Alright, I'm working on the last item on my 2302 that has never worked whatsoever: the vacuum antenna. I finally decided to pull it off and disassemble. I followed some of the previous posts on this topic (a great one by Howard). Thankfully, both leather pieces were intact and reusable. They were dry, and soaked in some Marvel. The washer sandwiched between the two plastic plastic pieces was torn, so it was replaced by a rubber washer. The bottom plastic piece into which the mast screws was cracked, and the threads were stripped. A 1/4"-28 thread insert and whole lot of JBWeld later, and it was back together.

Reassembled everything and the various vacuum lines connected to the switch. The antenna went up without any issue - worked perfectly. Went to bring it down, and nothing. I assumed the base was leaking. Just to test the theory, I put some silicone RTV all around the cap (except for the two air bleed holes on the bottom). I was a little bit surprised to see it still do nothing.

So for those of you who have had success resurrecting your antenna's functionality, what might cause the antenna to be able to go up (we'll say with ease and enthusiasm), but not want to go down at all (even with an assist).

- will mention that I disassembled and cleaned the switch - it was filthy, but did confirm that it directs vacuum as it should.

- perhaps the one variable is the washer used between the two plastic discs is thicker than the original. The original was very thin, more of a papery material. I replaced it with an identically-sized (OD and ID, not thickness) rubber washer. I did sand down the washer to try to get it a little thinner. I didn't suspect this was a problem because I just wonder why it would work one way, but not the other.

- I also haven't replaced the rubber washer at the bottom by the air bleed - it was still pliable and smooth, so I kept it, though I'll still probably look for a replacement washer tomorrow.

Any experience out there troubleshooting these things? Thanks, all!

Alrighty, got installed my best guess for how this stuff was run. I would assume that it was a fitted connection at the pump, just given that there isn't room to attach 90° fittings. So, I ended up running a rubber line from the pump to the opening on the heat shield, connected to a 1/4" steel tube (brake line that I wrapped in high heat insulatiom) that I ran to the back of the block. I only had one of of those studs for a loop clamp, so that's the only spot it's attached to the block. From there, I put a small bend in the line so it could more easily connect to the next run of steel tube. Onward and upward from there.

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Guys, thank you so much! Many curiosities solved here. I've seen those studs/nuts and always wondered. I just sort of assumed that someone had put them there because they didn't have a proper plug. Makes much more sense now. I'll track down some parts and get this all strung back together. I'll post a picture of the solution once I get it wrapped up (some time next week). Thanks again!

Thanks so much, Howard. Great information as always. I think what I've got here is the vertical section of the tube. Did my best to photograph the upper and lower parts of the vertical run. A small bend and rubber hose at the end make sense.

I suppose I could also my make my life easier still by using a couple elbow barb fittings at the pump with short rubber hose runs, then just run a long, straight run of metal tube along the engine, and connect the vertical metal tube I have to the horizontal run with a short rubber hose. That's probably notexactly how it was done, but it would still eliminate the main issue of running a rubber hose by the exhaust outlet.

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Got it, guys, thank you!! The 23rd series pump appears to need a fitting of some kind at the pump, so my guess is that it was a hard line all the way. Were the horizontal and vertical segments of the tube one long tube or two distinct tubes connected by a short run of vacuum hose?

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Thanks, Kev! As a curiosity, it's sort of a mystery to me how the connection worked at the pump. Does the line connect directly to the fuel pump with a flare fitting (like it does on the manifold side)? And how was the tube secured along the length of the block?

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Hey all - looking to see if anyone has vacuum tubes for the wiper motor to the fuel pump for a model 2302 (body 2372). There were two tubes used:

398287 - fuel pump to lower hose
415735 - lower hose to upper hose

Right now, I'm just running a loooong rubber vacuum line that goes right by the exhaust. Feel like I'm asking for trouble. I THINK the lower to upper tube is still in place (second picture) - curves at the top and just runs straight down. Not sure if any of it is missing. There wasn't anything there for a lower tube.

I assume that there were short runs of rubber line used to connect the tube runs together? I've seen the upper hose with the T for the antennae switch, but I don't recall seeing how the bottom part worked - only the drawings. Would love to get this back to how it was originally setup. Thanks!

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Oh no worries, I've at least sort of done this part before. We're just going one at a time. I'm not sure why the tools are such different lengths, but I did want to confirm that the two sold by Merritt are different. The replacement-style is .08" longer than the OEM-style, definitely enough to throw off the measurement a give a false reading.

And I think I've figured out all my issues. Just for practice, I went and lapped one of my valves, put some brake clean on the valve and blew compressed air to test the seal, put my thumb on the valve, worked great - no bubbles. Checked the clearance with the OEM-style gauge, it came to .040". I thought "great, we're in range, no grinding needed." Put it together with a lifter in place, new spring, etc. and could not get it to stop bubbling. Now, it makes sense... that .040" I measured with the OEM-style tool is really -.040" when you take into account the difference between the two tools, significantly out of spec and definitely in need of an adjustment to the stem.

I'm going to grab a replacement-style tool from MM, and we'll make lapping/grinding an exercise for each valve. I BELIEVE this was my error the last time I did these checks. I THINK the lifters in the car are not OEM - they're also replacement-style. I know this is true for the 356 lifters, but I believe the one cosmetic difference between an OEM-style lifter and replacement is the presence of a little mushroom shape at the top of the plunger body. I don't know for certain that this is true for the 327 lifters (the replacements are just straighr cylinders). If so, it explains why I was seeing some compression issues the last time I tried lapping my valves. I was getting false readings from the gauge I was using. Onward.

Ah yeah, there yah go, that makes perfect sense. I wasn't going to go through them all again... the new ones don't go back together as easily as the old ones, but the variance there is more like .005" between old and new, and they are anywhere between 2.0020 and 2.0060. The old ones are smaller for sure, one was as small as 1.9995". Still, we're talking thousandths, not hundredths, which I would imagine is probably OK?

I will say, my micrometer and I are getting to become fast friends. I pulled all the lifters out of the tappets to see where they all were. Here's what I've got for initial lengths:

2.4520
2.4510
2.4490
2.4480
2.4435
2.4425
2.4425
2.4415
2.4410
2.4400
2.4395
2.4395
2.4390
2.4385
2.4375
2.4350

So it's already all over the map. The reproductions are also all over the map, and on the whole slightly longer.

2.4640
2.4615
2.4605
2.4605
2.4600
2.4595
2.4590
2.4585
2.4515
2.4505
2.4485
2.4475
2.4465
2.4465
2.4450
2.4440

Not sure the numbers mean anything, but I suppose that some variability was expected here given that the valve stem clearance is a range between .030 and .070 using the J-4540 tool. HOWEVER, I did also just remember that Merrit sells two versions of this tool - one for OEM-style lifters and one for replacement-style lifters. I have the OEM-style tool. Maybe that makes up for some difference? I know the OEM-style gauge is 1.1610" in length.