I was tracing more vacuum lines in my 1979 Catalina and I figured out where a line I capped is supposed to go. My distributor has a vacuum line attachment and it's missing a hose. Why would a distributor need a vacuum line? If that line isn't giving vacuum to the distributor, how does that affect the car's performance?
That's for the vacuum advance. The distributor advances or retards timing depending on engine vacuum. Hook it up to the place indicated on your vacuum diagram. (Given its age you should probably check the vacuum advance unit for leaks.)
I was noticing that. There are a couple devices that look basically identical that are all jumbled up as to what they are and where the hoses on them go. After 42 years, people have stuff running everywhere, lol. I'll take a picture of them and post later tonight, when I get off work.
Probably the thing to do is get everything set up the way it was at the factory as your baseline, then you can selectively change things for better performance if desired.
Unlike today the emission controls of that era were mainly add-ons that strangled the engine to comply with regulations and you may be able to make some improvements by removing or modifying some of it as long as you're not in an area like the Peoples' Republic where they check for it.
The vacuum lines should probably all be replaced and I would test anything vacuum-operated for leaks either with a vacuum tester or the old-school method of just sucking on a connected hose.
This car was illegal in California when it was new because of the V8's emissions, even with that crap on it. Unless you live in the Cleveland area, Ohio has no vehicle emissions checks. We did when I was younger, and they eliminated it in 2004