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Manifold vacuum - try it! #1198215
03/17/12 12:52 AM
03/17/12 12:52 AM
Joined: Jul 2011
Posts: 817
Eugene, Oregon
Secret Chimp Offline OP
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Eugene, Oregon
I'd been reading around on FBO and other authorities on vacuum advance for a couple weeks. This old article in particular pulled me over:
https://board.moparts.org/ubbthreads/showflat.php?Number=4711501&page=2391

I decided to try connecting my distributor to a full manifold vacuum source just to see what it would do. What's the worst that could happen?

Results: smoother idle, QUIETER idle, and a stronger step-off since all of the advance is already pulled in vs. the delay from using the ported source.
My idle is absolutely rock steady at 800 rpm and I picked up a couple of inches of vacuum in drive. Drives exactly the same after it's rolling, of course.

I didn't get a chance to fiddle with the actuation curve with my Mityvac yet, but just as it is right now is an amazing improvement for no more effort than switching a hose and a plug and reducing my idle setting a half-turn. I didn't even need to touch my initial timing of 12 degrees. And this is just some old janky pre-Mallory MP distributor, not an FBO unit. Try it!


1967 Dodge Coronet Deluxe station wagon

1.03" T-bars, QA1 arms/rods, Cordoba/GM Metric/Volare brake & knuckle, XHDs, Hellwig rear sway, 318 Magnum w/ air gap, 727, 3.23s
Re: Manifold vacuum - try it! [Re: Secret Chimp] #1198216
03/17/12 12:57 AM
03/17/12 12:57 AM
Joined: Feb 2010
Posts: 18,493
Granite Bay CA
Kern Dog Offline
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Granite Bay CA
Sure... If you are running 8 to 1 compression and have 100 octane gas.....

Re: Manifold vacuum - try it! [Re: Kern Dog] #1198217
03/17/12 01:18 AM
03/17/12 01:18 AM
Joined: Jan 2004
Posts: 27,347
Today? Who Knows?
1_WILD_RT Offline
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Quote:

Sure... If you are running 8 to 1 compression and have 100 octane gas.....




Actually it works.. It works because when you step on the gas manifold vacuum drops, the harder you give it the gas the more the vacuum drops... So the timing falls out directly proportional to engine load.... Under light throttle you have more lead helping throttle response & fuel economy..


"The Armies of our ancestors were lucky, in that they were not trailed by a second army of pencil pushers."
Re: Manifold vacuum - try it! [Re: Kern Dog] #1198218
03/17/12 01:20 AM
03/17/12 01:20 AM
Joined: Jul 2011
Posts: 817
Eugene, Oregon
Secret Chimp Offline OP
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Secret Chimp  Offline OP
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Eugene, Oregon
I'm pulling almost 30 degrees of initial now on a stock early 9:1 318 running 89 pump gas. That's only at idle. With the throttle open it behaves the exact same as it would connected to a ported source.


1967 Dodge Coronet Deluxe station wagon

1.03" T-bars, QA1 arms/rods, Cordoba/GM Metric/Volare brake & knuckle, XHDs, Hellwig rear sway, 318 Magnum w/ air gap, 727, 3.23s
Re: Manifold vacuum - try it! [Re: Secret Chimp] #1198219
03/17/12 01:46 AM
03/17/12 01:46 AM
Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 30,998
Oregon
A
AndyF Online content
I Win
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Oregon
The primary issue with using manifold vacuum is that it is a positive feedback loop so you can easily end up with the engine "hunting" or surging at idle. The OEM engineers developed ported vacuum to eliminate that issue.

Re: Manifold vacuum - try it! [Re: AndyF] #1198220
03/17/12 01:57 AM
03/17/12 01:57 AM
Joined: Jul 2011
Posts: 817
Eugene, Oregon
Secret Chimp Offline OP
super stock
Secret Chimp  Offline OP
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Eugene, Oregon
Alls I'm sayin' is I don't have any of those issues whatsoever. If the vacuum can or cam in your car causes that, oh well, but if it doesn't it's a big difference in idle quality compared to ported.


1967 Dodge Coronet Deluxe station wagon

1.03" T-bars, QA1 arms/rods, Cordoba/GM Metric/Volare brake & knuckle, XHDs, Hellwig rear sway, 318 Magnum w/ air gap, 727, 3.23s
Re: Manifold vacuum - try it! [Re: Secret Chimp] #1198221
03/17/12 02:18 AM
03/17/12 02:18 AM
Joined: Aug 2003
Posts: 43,127
Bend,OR USA
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Cab_Burge Offline
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Bend,OR USA
Quote:

Alls I'm sayin' is I don't have any of those issues whatsoever. If the vacuum can or cam in your car causes that, oh well, but if it doesn't it's a big difference in idle quality compared to ported.


1955,56 and 57 Cheverolet 265 and 283 use manifold vacume, Mopar never has


Mr.Cab Racing and winning with Mopars since 1964. (Old F--t, Huh)
Re: Manifold vacuum - try it! [Re: Cab_Burge] #1198222
03/17/12 02:20 AM
03/17/12 02:20 AM
Joined: Jan 2004
Posts: 27,347
Today? Who Knows?
1_WILD_RT Offline
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Quote:

Quote:

Alls I'm sayin' is I don't have any of those issues whatsoever. If the vacuum can or cam in your car causes that, oh well, but if it doesn't it's a big difference in idle quality compared to ported.


1955,56 and 57 Cheverolet 265 and 283 use manifold vacume, Mopar never has




Ford was using it in the 70's with a one way delay valve so it would advance slower but fall out immediately...


"The Armies of our ancestors were lucky, in that they were not trailed by a second army of pencil pushers."
Re: Manifold vacuum - try it! [Re: 1_WILD_RT] #1198223
03/17/12 03:57 AM
03/17/12 03:57 AM
Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 27,421
Balt. Md
3
383man Offline
Too Many Posts
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Didn't we have about a 200 page post on this not long ago ? Ron

Re: Manifold vacuum - try it! [Re: 383man] #1198224
03/17/12 04:10 AM
03/17/12 04:10 AM
Joined: Feb 2003
Posts: 21,318
Manitoba, Canada
DaytonaTurbo Offline
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Sounds to me more like your distributor curve was not setup properly and plugging the vacuum advance straight into manifold vacuum does a patch job at hiding the hole in your mechanical advance curve.

FWIW on my jeep I went and gave it as much initial as I could before the engine rpm would start slowing down from too much timing. The old 4.2 inline 6 is a worn out pos anyway. After doing that I tried hooking the vacuum advance up to manifold vacuum because the carb I'm using doesn't have ported advance. Plugging it in made the engine die. It just couldn't tolerate any more advance at idle!

Re: Manifold vacuum - try it! [Re: Secret Chimp] #1198225
03/17/12 10:09 AM
03/17/12 10:09 AM
Joined: Feb 2010
Posts: 1,645
Phila. Pa.
Mattax Offline
top fuel
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Phila. Pa.
Secret Chimp - The reason why manifold or ported works better comes from the combustion characteristics at idle. Here's where the generalizations can't cover all the combinations.

Burn characteristics are due to compression, chamber, valve timing (cam) and load. Hot rodded engines usually prefers ported because the valve timing favors higher rpm over low rpm. Richer idle mix offsets the exhaust dilution although many of us chased our tails for years trying (mistakenly) to lean out idle on cammed engines.

Closer to stock, the timing needs are as varied as the combinations created. There were also arrangements that mixed manifold and ported. It is not a difference between brands, nor entirely about emmissions. I used to think that too but the facts are otherwise. See the responses to my question on this page for more about OEM solutions. (especially post #19,20)

Also, in above linked thread is a really good and detailed explanation of the reasons for choosing ported vs. non-ported advance. Specificly go back to post 10 second paragraph & more in post 13.

Last edited by Mattax; 03/17/12 03:33 PM.
Re: Manifold vacuum - try it! [Re: Mattax] #1198226
03/17/12 10:27 AM
03/17/12 10:27 AM
Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 3,967
S.I. N.Y.
1MYTGTX Offline
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S.I. N.Y.
I have my distributor recurved by Don @ FBO to use manifold vacuum with great results


1MYTGTX
Re: Manifold vacuum - try it! [Re: 1MYTGTX] #1198227
03/17/12 10:40 AM
03/17/12 10:40 AM
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Posts: 1,274
Ontario.Canada
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can.al Offline
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..manifold vacuum is the best but you need the proper vac can to take advantage of it.
..Mopar canisters usually won't work.

Re: Manifold vacuum - try it! [Re: can.al] #1198228
03/17/12 11:19 AM
03/17/12 11:19 AM
Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 14,610
Not2farfromNashville, TN
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Rug_Trucker Offline
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Re: Manifold vacuum - try it! [Re: can.al] #1198229
03/17/12 11:51 AM
03/17/12 11:51 AM
Joined: Nov 2003
Posts: 36,040
Lincoln Nebraska
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RapidRobert Offline
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Quote:

..manifold vacuum is the best but you need the proper vac can to take advantage of it.
..Mopar canisters usually won't work.


too much (adv) or not enough in the can?


live every 24 hour block of time like it's your last day on earth
Re: Manifold vacuum - try it! [Re: Secret Chimp] #1198230
03/17/12 12:12 PM
03/17/12 12:12 PM
Joined: Mar 2008
Posts: 5,746
Ontario, Canada
Dodgem Offline
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Ontario, Canada
Quote:

I'm pulling almost 30 degrees of initial now on a stock early 9:1 318 running 89 pump gas. That's only at idle. With the throttle open it behaves the exact same as it would connected to a ported source.




So recurve your distributor now to give 30 at idle and put the vacuum advance back where it belongs. All you are doing is pulling advance up to where it really needs to be!

I like to use 2 light springs one may be enough??

Re: Manifold vacuum - try it! [Re: DaytonaTurbo] #1198231
03/17/12 12:13 PM
03/17/12 12:13 PM
Joined: Mar 2008
Posts: 5,746
Ontario, Canada
Dodgem Offline
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Quote:

Sounds to me more like your distributor curve was not setup properly and plugging the vacuum advance straight into manifold vacuum does a patch job at hiding the hole in your mechanical advance curve.


Re: Manifold vacuum - try it! [Re: Dodgem] #1198232
03/17/12 12:47 PM
03/17/12 12:47 PM
Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 5,443
Indiana
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YO7_A66 Offline
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Indiana
If his car likes 30 degrees at idle, changing his initial timing to 30 degrees and swapping the vacuum port may not work when he is trying to start his car with that much initial timing.
With the manifold vacuum, his car will crank with only 12-18 degrees of initial timing which is better on his starter, especially in hot weather.


1970 YO7 A66 [Canadian Export] F8 Challenger
340 (Currently in shop for stroker assy.)
Re: Manifold vacuum - try it! [Re: YO7_A66] #1198233
03/17/12 12:54 PM
03/17/12 12:54 PM
Joined: Nov 2011
Posts: 2,154
Its a TRAP!
DARTH V8Я Offline
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DARTH V8Я  Offline
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Its a TRAP!
well ported/ful vacuum I don't even deal with. There are many, many digital ingnition units out there you can set timing/curves/etc. to what ever you want. Just tossn' it out there.

Also, its realitively easy to keep the 'stock' look too.

Re: Manifold vacuum - try it! [Re: YO7_A66] #1198234
03/17/12 02:12 PM
03/17/12 02:12 PM
Joined: Mar 2008
Posts: 5,746
Ontario, Canada
Dodgem Offline
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Dodgem  Offline
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Quote:

If his car likes 30 degrees at idle, changing his initial timing to 30 degrees and swapping the vacuum port may not work when he is trying to start his car with that much initial timing.
With the manifold vacuum, his car will crank with only 12-18 degrees of initial timing which is better on his starter, especially in hot weather.




That's why I leave the slots long and use real light springs easy starting and nice idle advance!

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