Well, the new windshield and it boosted my spirits 100%. So I got under there and replaced all the cracked vacuum lines with new ones today. But I'm still having a problem. Everytime I shift into gear, the RPM just drop and it can't run and stalls out. Otherwise it idles fine, maybe a little high if anything. The carb is the stock single barrel and probably pretty gummed up b/c it hasn't been on the road since '89. The plugs are pretty black as well. What should I do? What are some tests I can do to narrow down the problem?

Another thing that adds to my concern is the brakes. While running, there's no play in the brake pedal at all. When she gets moving, I have to put it in neutral to stop. The pedal's pretty much solid as a brick and doesn't stop very well at all (in gear that is). When taking it out of storage, we had to take off the rear passenger side drum because the shoes were locked in the outward postition making it impossible to push onto the trailer. Plus there was no brake fluid in the rear compartment of the cylinder/booster. Maybe the wheel cylinder or something leaked all the fluid out?

Thanks in advance! (Told ya I'd have more questions )

Sounds like your Idle problem and your brake problem are both vacuum connected. Put a vacuum gauge on there and see what kind of vacuum it pulls at idle. If it's running lean already and a vacuum leak occurs, it will kill your idle speed and quality. Spray a little carb cleaner around your intake and see if the idle speeds up. If it speeds up in a certain spot on the intake or hoses, you've found your leak. Be very careful not to spray any on your exhaust or ignition system as that could result in something very bad.

Excellent. Does it matter what hose I check for vacuum? By any chance do you know what it should be? Thanks for the reply.

Any hose that's connected to direct vacuum on the intake. The Vacuum should be over 10in for most average cars. If you've got a big cam in it, then it might be less.

Is there a 'shoosh' sound when you push the brakes or maybe just a constant sucking sound? If so, the brake booster diaphragm is probably ruptured...that will cause a huge vacuum leak & make the brake pedal hard as a rock.
Same hard pedal as when you shut the engine off & push the brakes a couple times on a normal functioning power brake car.

This is assuming that the vacuum hose & rubber grommet are in good shape.

I'll finally have some time today after work to get the vacuum tester from advanced. I'll post up my findings, thanks again.

Well the tip about the vacuum and brake connection was dead on. I followed the booster vacuum hose and it went into a small fuel filter looking canister before it reached the manifold. Brought this canister to Advanced Auto and they didn't have it on their computer but the "Help" section had it. It said on the box it was a brake air filter and was on GM cars from 74-78. I installed it and what do you know, ran fine, drove it down the road and it braked fine. Didn't stall out or anything. Thanks alot.

The bad news is my DD Wrangler's clutch finally died today. I'm going to be running around like crazy tomorrow to get the camaro on the road and insured before work. Then I'll be able to take my time on my first clutch job. Which opens another can of worms, any tips for a clutch job?

Glad to hear that fixed your problem!
It's amazing how bad your car will behave when it's sucking vacuum there.


Tip #1...don't drop the tranny on yourself.

If you're a fairly competent do it yourselfer, you can do a clutch...just take your time & if you have someone to help lift & align, that will help too.

The main thing to make sure of when you're starting to reassemble is to align the disc with the crankshaft before you tighten down the pressure plate, otherwise the trans might not go back into the bellhousing.

haha, nice. I was told to get a harbour freight tranny jack. Which I'll prolly do because all my buddies either don't like getting dirty or have no clue what they're doing. It just sucks because I'll probably never use it again. Thanks for the help though.

if thats the case, don't drop the trannie. nothing makes a mess like a trannie change

No, I meant if my buddies gave me hand I wouldn't need the jack, but since I'll probably be doing it myself I'll need it. I own a Jeep, of course I have no problem getting dirty. Ecspecially when mechanics get like $80 an hour. At least I'm under a time constraint.