>(2) There are two vacuum holes coming from the top of my
>engine/manifold that are plugged off. One is for the brake
>servo, I never knew where the other was supposed to go. This
>Alpine at BCD had this hole connected up with a hole on the lower
>part of the block below the distributer. When I checked out my
>car, however, I didn't have the small piece of metal to attach
>
>a hose. Instead, I have a tube about six inches long that curves
>down and points toward the ground. Any explanations for this?
The other hole is for the PCV (positive crankcase ventilation) valve that connects via a rubber hose to the pipe in the cover over the cam followers behind the distributor. You may be ably to jury rig one from a modern car - they're not rocket science.
>
>(3) Finally, the nice Alpine had some sort of a filter in the vacuum
>line between the oil filler neck and the air filters. How
>important is this and are they available?
The filter thing is an oil collection thingy and flame trap. In theory
if the engine backfires, fuel vapor in the engine could go bang. In
practice ive never had one in 10 years and the car has not blown up yet
(I'll let you know if it does). The other thing it does is to collect
oil that could run into the air filters.
If you get the PCV working, in theory there should be a slight vacuum
(or at least no pressure) in the crankcase/tappet area and not much oil
blows out. In fact this pipe is really the air input for the closed
breathing system, the PCV valve being the output.
>
>Many thanks.
>
>Steve Semeraro
>Series V Alpine
>
>
John Series IV