mobird

Hey guys, while I have my hood off and radiator out for a top end rebuild on my engine, I decided I would do the vacuum reservoir tank delete to save 50 lbs (heard of it from BeeJay's weight loss threads) off the front end.


How do I route the 3 vacuum lines that run into the vacuum tank once it's out? I've heard of people getting their vacuum from the manifold, and I've heard of people just using a "T" fitting and connecting the lines together, but that doesn't really make sense to me.


Anybody know?

0Willcox Corvette

Just T them together.

Find a T and connect the two yellow hoses circled with a 1, to the black hose circled with a 2.

mobird

Thanks, that was exactly what I was looking for!


Also, I saw mention of cutting the brackets off of the vacuum tank and re-using them so that the structural integrity isn't compromised. Any idea how that's done? IT appears that they all tie into the vacuum tank, so I imagine I would need to source some aluminum bar stock or something to make a cross member for the brackets to bolt to.

billschroeder5842

So, that begs the question if the vacuum tank could/should be by passed?

I have two new relays from my 82 enroute and thinking I should skip the vacuum can all together and go straight to the relays?

I'm not worried about having stored vacuum for popping lights up or down after the engine is off

0Willcox Corvette

Bill... your tank weighs about 1 lb.. and it's always better to have than to have not. 1980-1982 cars didn't have the huge bulky tank the 1973-1979 cars had.

IMHO,

Willcox

LT-1 kid

I have deleted the tank in 68-72 cars, and the system works much
better and faster than with the tank, the only difference is you can't
open the headlights with the light switch when the car is not running
theres no reservoir of vaccume .

BBCorv70

Seems odd unless your tank was leaking. My headlights and wiper door are quite responsive with the tank in place. All it really does is to provide reserve vacuum. YMMV?

mrvette

I bought my '72 in '95 and it had a vacuum tank that looked like a miniature gas tank, it had cracked/splits in the side of the unit in several spots....I tossed it out......car ran for a few years, until the headlights got wiped out by a deer in '98......

Zorro O

I was going to remove my vacuum tank and replace it with a small one from Summit. But when I looked at the cars weight distribution it showed F/R 47/53. That tank is 50lbs and it is as far forward as it could be. My 79 has a 24 gallon gas tank. With my old tires and the tank full it was just a little rear end happy. At one point I had aluminum heads, intake, Dewitt's radiator, a Borgeson steering box, all the smog stuff removed and tube headers. In the rain (Seattle) the car would under steer, if you let off the gas or hit the breaks to transfer weight to the front, the car immediately started to over steer. New tires and cast iron heads seem to have cleared this up. We will see this winter. I would still like to lighten the car but balance is important also. Just saying.

golfboy

I have a 1978 Pace Car and would like to remove the vacuum reservoir tank on the front of the car but if I do this will it compromise the strength and support for the front at all? Also, how difficult is it to remove? I know that I can just "T" the three vacuum lines together. Thanks in advance for any input on this.

mobird

I'm still trying to figure out how BeeJay tied his front end together. He mentions cutting the brackets off of the Vacuum tank to tie the front bumper support to the rad support, but I have yet to find a photo of this. The photo on Page 2 of this thread ( https://www.corvetteforum.com/forums...he-73-a-2.html ) shows how one person did it, but they removed everything and kept no front end support. I'm not really interested in doing that.

gungatim

I agree, can't understand why one would want to lighten the front end when it is already prone to issues with understeer and lifting at speed. Is it for the high in front low in rear look that is getting popular with the younger generation?

gkull

Exactly why I went to being able to adjust the front end height with QA-1 coil over shocks.

Our SBC vettes are nose heavy the BBC are horrible. I've taken maybe 400 pounds off the front end and it really holds the road. The cure for understeer, tail happy vettes is rear weight bias and wide modern ultra performance rear tires.