Vacuum & cams

[taxspeaker]

On our bluebird that we bought from the hippie drag racer we have an issue with both the headlights and the power brakes. rakes are mushy, even after we did a complete brake job, bled all carefully and adjusted, and headlight doors don't close, but lines appear fine. The engine has some kind of cam that was added that has a small "lope" and what little is left of my memory tells me that the lift or duration or something like that ruins the vacuum generation, which would affect both of the above issues.

Is there a measurement or reading that can tell me if the engine generates enough vacuum to cure these issues?
Thanks

BTW get ready for an anthracite gray (gloss) color picture on this bird by Christmas as we are working on it now.
Bob

[odcics2]

What's your vacuum at idle?

[hemi-hampton]

Yes, there is a Vacuum gauge to measure Vacuum. I had the same problem with my Car with big cam. Forgot what the Vacuum # should read but somewhere around 16 if I remember right. LEON.

[taxspeaker]

Thanks, I get home tomorrow night and will stick a gauge on it and see

[DAY CLONA]

If the car is a 4spd, 10 inches of vac reading is about the minimum at idle, for a power brake vehicle, an automatic will require 12 inches minimum at idle to have a successful recovery of vacuum to safety perform repeated braking, the manual tranny vehicle recovers faster due to clutching the engine for braking, if the vehicle has a dual diaphram brake booster you'll need at least a minimum of 12-14 inches at idle for safe repetitive braking with an automatic.... your light pod issue sounds like switch/vac resv canister related? or perhaps deteriorated vacuum lines also?  if the cam is robbing you of vacuum due to it's overlap profile, your only choice is cam change or vacuum pump assist...

[hemi68charger]

Bob..

I would also get a simple hand vacuum pump from your local auto parts store and manually try to close your headlamp buckets? It is easy to just disconnect the connect up front ( there should be a connector near the vicinity of the nose. Close the doors and just hold it there and see if they start to open again caused by the safety springs ( if they are still on the car ). This way you have isolated the vacuum system from the headlamp bucket pods....... Then work yourself backwards.... Also, isolate the vacuum can under the battery to see if it still holds vacuum by the same principle using the hand vacuum pump....

Troy

[Moparpoolman]

I would check the power booster, maybe when checking the vacuum with a gauge disconnect the booster and plug the line just to make sure you're not losing vacuum from the booster

[taxspeaker]

Thanks for the leads. Pulling only 6" at idle-pretty strong cam (unknown numbers-before my ownership). Guess the next step is an electric vacuum pump. Anyone have one of them installed?

[taxspeaker]

I have listed car for sale in Craigslist Louisville by the way.

[303 Mopar]

Thanks for the leads. Pulling only 6" at idle-pretty strong cam (unknown numbers-before my ownership). Guess the next step is an electric vacuum pump. Anyone have one of them installed?

I installed one in the trunk of my '71 Challenger. It was loud an obnoxious despite the rubber mounts.  This would be my last choice.

[odcics2]

Maybe a smaller cam would help sell it?