Hows it going everybody. I have been working on my dad's 1980 Camaro. I notice that the vaccum hose that connects to the vaccum advance on the side of the distrubtor, the hose does not have any vaccum coming out for it and also when I pull the vaccum hose the car does not react different. And my understanding is when you do set the timming you have to pull this vaccum hose from the vaccum advance which is located on the side of the distrubutor. So I trace the lines and check to see if there is anything that is clog. Everything check out good. No clog hoses or any holes in the hoses. I was thinking that the distr TVS which is labled on the little vaccum digram under the hood list, could that be bad? Could that be causing the hose to not have a vaccum not happend? Is there anything other suggestions or ideas that you guys could give me? It is a 1980 Camaro, computer controlled car since I am located in CA. So if you guys could helpe me out I would really apprecaited. Thank you for your time and help. Sorry for the long post.

 

Hey Bro....

(fellow past SCFB/SDFB dood Wayne here)

Anyways....check to see if the vac line is pulling vac when the car is running. If it is, you need to either use a hand vac pump on the vac advance on the dist, or get another hose and literally 'suck' on it and hold it to see if it holds a vac or even moves. Might need some lube on the inside, since they do get dry, rusty, and overall nasty with age. If it doesn't move (pull the cap off and check it) then you'll need to prolly pull the dist and replace it (recommend the MSD adjustable unit). Top Flite can help since there's a few carb/dist guys that know how to adjust timing there still....

Randy might have the hand vac pump. He knows q-jets, so he SHOULD have 1/2 a clue.

Peace out.....enjoy the weather. Its 23 degrees and icy here in PA near Philly.....

 

There are 2 types of vacuum, full time (manifold) and ported. Full time means just that, any time engine is running there will be vacuum. Ported is taken above the throttle blades and is only present at higher rpm's. I'm thinking the factory used ported on this 80. Some vehicles also route vacuum through temperature controlled valves that only route vacuum to distributor under cetain conditions.

I prefer full time vacuum. Idles better, gets better gas mileage. Ported is a child of the emissions push of the 70's. I bought a 67 442 in California in the early 80's. I had to disconnect the vacuum advance completely for the emissions inspection required before I could register it. I drove around the corner and hooked it back up.