"Don't Know" Build start

It looks like I'm not going to make it to the local car show tomorrow.(today now.) I've got as far as I can on a temporary vacuum pump, without waking the neighbors up. Getting up early won't help either. Neighbors are a real bummer sometimes. I don't particularly care for the guy but, I'm not going to start making noise at 6 in the morning. There's still a bit to do and the parade and stuff starts at 10. So, there's just not enough time. But, I'm going to try like hell anyway. Here's what I've come up with for a pump. An old 12v cheap drill and a vac pump from a diesel pick up. It works using using a drill with the pump connected to the brake booster. The pedal feels a lot better than before. Gotta fire it up and back it out to see just how much help it really is. That's all.

Wiper motor might do the trick too, I hope you make it!

Got the vacuum pump figured out. Mounted it on a piece of plywood, mounted the drill motor on a 1 X 4,and used a short length of hydraulic hose for a flexible coupling. I tried fuel hose but once the vac built up, it would twist and break. No twisting with the hydraulic hose. This set up is sort of noisey so I'm going to build a little styrofoam box to put it in and mount it in storage area behind the seats. Probably run a relay with a switch on the booster line so it'll come on when the vac gets low in the booster. Better than having it run all the time. I went up to our local car show this morning for a while. One rat pickup, the rest were custom high dollar street rods and a couple stockers. Beautiful cars but, they've got more money in tires than I do in my entire ride. Not my style. That's all.

Another option would be to use a steering coupler with the rubber disc.
I think vac pumps can be had pretty cheap, especially from like a u-pull-it too.

As usual, I'm a little slow getting anything done. I finally got my drivers license problem resolved. Had to contact my state Representative's office to get any action. It seems all that was needed was someone to instruct the people at the d.l. office on how to check the dates on out of state offenses. There's a 10 year statute of limitations. So the 36 year thing shouldn't have been a problem to start with. Anyway, I found a couple of brand new trailer fenders, at a garage sale and got them for 20 bucks. Tractor Supply gets 35 each. I think I can get them to work out. I was wanting to mount them to turn with the steering but, the headlights get in the way on the front and the grill housing on the back. I'll do some more measuring and such and maybe they'll work. Any feedback on these fenders? Thanks.

Perhaps just a 1/2 fender that covers the back half of the tire only or maybe back 1/3?

If you wanted a full fender, if it was mounted only 1" off the tire would it still hit the lights? I'm guessing its the width causing the issue? You could section it to make it more narrow as well...

Great find for only $20.

Round the fronts off and/or put them closer to the ground in the back.

I was looking at these things and if I can go ahead and mount them,about an inch above the tires, coming off the back of the brake shoe mounting plate, I can round the front of the fenders off to clear the headlights. On the back, moving the brace on the grill housing, and either cutting the corner off or making a slot, should give enough room for a turn. There's only about two inches travel left in the front springs, so I don't have to cut off a whole lot to clear. Some longer bolts for the backing plate and some ¼x1" flat bar ought to do it. Probably put some sheet metal between or over the ¼" flatbars to help stiffen it up. Thanks guys.

I'm interested to see how these fenders turn out

Me, too. I've got a plan.

narrow them

I would narrow them , shorten them maybe 6 inches and clock them toward the rear as much as possible.
I have seen biker builds where they use rubber hose duct taped to tire for install spacing on the fender for close fits.

The vacuum pumps usually mount to the motor and are run with the serpentine / fan belt. Any chance of sneaking it up front? Might be easier than the motor/hose/Styrofoam box setup.

Yeah, I've got the pump off a diesel and can get a pulley, no problem. But, about the only place to put it is way down under and there's really no clearance. The inside groove on the balancer, originally for the alternator, is only accessible from where the power steering pump is now. No room up top. I thought about running the vacuum pump off the same belt as the PS but, again, no room, without it sticking out top. I'll probably wind up buying an electric one off eebay. There's a few from GM, Volvo, and others, that are going for about 50 bucks. Thanks.

Well, I broke down and bought a vacuum pump. Ebay comes thru again. This thing fits a Chevy Cruze. I'll try to give it a try tomorrow.

Got the vac pump mounted and hooked up. It's a little loud when the engines not running but, I don't need it then anyway. (unless I'm on a tow chain) This pump gets really hot after about ten minutes. I'm going to find out if that's normal or if it needs to have some sort of lube drip installed. Air tool oil would probably work since it is a vane type pump.
I was looking around for some cheap side pipe inserts and ran across these from Patriot. They look kind of like trailer house hold down anchors. I just happen to have a few anchors that fit the 4" pipe perfectly. We'll see how much they actually quiet things down. That's all.

Those are called spiral core
This is what it looks like in the housing.


I run these on my pro street GTO. They work great are pretty loud and still have a great sound.
The ones I run are called Lobak.
Moroso makes these inserts and Jeg's also sells them.

Old Iron, I found them at Jegs. The only problem is that they are 4" O.D., the same as my side pipes. Same with Thrush and others. There are a few places that make 3.830" O.D. inserts for Vettes and Cobras but, they are a little too proud of their stuff. Around $150 each side.
So, just for the heck of, I cut these house anchors off, stuck them down the pipes and slid in my past attempt at baffles. It actually quieted it down enough to get by with. Still fairly loud but, it doesn't have the eardrum pounding sharpness. I'll try it this way for a while. That's all.

I had to take off work to go see the doc about my old wore out knees. While I was at it, I made another trip to the DMV and actually got the title straightened out and have a brand new set of plates to put on the project. There's only one problem here. I got regular tags for it cause I didn't want the restriction of driving it only to shows and parades, like Texas says for Antique plates. BUT, with regular plates, it's got to pass state inspection. I'll call my regular inspection guy tomorrow and ask him about the side pipes. I'm thinking it might not fly. It may be a case of going back and getting the antique plates anyway. we'll see. But, I'm just one real short step from going for that first test drive and seeing what has to be tweaked or re-done. Maybe I'll play hookie again tomorrow. There may be enough vacation time for it. Later.

What are you using the vacuum pump for? Emissions?

Vac to the power brake booster. I put too much cam in the 429 and haven't got enough manifold vacuum for the brakes. It's working now.