Quirky one... I was cleaning up the Air cleaner assembly on my 68 Cat yesterday -- trying to get it ready for some paint. I removed the two vacuum hoses underneath, that connect the temp sensor to the control damper on the air horn. Both appear to be original. After some clean up I determined that the hose that pulls vac from the carb to the temp sensor "input" side is completely blocked. I thought it might be mud bees or some such thing. However, after inserting a wire I can tell there is something inside the line -- hard as a rock. If I didn't know better I would say it was steel -- Can anyone suggest why this would be the case? I figure I should just swap in a fresh piece of hose but it was so odd that it almost seemed intentional??
Its quite common for the vacuum diaphragms in the air cleaner to leak. Normally you would just remove the vacuum line from the engine to the air cleaner and plug the nipple. Its a possibility that whoever owned the car last, plugged the line instead in order to retain the factory appearance?
@buick64203 -- I doubt it was done for appearance!! I would have expected a Sheetrock screw and/or a blob of RTV -- quick and easy was the model for most of the prior repairs... but it does make some sense that it was done to eliminate the leak -- I wondered if the used a check valve in these lines (seems unlikely...) @Briz it's plugged solid -- not sure what you are suggesting?
No, its just a regular old piece of vacuum line to that sensor. Slice the line open and tell us what's inside!
This was a common " FIX " back in the day to defeat a component BUT still make it look like it was hooked up and working . Everything was used . Old glass fuses and small ball bearings were among the most common thing to stick in a vacuum hose
Well I was optimistic with a wood screw - too high end... it was a siding nail. Thankfully it wasn't a total hack...it was galvanized so at least it wasn't rusty.
