Classic/Antique Car Repair: vacume wipers, vacuum booster, vacuum line

Question
on my 55 ford 272v8 what does the thing in front of the manifold that has a heater hose and vacume line, reason for asking can i take that vacume line off so i have more vacume for my wipers.

Answer
If my old memory serves me correctly that is the temperature control for your heater. That vacuum line that goes to the center of that diaphragm is a small tube and it runs back to the temperature selector on your heater control panel. A line runs from the intake manifold or the upper side of the fuel pump if you have a double fuel pump to the heater control. Unless there is a real problem in the system like hoses routed the wrong way I doubt that removing that line and plugging it will help the wipers. A trick that we used to do way back then was to take the vacuum line off the intake manifold or fuel pump that ran back to the wipers. Then turn the wiper switch on high, all of this being done with the engine not running. Put the end of the hose in a cup that you have put and inch or so of brake fluid in. Then manually push the wiper blade across the windshield a couple of times. This will draw a bit of the brake fluid up into the wiper motor and soften and lubricate the seals in the wiper motor and will probably restore the wiper action.
Of course to get the best possible vacuum wiper action make sure that the car is equipped with a double fuel pump, one side of the pump, usually the bottom, is for fuel and the other is a vacuum booster pump. It seams to me that some of the early custom series 55 Fords came with a single action pump. The double action will fit. If it has a double action pump make sure that it is working correctly and that can be checked with a vacuum gage connected to the pump instead of the wipers. Run the engine and check the vacuum it should be no lower that if the vacuum gage is connected to the intake manifold.