After 6 hours of work in the yard (another fence post replacement, drip system repair, and other fence work) I finally had some time to work on Betty again.
With some creative use of a c-clamp, I was able to complete the rebuild of the vacuum pump. Here are the old parts. Nothing looked too bad, except the intake valve had lots of gunk in it.
Here is a view of the inside of the pump. The roller rides on a rotating cam surface on the engine.
This is about as clean as it will ever be!
Mounted with power steering pump connected.
I went ahead and installed an A/C belt (was missing). I figured the $8 belt would be a good idea to install incase the compressor actually works. These V-belts are a pain to install, compared to v-grove belts that I’m used to.
The next problem!
I thought a small piece of vacuum line was all that was needed to fix this… but it turns out this is another hack job by a previous owner. I’ll be ordering a new main vacuum hose with this special connector.
Good news is that the car has lots of vacuum pressure now, so the pump is working. I drove it around the block and the engine is running great. The transmission shifts hard, but that might be due to this missing vacuum connection.
So even though I have no idea what any of this is about (other than a vague notion that I should be really impressed for you working so hard to “go green”), I wanted to comment on your blog… simply because you are in serious need of some blog comments. Aren’t I mean?! :) I just wanted reassure you that someone reads your blog. I just don’t know what to legitimately say about engines, so I can’t leave a legitimate comment… but I do check out your blog!
I shouldn’t give the impression that I’m trying to “go green”… even though that is in-style right now. I’m just CHEAP!