Can someone tell me whether the vacuum line for the heater is taken from the rear port on the manifold, or somewhere else? 

South Australia

Al,I made mine simple, I used a manual shutoff on the hot water from the manifold. Works for me. Open in the winter and closed in the summer.Jim

  Jim Rowe Elkhorn, NE

I'm thinking of doing that too.  The vacuum shutoffs seem quite expensive, even the offshore versions.



Mark

1956 Mercury M100
1955 Ford Fairlane Club Sedan
Delta, British Columbia

You didn't say what car you're working on, I assume it is a '56 as in your pic.  The vacuum to the heater tees into the vacuum hose to the wiper motor, under the dash.  The hose connects to the vacuum control valve inside the heater box, from that valve it goes to the water valve on the intake manifold. 

John - "The Hoosier Hurricane"

I have a '55 Fairlane.  Vacuum wipers go 1/4 of the way up the window and stop.  I noticed last fall when I was about to put it away for the winter that the heater alternately worked (blew warm air) and then didn't (blew cold air).  There was also a flapping sound occasionally.  Any idea where my troubles might be?  I don't want to have to crawl under there and remove the wiper motor if it's not the problem for sure (Rain-X is my savior).   I wouldn't be opposed to a off only-on heater only solution.

Hoosier Hurricane (5/9/2014)

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You didn't say what car you're working on, I assume it is a '56 as in your pic.  The vacuum to the heater tees into the vacuum hose to the wiper motor, under the dash.  The hose connects to the vacuum control valve inside the heater box, from that valve it goes to the water valve on the intake manifold. 

Yes, 56. Mine has been converted to electric wipers, will it be ok to pull vacuum from rear of manifold?

I've read elsewhere on here that this can lean out the rear cylinders if i have a vacuum leak.




South Australia

54 Victoria 312;  48 Ford Conv 302, 56 Bird 312
Forever Ford
Midland Park, NJ

If you don't have a vacuum leak, you'll be fine. But there's been a lot of trouble with the vacuum water valve, either failing or leaking. One of the T-bird suppliers, who's name unfortunately escapes me, told me they had a new supplier with better results. I think they were in Nevada, but not sure.

For years the T-bird suppliers sold a replacement, an inline valve in the heater hose, two clamps, and a cable that ran from the heater control lever to the valve, thru the hole the vacuum hose used in the firewall. It was a bit overpriced compared to making your own, if you buy a cable, and "wrap" the eyelets on the end.

I've had mixed results with those valves not really shutting off. I've got one inline, and the intake manifold fitting (or original vacuum valve) replaced with a 90 degree one with a shut off built in.

In the winter, I use the cable, but in the summer I shut it off at the manifold to stop the "leaking heat" from overwhelming the a/c.

I would imagine you could do something similar on pass car. Simple, cheap, and works. Obviously, it doesn't look stock.

http://www.macsautoparts.com/ford_mercury_early/hot-water-heater-shut-off-valve-threads-into-cylinder-head-ford.html#

http://www.americanclassic.com/Google_Base_HTML_Pages/HAC-139-1942.htm

These are typical.






miker
55 bird, 32 cabrio F code
Kent, WA
Tucson, AZ

Yes, I can't see any reason why you can't take it straight off the manifold.  there is very little vacuum-air flow through the heater control as long as there are no leaks.As long as the rubber diaphragm in the controller in heater plenum is in tact, then that part is serviceable, as long as your good with nutting out finicky things. I suspect the diaphragm can't be bought now. 

I was considering using one of these inline


South Australia