Brake vacuum line -- where do it connect?

set for me in Houston

instructions. I put them on, blew a

out. I had thought the

so I just plugged them.

and told me about it. He

the manifolds around, but

difference it made in smoothing

and lower speeds.

manifolds, and I agree - it

the manifold or the back

Kadrons, so I guess no 2

AS PART of this discussion, I would like you experts to help me identify the mysterious metal thing that is in the brake servo's vacuum line. See

OTHERS HAVE POINTED OUT that my dual carb setup pretty much guarantees that I don't have vacuum. I'll do quickie test that Dave e-mailed me: clamp off the vacuum line and see if the brakes are harder to apply.

But I guess it doesn't matter much: these brakes are very strong without servo assist. Just a few minutes ago, in stop and go traffic, the overly-aggressive driver of a beemer in front of me made a sudden right turn to get into the Starbucks parking lot on Carlsbad Ave. Like he needed more coffee. He nearly ran into a road bicyclist who was coming up on his right. The beemer stopped suddenly and I jabbed my brakes to avoid tail-ending him. Bus stopped on a dime with a sharp screech.

I had my dual Kads professionally installed by VW Paradise. Newbie question: would it be expected that Kadron also provided the two intake manifolds? Or are those generally sourced elsewhere?

There have been many different manifolds made for Kads; tall, short, steel and aluminum. Those in the adverts look like the tall steel ones. If in doubt, ask VW Paradise.

I had a set of older steel manifolds ($5 at the swaps) and they were very rough on the inside at the welds. I had my low-profile aluminum manifolds proffessionaly worked and port-matched to my heads. Much better.

Max

Here's a sample. From right to left, an old steel manifold (yuck), the aluminum (Bugpack I think) manifold and an original Puma manifold.

http://63.230.74.177/misc/kadrons/MVC-009F.JPG BTW, I'm in search of a mate for the Puma unit. They are designed for a short - wide engine bay and should work great in a Karmann Ghia. Or the squareback project waiting patiently in the corner.

http://63.230.74.177/misc/kadrons/MVC-010F.JPG Max

Looks like a dance line. "Everybody kick!"

Mine are not the steel one, they are aluminum. They don't quite match up with the other two though. Mine have round flat bosses -- about the size of nickels -- directly under the flange that the carb mounts to, sorta where that pipe is sticking out of the side of your steel manifold.

Sounds like a good place for a vacume fitting.

Max

Mebbe so. drill and tap. Presumably with the mainfolds OFF the engine. Who knows how to do such things? How tough a job? Need to do both, yes, for balancing?

And would this even be worth doing, or useful for anything? Dizzy? Brake servo?

Yeah - I get a bit touchy too - sorry.

Happy New Year.

wrote:

Thanks, man. Same to you.

I'm getting married on new year's eve. Question: what's the best stuff to write "Just Married" on a bus?

If you don't already have a ballance tube (and want one), then yes. Put a fitting in each manifold and run a nice stiff rubber hose between them. Something that won't collapse under, say, 20" of vacume. And for sure do the drilling & tapping off the engine. No crunchies in the engine that way.

Could be used for brake servo and/or ballance tube. But it's the wrong vacume for a vacume advance (dizzy). For that we need a vacume that increases when the thottles are opened, not down as manifold vacume does.

A.J. Simms can modify a Kadron with a proper port for vacume advance if you are so inclined. I plan to do that at some point. I think John C. can sell you a SVDA dizzy with a properly sized vacume canister for such a setup.

Max

White shoe pollish.

And... congratulations!

Max

Thanks!

White shoe polish! But of course!

Well, jeepers. Would I get any benefit from a balance tube? On a bus?

Heh, heh - Guess if we're gonna talk about Rocky we need to do it more behind his back! The servo just boosts the pressure you apply at the master cylinder. This applies to both front and rear. Buses have a proportioning valve that is supposed to keep the rears from getting too much pressure and locking up. It is a chamber with a big heavy ball in it that rolls forward and blocks a port. It's kinda like a tilt mechanism on a pinball game! In fact, you test it by taking the bolts loose and tilting it forward and measuring pressure at fron versus back. Since it's something like a zillion psi up front, I have never invested in a gauge capable of surviving the test. These valves do get all gummed up inside, however and can easily be disassembled and cleaned up. Another good reason to flush the brake system every once in awhile or even more often than that if you live in wet climate! (However often THAT is!)

Incidently, brakes on a VW bus aren't much like brakes on

The brake proportioning valve is a PITA to me. I seem to get it working well for a few months then the braking becomes suspect again - and all indications point to the proportioning valve. I need to study brake system design more before I attempt it, but I'm almost ready to buy a modern brand spankin' new proportioning valve like the hot rodders use and get rid of the TILT! Maybe I can get higher scores in the freeway pinball meets here in Seattle then!

- Dave "Busahaulic" Pears>

of

To

begin

pretty

my

whatever

burned #3 exhaust valve which is a bit

the same on all cars, and Mike's been

at speed on a slippery flat road, and

all 4 wheels, just to check.

it's Mike. How much worse could he make it

when he says it's fine?

is it all 4?

Dunno Rocky. I'm the guy that doesn't really understand how the ballance tube works in the first place. But I can't see where hung on the end of your bus would be any different than the same engine hanging off my Ghia. ;-)

However. Part of the drill for syncing Kadrons is to temporarily pinch that tube off (isolating the manifolds from each other). When I do this, the idle gets noticably rougher. So, I prefer to have one.

A few posts ago I would have said "why doncha ask the good people at VW Paradise". Not so sure now. ;-)

Max

I really shouldn't tell you this, but some day you may really NEED to do something like this on the engine. It is almost always best to remove the part - not just for the matter of keeping the chips out, but also because you can set it at the most advantageous angle to work on it from. If you HAVE to drill and tap on the intake side of an engine you can use heavy bearing grease in the flutes of the drill bit. I would typically drill a tiny hole first to find out how thick the wall is. Now you can mark you're proper-size-bit-for-the-tap with a piece of tape and drill almost all the way through, pull it out and wipe the chips out. Now coat it with grease again and go the rest of the way.

{Not sure of the setup, but if it's easy to pull carbs loose, stuff a grease-covered rag inside the cavern such that it won't allow any debris to go past it and will pull everything out with it when you pull it out.}

Do the same for the tap. Turn a quarter turn and back off an instant. Turn another quarter turn and back off an instant. After you get about 2 to 3 full turns, pull the tap back out and clean it, re-grease and go again, same way. Going into aluminum, you can't just keep turning steadily onward - you must "break the chip" and allow it to fall into the flutes of the tap otherwise it jams and destroys the threads you just made or the tap breaks off in the hole and yer really screwed!

When yer all done, reach in there with something to clean any chip-laden grease out of the hole, hopefully pulling it back out.

Finally - If some small aluminum chips get into the manifold and get ingested into the engine, the chances are probably far greater that a metor will strike Earth and kill us all on Sunday than that any damage will occur to your engine. That said, I would be MUCH MORE CAREFUL if I was drilling into an area accessible by engine oil or drilling / tapping an oil gallery. Aluminum chips of any size into your oil CAN do major damage (but still not a sure thing and not really likely, but this part is my opinion and not proven fact - I just wouldn't tear an engine down because of a small aluminum chip getting into an oil line - unless it was something I'd invested thou$ands into and hundreds of hours, of course!)

OH - JUST MARRIED? Use water colors and was it soon afterwards.

- Dave

Squirrel Elliott

wrote:

don't quite

flat bosses --

flange that the carb

the side of your

OFF the engine.

to do both,

one), then yes. Put

hose between

vacume. And for

crunchies in the

anything? Dizzy?

it's the wrong

vacume that

manifold vacume does.

tube? On a bus?

Good stuff, Dave. Nice to get such in-depth knowledge.

-- Rocky

Busahaulic wrote:

That was "wash" it soon afterwards. I like the shoe polish idea better anyway. Knew people who used water color and added some detergent to get it to cut the wax and actually stick. Car needed complete strip buff and rewax. I suspect the Wonderbus is not so critical!

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