MS69 350/4-speed

Hello all,

I have a newbie question. my 71 coupes headlights do go up and down by themself due to a vacuum issue... imagine that...

Anyway There is a local vette guy here that I have asked to work up a quote on repairing them, He said its hard to say what the proplem is and how long it will take, I can understand that...

So just for budgeting can someone give me a worse case estimate if he had to rework the entire vacuum system.

He said he would take a look and let me know, I guess I just wanted to get a feel from some of you guys that have been there done that what I should expect price wise as I have no idea what something like this requires timewise or what it should approximately cost. I could be easily taken advantage of, so I thought I would at least run it by ya'll before I take it in.

Thanks!

Michael

Lon Wayne

You mean they dont go up or down dont you ?pull them up and check all of the rubber lines sometimes they crack and let in the vaccume (oh thats backwards) suck not blow?Not sure how much to re-pair but someone on this forum will. good luck .

indy99

About 5 years and 10 million dollars give or take a few. It's a dirty job.

Mark_Milner

Learn to work on them youself or have a huge pile of cash to spend on them.

Vacuum systems typically are leaks from hoses and occasionally a bad component, but that sounds like leaks for you.

Go to Chris Prow's Vette Vacuum page and order his diagnostic guide. Then fix them yourself.

You can probably find the problem right now without the guide, but it helps.

srs244

making an assumption that EVERYTHING needs to be replaced, here are some approximate parts costs (you can check most of them from just about every reputable parts supplier like dr rebuild, corvette central, paragon, etc):
2 actuator @ $100 ea
2 vacuum relays @$50 ea (1 for the headlight actuators, 1 for the wiper door)
1 check valve @ $20
1 filter @ $18
1 vacuum hose "kit" $50
headlight housing rebuild kit (springs, bushings, etc) $90

it is possible (but not very likely) that there is a leak at the headlight switch or the vacuum over-ride switch under the dash.

you could also have a leak in the vacuum reserve tank (i'm not certain what year they switched to the heavier duty log type mounted in front of the radiator). if your isn't a log type, it is like a can mounted up under the driver's side fender in front of the master cylinder. no one is reproducing those that i am aware of, and good used ones are pretty expensive (around $150-200 or so).

now factor in labor (in my area it usually is in the $70/hour range or more).

my suggestion would be to try to do some (if not all of it) yourself. it isn't hard. the repair hose kit is color coded and your three year old daughter could replace the hoses one by one. the filter and check valve are easy to replace (they are in the main vacuum line behind the distributor). more likely than not the actuators are still good, but the seals may be leaking. they can be changed without removing the actuators from the car (through the front grill openings).

there are loads of posts here dealing with headlight vacuum problems. certainly enough to walk you through the entire process. i have redone mine (78) in the last year, and it was just about a complete restoration (i was even missing one of the actuators when i started). it took a bit of time, but it wasn't hard. check out doctor rebuild's website for a great vacuum line diagram (asociated with his vacuum kit, which in my opinion is the best one out there. it is the most accurately reproduced with all the hose diameters matching the originals. anyone can cut a line tot he proper length and sell it as a kit, but when 2 or 3 lines need to be mounted to the relay and they are too thick, you have loads of fun trying to get hem to fit. doc rebuilds stuff is first class and very accurately reproduced in my opinion.

good luck

steve

Easy Mike

The Corvette vacuum system is not rocket science. You should be completely capable of finding your vac problems, correcting them, and keeping repair bill money in your pocket.

Engine vacuum is used to operate (open and close) the headlight and wiper doors. Open and close is all it does; the rest of the operation is electrical (lights and wipers).

You can usually hear a vacuum leak.

Check the aftermarket providers. There is a good reference book dealing with C3 vacuum system problems.

You can do this.

MS69 350/4-speed

The dealer that I bought it from said, when they hooked a compressor up to it the headlights would pop up fine, and that they believed the leak was at the switch in the dash???

Lon Wayne

did you say air hose from a compresser ? Did it have a suck setting there is whats wrong they put the air to it (bubba) and it has blown the line off somewhere should be an easy fix if they really did use a air hose boom off the line goes hence no headlight motion.stay away from those guys with thr air hose they know not.