I’m doing a cold air system for my car and i see the vacuum ball there, do i need the vacuum ball? i have a 350 TPI, and i see others without it. it’s just very confusing and i don’t know what to do please help.

 

Yes.

It stores vacuum for moments when there isn't any, or there isn't enough. Without it, all your little air direction doors under the dash, will revert to their "rest" positions every time you give it the throttle, which makes the vacuum go away.

Just because others hack up their cars and make them inferior doesn't mean that it's A Good Idea for you to do the same.

 

Yes!
Please listen to Sofa.

 

The ubiquitous yet elusive "Orb of Power" also maintains the operation of the cruise servo. It connects behind a check valve located at the firewall. The three ounces of plastic cost you nothing in performance, fuel mileage, or responsiveness.

If you don't like the look of the original, a flat donor unit from an S10 truck or Blazer can mount into a void in the fender, but a mounting hole would have to be drilled. Some of those also mounted to the bracing on the underside of the hood, some on frame rails, and some in the interior.

 

It depends on how your car is setup, if you need it or not. My car has no heat or cruise control and probably won't ever again since it's a fair weather driver only. Having air conditioning would be nice, but I can't see myself tracking down the OEM parts needed and the HVAC was bulky 70's era junk anyway so I would do a retrofit of something from an outfit like Vintage Air, or Old Air that wouldn't use the vacuum system anyway.