vehicle? How many miles? Any knocking sounds or smoke through the exhaust? Has a previous owner opened it up to 'improve' it. etc.

[Guest Steeleco]

Thanks to Don and Eric. So I did figure out the choke stove pipe, it was there just not plugged in to the exhaust header but was plugged in to the automatic choke. As for the rest of it I will get some photo posted in a couple days to get some help with a few different things. Thanks again.