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Tech / General EngineIs your car making a strange sound or won't start? Thinking of adding power with a new combination? Need other technical information or engine specific advice? Don't see another board for your problem? Post it here!
1982 Camaro Z28 305 carbureted. Smog pump and most everything related to it has been removed - I think. In the picture the vacuum hose circled in red is cracked and dry rotted and it connects to what looks like a filter circled in blue. Could those be remnants of A.I.R. system? Finally, I don't know what the gizmo is that is circled in yellow. I apologize for being such a newbie but I am trying to learn. Thanks in advance!
The yellow circle is the cruise control regulator. The red circle is the line that brings vacuum to it, since it uses vacuum to pull on the throttle.
Not sure what a "filter", if that's what that is in the cyan circle, is doing in that vac line. Doesn't look right at all. I also don't see the vac connection between the regulator and the cruise diaphragm, which is that round thing toward the bottom left of the photo, with the throttle cable connected to it. Looks like somebody has "improved" upon the factory design of that system.
An air filter is common in between vacuum devices and the engine. In between the intake manifold and the brake booster check-valve is a better-known one
actually looks like someone removed the charcoal canister then started randomly connecting loose vacuum lines
^^^ This ^^^
That "filter" looking thing absolutely DOES NOT belong there. It's true there's a filter and a check valve for the brake booster, given the LARGE amount of air that moves back and forth there; there's not one for the cruise or the (missing) charcoal canister, however.
Looks like as the HACK was HACKING stuff all around there, it connected vacuum lines together that had vacuum on them, to stop the leeeeeeeks. Probably found that fuel filter laying around in its garage somewhere and found it convenient to use for splicing those 2 large lines together so that they wouldn't leeeeek. Probably thought it eeeeezyer than sticking bolts or something in the 2 of them.
There are simply too many "improvements" in that area to try to correlate it completely to the "correct" factory configuration.
People add filters on the purge line of the char canister, it’s good to do, keeps pellets there in case the screen rusts out, I use a small engine filter not a big gas filter.
if you add the char canister back, get a new one. Old ones are just waiting to let go, it’s a mess, it gets sucked in your carb, mine did just that.
People add filters on the purge line of the char canister, it’s good to do, keeps pellets there in case the screen rusts out, I use a small engine filter not a big gas filter.
This is actually really smart. Ignore anyone ranting against this because it isnt factory, has no reason, etc. Those are the types of people who don't understand or have experience with common old car problems. Inspect the filter and consider replacing it with a nice new one. GM couldn't predict all the things that might happen to your car 20+ years later, but there some small things you can do to improve dependability.
Not a question of "rant against not factory"; more, "a HACK has obviously been here". Adding an in-line filter to help out functional systems is one thing; using a random one in a wrong place to splice together 2 vac lines that don't belong spliced in the first place, after removing the device that such a filter might reasonably be used to protect, is QUITE another.
On a 2nd look, that large line there, is probably one of the ones to the missing vapor canister. The cruise gets its vacuum from a small line off of the reservoir which would be a sort of oval shaped object next to the wiper motor.
Last edited by sofakingdom; Apr 8, 2026 at 03:36 PM.
