So, I was trying to replace my spark plug wires, which are a complete PITA. As I was laying across the engine, I managed to break the breather fitting that runs up to the plenum and also the brake servo hose. They both broke off flush. Any ideas on how to get them out. I tried a knife and over sized screw driver, but no luck.

Also, once I do get it out, what size fitting goes in there?

Any help is appreciated!!

 

if you do a search something should come up, you are not the only one who has broken that fitting

 

Welcome to the club. I did the same thing 3 1/2 years ago and had the same question. That was, I think, my first post to one of these forums.

The breather fitting is the easier of the two. You just need to find something big enough to fit inside the broken off plastic stub still in the plenum and unscrew it. I don't recall what I used but it ended up not being that difficult. Maybe a tapered broom handle? Thinking about it now I wonder if you could use one of those expanding hollow-wall anchors. "Hover" it in the stub with a pair of pliers in one hand while turning the screw with the other to expand it enough to grip the inside of the stub, then use the anchor to unscrew the the stub. Does that make sense? Replace it with a brass version from Lowe's, The Home Depot or your local Ace or other mom and pop hardware store. Just take your broken pieces and look in the plumbing section. Mine was under five bucks, I recall, and was a perfect replacement. I just wrapped the threaded end with Teflon tape and it screwed right in. It won't break next time.

The brake servo vacuum pipe is trickier, but easy if you know the secret. I didn't but I do now. If the red collar is still intact you're in good shape. The secret is that you push in on the red collar to release the vac pipe, so just bend a paper clip so you have a wire maybe a couple of inches long with a small, 1/8" hook on the end. Insert the hook into the broken off nylon pipe stub, push in the red collar and pull out the stub. You can reuse the vacuum pipe, but you may want to wrap a couple thicknesses of black electrical tape around it about a half inch from the end to replicate the raised ridge that likely broke off with the stub.

If the red collar is broken you can pull out the pieces and still reuse the vac pipe. You just need to use something else to hold the vac pipe in place in the plenum insert. I adapted a vinyl grommet from Radio Shack to do the job by trimming it down to its core on one side and using that in place of the red collar. That worked perfectly well for a couple of years until I found a replacement red collar in a salvage yard. You might be able to find a rubber bushing that would give more reach into the plenum. You could probably also just run a bead of silicone around the pipe to seal it. Remember that it needs only to hold vacuum; it's not at risk of being blown out under pressure.

And if you've both broken the red collar and mangled the black insert it fits in beyond being useful you can buy a new insert and red collar together. The part number and one guy's instructions for replacing the insert is linked here.

Good luck, and let us know what you do.

 

I know this thread is a little old but people look at these things to figure out what to do. Excellent suggestions here. I used silicon and it worked fine. I also bought all of the sizes of brass fittings for the brake servo hole from Home Depot and none were close. The brass fitting for the PCV line fits perfectly and the ****** end fits the hose perfectly. That is a permanent fix (with teflon tape). I posted the size somewhere on the forum (for the PCV hose fitting), but I can't recall it at the moment.

Someone jumped on me for using silicon on the brake servo, claiming that the silicon would be sucked in and clog oil passages in the block, so I took the silicon off and bought some mastic tape (the kind covered in foil) and it forms a perfect seal, forms to the shape of everything, is sticky, and cures like a cast. Also at Home Depot.