Vacuum hose under the hood

[Jim Pino]

Hello all, I am in the process of rebuilding my carter carb on my 63 Cadillac. So I figured while I have it off let me clean and paint the intake and replace some of those hardened vacuum lines. In doing so i removed the hose that came from the manifold to and electrical wire cluster on the firewall. The replacement hose I had was slightly wider i.d. so I decided to trim the ends of the existing hose for a temporary fix till i get the right size hose. So after I did this the manifold side connected nice and snug, but when I went to put it on the plastic nub of the cluster it would not go all the way on. When I looked inside the hose and there was something blocking the hose from going all the way on. Curious I had to see what it was and unblock the hose. What I found was a small cup shaped brass something with a tiny hole in that as it was to reduce the amount of vacuum. (I have pictures) I have 2 questions pertaining to this, first what is that vacuum cluster linked to? and second does anyone know the need of this reducer and is it really needed? Under normal circumstances we would just replace the hose and never think of looking in the hose for a reducer.

Thanks everyone for you time and thoughts on this situation.

Jim Pino

[3ft7bqmb7dryo]

That is the vacuum line going to the heater/AC/parking brake release systems.  Your car should be fine, as long as the vacuum check valve is working as it should.