The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Engine Shop Booster--How to??

:confused: My 63 chevy pickup has a stock six cylinder,single carb, stock exhaust, and manual drum brakes (for now!!). I'm switching over to front discs and I just bought a brake booster out of a newer firebird. Where/how can I find a vacuum port to connect the booster? The only fitting is on the intake but it is for the PCV--can I just install a T-fitting there and run my booster and PCV off the same fitting?

well PVC blows stink out, rather than sucks it in. There should be somewhere on your intake manifold a place where you could get some vaccum for the booster. The engine acts like a big compressor in a way, in that it sucks air in through the carb, and blows it out through the exhaust (anyone remember those hoses you could put in a sparkplug hole to air up a tire?).

on my 292 there is a tap right near the base of the carb.

be sure to use vaccum hose otherwise, the other kinds of hose can collapse under vaccum and then you don't get any power brakes.

63-your truck has a vacuum advance distributor, right? Just find out where it taps into the manifold and get a double fitting to go there. My '72 Malibu (with 307 V-8 and points) had a fitting at the back of the intake, which had a large opening for the brake booster and a smaller opening for the vacuum advance line. Try scrounging at your local boneyard-a V-8 powered vehicle should have what you need, or you could also look at newer I-6 powered trucks/cars too. Hope this helps.

Regards,
Wannabe

Wannabe, your vacuum advance should be running off a port on the carb, not directly off the intake. Needs a metered vacuum to work properly, and that port is not to be used for anything else. One thing about it, you will be getting lots of advance, but not always when you want it.

63, the proper place to connect your booster is the line to the pcv, which should be connected to the hole in the side of the intake manifold below the carb. If you have a factory shop manual, it should show this.