1961 HVAC Vacuum diagrams???

[John Mc]

I've searched the forum archives and can't seem to locate a really good 1961 vacuum diagram for the heating/air conditioning systems. I'm going to have to replace probably every hose under the hood in order to get my systems to work. Are there any available anywhere? What was printed in the shop manual is horrible. Thanks!!!

[Suicidekid63]

Here's one from an old forum post from Ken Stevens. Not a factory diagram, but covers under hood lines.

[Ken Stevens]

I did that old drawing based on an existing 62 that, as it turned out, was plumbed incorrectly. The right front reservoir is split into two chambers and the 62 was done incorrectly. Disregard the old drawing and replace it with this new one. This is the way my 61 is plumbed and everything works as designed.

Corrected vacuum chart

[John Mc]

Thanks Ken, that's good and I'll use it, but is there another one out there that has far more detail, like which colors feed which component???

[Ken Stevens]

You mean on the HVAC rotary controller? Not that I'm aware of

[John Mc]

Yes Ken along with the colored hoses that go thru the firewall and then to the various vacuum motors etc. I'm sure that the factory had diagrams at the time the were better than what is in the shop manual. As I suspected, the hoses under the hood are rock hard and I'm going to replace them.

[Dan Szwarc]

Unless ford wanted the wipers to be on the same vacuum reservoir as the HVAC, Ken's "updated" diagram is not likely correct. My 66 is not wired that way. It makes no sense.

[Ken Stevens]

My 61 is plumbed that thereby dedicating half the passenger reservoir to the locks alone. The other half supports the rest of the vac system. Each half in turn has its own check valve. The driver reservoir is, of course, solely for the brakes. The locks are often used after the engine is off. I would imagine the wipers/washers and hvac less so. However, I am curious as to how your reservoirs are assigned or if you indeed have three reservoir chambers. I'm never too old to learn.

[Dan Szwarc]

My 61 is plumbed that thereby dedicating half the passenger reservoir to the locks alone. The other half supports the rest of the vac system. Each half in turn has its own check valve. The driver reservoir is, of course, solely for the brakes. The locks are often used after the engine is off. I would imagine the wipers/washers and hvac less so. However, I am curious as to how your reservoirs are assigned or if you indeed have three reservoir chambers. I'm never too old to learn.

On 66 to 69s, Only the Locks and the HVACs are connected to the reservoir. The Booster is its own reservoir for brakes.

The HVAC needs it to keep the doors in place when vacuum drops. The locks are for storage to use them after ign is off. 70s cars are the same.

The parking brake doesn't need it. No auto release when car is not running.

The Wipers only use vaccum to activate the wiping when using the washers. The bleeder is for the 6 wipes to shut off. Normal operation of wipers uses a mechanical cable.
The occasional use doesn't justify the need for connecting.

70s Car use a reservoir for headlamps and cruise control, but 60s do not.

If your system is working fine, don't make any changes. Without reviewing the vacuum diagrams for each year 61 to 65, I can't tell you what is right or wrong. Ford does make mistakes in its manuals.
I built mine from drawings, manuals, pictures of original and restored cars, and logic. I just thought I'd put that out there.

[Suicidekid63]

Page 124 of 1961 MM has under hood diagram.
Here is HVAC diagram from 62-63 supplement. These are what I used when re-plumbing all my vacuum lines
I dont know how closely a 61 resembles this.

[Conv61Canada]

The wipers vacuum does use the same reservoir as the HVAC since it almost never gets used. As stated above, it only uses vacuum to activate the wipers when using the washers.

The shop manual has all the colors laid out under the HVAC section. I used that to rerun all new vacuum lines. It is NOT fun but you'll eventually get it right if you do one at a time. Do everything under the hood and then once that seems correct, do the ones from the HVAC controller to the firewall pass through one at a time. I use dollar store paint to re-color code the new vacuum lines to match the connections in case I need to replace them in the future.

[Steve K]

Im just finishing up the job of replacing all of them and routing them in a way that makes sense. Over the years, the became all crossed over each other and over wiring making it very easy for them to be dislodged when working under the hood or dash.

My question related to this concerns the check valves. I am wondering if anyone has replaced the factory ones with off the shelf ones such as those dorman sells. The factory ones seem to be barely working after all these years, but the ones I see for sale online etc. seem too fragile for use. The factory ones are sturdy metal bodies vs. the plastic things one can buy. Just curious if the plastic ones work.

[defrang]

Steve,
I used some dormant plastic check valves when I replaced vacuum hoses on my 65 sedan. They seemed to work fine.
Rob

[John Mc]

You guys have provided a good deal of information and I thank you. I have everything from the firewall back in good shape and my air controller has now been freshly rebuilt so................................now I start on the engine side and my friend Mikey Lewis (RIP) had removed the left splash shield looking to find out what was what and just pulled all of the vacuum hoses and left them hanging and of course considering the environment, almost all of the color coding is now gone leaving me with what looks like a bowl of black spaghetti. The plan will be to start from scratch after removing all the splash shields and checking out all motors and then applying vacuum to individual hoses, see what happens. Of course they are all incredibly hard and dry so I'm just going to replace them and color code them as per factory.
Thanks again, I will probably make my own detailed diagram by color and blow it up so others can use it as well.

[Steve K]

I am doing the same thing as we speak on my 64. Things look about the same as far as I can tell between the two cars. Suggestion. Nail down your brake booster side (driver's side) by making sure the reservoir holds vacuum and the check valve is working right. Then move on to the other side. Check both halves of the reservoir and replace those long lengths of hose first. Next determine which loose end feeds the locks. Apply vacuum to the hoses that are hanging about midline on the firewall until the locks work, Most likely the hoses under the dash are going to be in pretty good shape and hopefully they are not pulled off the block on the dashboard side of the firewall. After that, it's a lot of trial and error chasing the misc stuff. But I found as soon as I had the locks isolated and working, the parking brake release, cruise control line, and wiper washer bleed down were all fine. I changed them anyway, but knowing what I was changing made it a lot easier. I also bought an assortment of narrow electrical tape in different colors and marked things as I went making my own map. I matched whatever I had documentation for and made up my own for hoses that were factory black. To get enough colors, I had to make some double colors like green/red etc. When I was marking places that didn't accomodate a piece of tape, I used model paint to match the tape, Such as on the vacuum block. It's a frustrating job but pretty easy. to do physically. My biggest suggestion is go for the win one component at a time and when you get tired or frustrated - quit for a while. It's amazing what laying in bed and thinking about it does for you the next day. Get your bulk hose first in all the sizes you need. Buy a roll of each size. There may be nothing more frustrating than running out of a size or falling short and having to add extra connectors (which just make more places for things to come apart again). I would also get the mega assortment of Tee fittings, straight adapter fittings, and reducing adapters. And lube your check valves with teflon or silicone spray and test them out to make sure they hold vacuum. Mine did not. They sounded like mini duck calls as they bled down. I think there's nothing to them but a rubber flapper inside. I haven't gotten my new ones yet, but I'm told the plastic Dorman ones sold in any autoparts stores work fine. Exception, the check valve on the brake booster needs to be heavy duty and have a much larger nipples on the tee. Good luck.