Vacuum troubles?

[Roy]

Electric Headlight Actuators

Chris,

I don't mean to rain on your parade, but you might want to conduct a quick poll of how many Corvette owners would buy your proposed electric replacement to the stock vacuum system. I see polls all the time on this site so why not a pre-marketing poll? You aren't trying to sell anything at this point, only determine feasibility.

The Corvette vacuum system is reliable and easy to understand if you take the time to walk through it. I used to dread the multitude of vacuum hoses under the hood and behind the dash, but once I spent an afternoon replacing every vacuum and fuel line, I was amazed at the simplicity of it all.

Besides, the vacuum system will usually fail slowly and not instantly like a blown fuse on an electrical system. The liability of having an accident resulting from an electric headlight system that unexpectedly failed is something you should consider. Besides the patent application, you may also need DOT approval as it is a safety item you are proposing.

The headlight vacuum system also provides a warning and indication of the health of the engine and/or other components connected to the vacuum system. If anyone experiences slow opening headlights or sluggish operation of any vacuum component, chances are that there is either a leak in the vacuum system and hoses, the heater control valves (especially the under the hood one that controls the hot water flow to the heater core) the carberator or carberator base, the intake manifold or a few burnt cylinder head valves.

So think of the vacuum system on the Corvette as your friend and when it starts to act up, it is trying to tell you something. You can order color coded hoses and schematics for $$$ or simply buy quality rubber vacuum hoses from your local auto supply store $15) and spend an afternoon replacing the hoses one at a time. By the way, there are several hoses that you can eliminate which will clean up things under the hood. E-mail me if you would like a list.

One last point ... when you buy replacement vacuum hose, be sure to get the correct ID. Some folks install hoses that feel o.k. and they slip on and off easily. Vacuum hose comes in ID sizes of 1/32 increments, so be sure that your hoses slide on snug and can't be accidentaly pulled off. Spit on the inside of the vacuum hose always works well for instalation and dries in minutes.

Roy in Oregon

 

[69MyWay]

Roy, you really make some excellent points, and you are exactly right and that is why I am not about to quit my day job.

There is a great long story that I can make very short that inspired the design along with my general personality. I had a 74 Vette that had some weak components in the vacuum system. The headlight would only stay up as long as there was a good constant source of vacuum, and would even dip a tad during hard accelteration. Older and wiser me now knows that could have been fixed with a few simple things as you have pointed out.

Here is the scoop. I was flying down a back road around 80 mph in the dark. I had a loose main wire at the starter terminal, hit a bump and the car went dead for what seemed like an eternity. Well, the headlights dropped (my fault for not keeping the system in tip top condition) I ran off the road and hitting the rough dirt and edge of the ditch the wire made contact again and the car sprang back to life. At this point I am sliding/skidding etc. The lights were on but they had to build vacuum to lift so there seemed like another eternity before I could see the trees I was heading for and avoid a fatal collision.

Fast forward. Now I pride myself in clean neat and show winning engine bays. Check out my photopoint link below and some of the interesting projects I have assembled. I will work myself silly to hide, cover, and eliminate excess hoses, wires, etc when putting a project together. I detest the huge vacuum can on my style shark in the driver fender well, and the endless stream of hoses and wires all over the place. To me, Vette took a step backwards in 68 after having a proven electric actuator from 63-67.

When I first set out to design the headlights I was not using a DOT approved actuator, as it could not be raised or lowered without electricity. The current design can not under any circumstances come down without a request from the driver even at a total power loss. Second, they can be raised and lowered without electricity (the two requirments of DOT).

So, we will see what happens.

I really appreciate your expertise in the vacuum field. It is a great mystery to many people. You obviously have been there and done it. CACC takes pride in members like you that share this expertise and show an interest in helping others out.

Thanks,

Chris

 

[69vettester]

the plot thickens..

> Tom,
>
> Just curious about a couple of things.
>
> Your headlights only pop up when you start your engine or pull the light switch?
>
> Have you checked the black plastic overide switch poistion?
>
> Where does the vacuum hose from the metalic disc connect to the engine?
>
> Thanks.

Roy,
When I start the engine the headlamps pop up, regardless of whether the light switch is pulled, yes.

The override switch is in the closed position and works as far as I can tell.
ALSO
Rare81, mentioned something in a post above, Im not sure how that works but could be very relevant?

The whole vacuum system originates off of a Manifold port, the same one that I see every system like mine starts from, .

I just read your last post and Im beginning to think that my vacuum problem may be more involved than I originally thought.

Ive found two new problems.
1st: I now know that the only hot air that blows into my cab comes through the defrost vents, none of the other vents actuate and allow air in through them, the bad part is I dont know how long its been like that?.
I think I read that this is the default heater setting when there is vacuum failures of some sort? And You are saying something about this too.
I have a no AC system.

2nd: This is embarrassing and I new about it several weeks ago but didnt think it was related so didnt mention it. When I mounted my MSD ig. module on passenger fender well, I removed the wiper wash bottle. Then put it back in. Several days later I noticed it was gone:eek, I obviously didnt get it back in its place correctly and Its on the road somewhere. My wiper door works fine, just no wash fluid for the windows. But this bottle loss does correspond with the time that my headlamp problem started.

I better think about replacing "all" the actuators and components to get these problems fixed?. Thats seems a good way for a vacuum dummy to go about it.

Also I would like your info on which vacuum lines can be removed and why. That would start simplifying this system for me( Im near ignorant about it as is) But bet Ill know more when problems are solved.
TomC