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1957 Vacuum Manifold

Started by dn010, January 19, 2023, 01:00:33 PM

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dn010

There was a thread someone started a few months ago about rebuilding their '56 wiper motor. In that thread was a post about testing and rebuilding the vacuum manifold for these cars. I just refreshed my wiper motor and while it does run, it doesn't do as well as it used to. So with the information from that thread, I took off the manifold, did the test and both vacuum ports took air.

Does anyone know where to obtain, or what I can use in order to make a new gasket/valves for the vacuum manifold? I was beginning to cut down a gasket made of fiber paper but quickly realized there is no way it would ever seal. I have sheet rubber but it seems that would squish down upon reassembly.

Cheers for any suggestions.
-----Dan Benedek
'57 Cadillac Sedan Deville 6239DX
'81 DMC DeLorean

Daryl Chesterman

#1
Dan, is this the thread that you are talking about?

    https://forums.cadillaclasalleclub.org/index.php?topic=108350.0

Maybe you could send a PM to Roger Zimmerman to see what he used for his valve material.

Daryl Chesterman

CadillacFanBob

See Roger Zimmerman's article in January 2021 Self Starter great article on Manifold vacuum valve.

Part number 1464610 for seal, for windshield wiper check valve, sold by David King, he is on this forum.

ALSO check vacuum reading for rotary vacuum pump (vacuum pump is located inside oil pan) but line and check valve located on passenger rear of engine, diagnosis is in shop manual.

Bob
Frankfort, Illinois

dn010

Daryl, the post I was referring to was this one posted below. I did check out the link you posted and it has some good information so thank you for posting that. Roger said he used something that was more or less fuel pump diaphram material, I just don't know where to get it. In the meantime from my post, I did find something that may work as a material so I will give that a try first before I reach out to Roger.

https://forums.cadillaclasalleclub.org/index.php?topic=169898.msg529429#msg529429

Thanks Bob, it was your post in the link above with Roger's article that helped me come to the conclusion my manifold is bad. I rebuild the vacuum pump portion of the oil pump back in 2009ish and only have put on a few hundred miles since that time sadly, so it should still be good! I will test it however as you suggest since you never know what can happen - thank you for that suggestion. Luckily, I have spare vanes and I think actually a whole pump should it need to be replaced again.

Thank you guys for your posts.
-----Dan Benedek
'57 Cadillac Sedan Deville 6239DX
'81 DMC DeLorean

J. Gomez

Dan,

FYI there is also a different vacuum valve located on the right side of the block just above the starter which blocks and feeds vacuum from the auxiliary vacuum pump.

Details here -> https://forums.cadillaclasalleclub.org/index.php?topic=109217.msg154841#msg154841

This valve blocks vacuum under normal engine operation and opens only when engine vacuum drops to provide the auxiliary vacuum from the pump to the wiper motor and washer pump.

The vacuum manifold would close the path from auxiliary pump side from the manifold side to the throttle relay valve "only" under low engine vacuum and the auxiliary vacuum pump will open the other path to providing this vacuum to the wiper motor and washer.

Good luck..!
J. Gomez
CLC #23082

CadillacFanBob

quoted by Dan "I have spare vanes and I think actually a whole pump should it need to be replaced again".

@dn010 Did you have the spare vanes specially made, and if so what was the approximate cost, and was it a local company to you?

Thanks in advance,

Bob
Frankfort, Illinois

dn010

Bob - the ones I have are spare OEM vanes from a spare pump I have. I did not have them made although I am sure if they were sent to a company that produces air pump vanes, they could be reproduced.

Just to update: I, of course, dropped one of the springs from the manifold, so I have not yet reassembled this part or gotten the wipers in my car yet. I will attempt to find this needle in a pile of needles on my garage floor or find a suitable replacement, but otherwise I have a gasket cut of some very thin silicone rubber and ready to go.
-----Dan Benedek
'57 Cadillac Sedan Deville 6239DX
'81 DMC DeLorean

fishnjim

Sometime those gaskets NOS come up on Ebay, so keep an eye out. 
I converted to "e" so somewhere there's a manifold in my shop in unknown condition.
It was typical for 2 cycle carbs to have "flapper valves" and that's a similar rubberized fabric material.  So may lead to the right one.  I never tried to obtain so not of interest here either.  Auto parts/2 cycle shop may know.
Hope your solution works.  But can see why I abandoned mine.
The other point is the tension on the cable system has to be right so there's no "slap".

CadillacFanBob

Frankfort, Illinois

V63

It is amazing to me the relationship Cadillac had with vacuum wipers 🙄,
 even the eldorado brougham, promoted as the most advanced automobile in 1957-8 had vacuum wipers and well, literally... they suck.

dn010

20 years ago, I bought a 1950 Buick Special that sat in a barn for majority of it's life and had only 17,000 original miles on it. Interestingly, the vac wipers on that thing worked great! I'm not sure if it is due to the way they designed the Buick system compared to Cadillac, or due to the fact that it had such little use on it, but I had no problems with it.
-----Dan Benedek
'57 Cadillac Sedan Deville 6239DX
'81 DMC DeLorean

dn010

Last night I decided to continue working on this. I tried multiple springs in an attempt to find something that worked, tried weakening some of them with heat and everything I had was too strong. So, I decided I'd try searching for the dropped spring and in a lucky turn of events, as soon as I looked down on the floor with my light - there was the dropped spring! I assembled it using the thin silicone sheet that I cut following the old gasket as a template and it seals up nicely now. I will soon reinstall and have this part of the car done with finally.
-----Dan Benedek
'57 Cadillac Sedan Deville 6239DX
'81 DMC DeLorean

David King (kz78hy)

#12
I have the manifold check valve seal.  $17 mailed.
David King
CLC 22014  (life)
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