'69 Corvette vacuum leak?
 

Last year I purchased a 1969 Corvette L46 coupe. One of the first things I did was to take it to Contes Corvettes in Vineland, NJ to have them go over the car and give it a tune-up.
When I got it back the guys told me that it was a very nice, unmolested car but, they could not get the idle down where it should be due to a suspected vacuum leak somewhere.
I have been told that I should take it somewhere that has a "smoke machine" so they can locate the leak and make the necessary repairs.

Is a smoke machine something that I can simulate at home; I don't know of any shops locally that would have such a machine that I can trust.

Thanks, Dave

Re: '69 Corvette vacuum leak?
 

There are so many vacuum hoses on those cars... I had a Daytona Yellow L46 coupe back in 1990... you can use some carb cleaner and spray it on the hose fittings or you can start at the resevoir tank and start checking the hoses... does the wiper door operate fine or is it real slow? Also what about the headlamps? is either one real slow??
If you think it might be an actuator on the wiper door or the headlamps you can plug the hoses going to the actuator and then see if your idle levels out.
The control valve may be the problem, it is bad on the black 69 RS/Z and I am looking for a good used one right now...

Re: '69 Corvette vacuum leak?
 

The hadlights work fine and the wiper door worked when I first got the car, however, it has stopped working ever since I installed the retaining clips for the trim piece that's on the wiper door. I can see the door move slightly but, not enough to actually open.

Re: '69 Corvette vacuum leak?
 

Try plugging the 2 lines from the wiper door actuator...
see if that cures the idle problem...

Re: '69 Corvette vacuum leak?
 

The first thing you need to do is to plug the vacuum ports on the intake to see if it's accessory related or motor related. I have worked on hundreds of 69-72 vettes and thats where you should start.
If you determine that it is accessory related you need to hook up a vacuum pump to the manifold to resivoir tank to start to track down your leak.
Hope this helps.