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85' valve covers....

jtrapani

jtrapani

1/2 ton status
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Dec 2, 2008
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Location
Tempe Arizona
Yesterday I removed the valve covers on my 85' k5 because the gaskets are definitely blown. I thought, "this will be cake. Four bolts, bam, slap the gasket on, Let it set and I'm done." Who the hell invented vaccum lines and emmissions crap? The engine looks like spagghetti. My question is: Whats is reduntant, unnecessarry, and stupid that I can do away with and still have the truck run good and pass AZ emmissions? Its a goodwrench 350 mated to a 700r4. All stock. If I need to replace parts, i.e. carb I will do so to make it easier to work on. thanks

Side note, my girlfriend helped me pull the valve covers, she changed the lower radiator hose on my 74' k5 while I was out of town and pretty much swapped out the water pump with my guidance. Pretty cool eh. here she is

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sounds like a bucket of worms you have there.....I removed a lot of that stuff on my 85 years ago. I never had a check for emissions in MI, so I wasn't worried about the stuff I took off, just wanted to clean up the engine compartment. I don't know what you can take off and still pass a visual inspection anyway.
I removed the EGR system, as I put on a aluminum intake and headers. There was a themal vacuum switch on the front of the manifold that I took off, but can't remember now what all the lines went to. One was for the heat riser in the air cleaner horn. I removed some of the vac lines that went to the base of the carb, and also to the PCV, and fuel vapor canister. I think I ran a line directly to the carb from the canister, and split the line with the PCV line also.
Do you have a shop manual or routing sticker still?


And smoking hot g/f too. Gotta love a mechanically inclined woman.
 
If you take loose a vacuum hose and cover it with your finger while the truck is running and it still runs the same, you probably don't need it! On my '85 305, I took off everything that had to do with that stupid air pump thing. If you have an oxygen sensor on your exhaust manifold (or on the pipes right behind the manifold), DO NOT GET RID OF IT! When I put some headers on my 305, I didn't make any effort to reuse the O2 sensor, and it likes to stall out and stumble if I get on the gas and get off it real quick. Sometimes it doesn't want to idle right either.
 
it all depends on the county you live in and what there enforcement is, you said AZ but it shows you as rifle colorado for your location.

basically depending on how easy you want to make it on yourself you could spend the money and get headers to eliminate the crap on the exhaust manifoilds

then the smog pump, the egr valve, then the little valve on the front of the intake that has a bunch of crap running to it. then you can plug off the thermostat ports. and then remove all the vacuum lines.

in the end you should only have 2 vac hoses. the pcv valve running to your carb and the vacuum advance from the dizzy.

here is some pics of mine, look at yours and then look at mine its basically the before and after because mine is an 86 k5.

on emissions stuff its basically all or nothing, so find out what your laws are. in weld county where i live i dont need emissions, then if i go to denver its strict. but if i go to laramier county as long as everything sounds right they will pass you.

all depends on the area. i may have forgot a few things but there are 4 major emission components on 80s truck

PCV valve- Lets the crankcase breath, wont hurt power and is required so leave it hooked up.

Smog pump- self explainatory, belt driven so hurts power so get rid of it.

EGR - I belive its Exhaust gas recerculation, is closed when motor is cold and open when warm. if malfunctioning it can hurt performance.

Catilitic conversters- reduce hydro carbons leaving the tail pipe. restricts flow so can rob power. 99% of the shops out there wont let you take them off, i found a shop in oklahoma that did it for me so good luck on that.

here ya go.

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buffblazer said:
it all depends on the county you live in and what there enforcement.....

Thanks so much man... I live in rifle for school but I'm a permanent resident in az. As far as emissions stuff I'm not sure that I'll need to worry about that. I called the DMV and they told me that if I bring in an insurance card for classic car insurance then I'll be smog exempt. My insurance lady is hooking me up with that.

Buffblazer, i wish my engine compartment looked like that! I'm gonna follow your lead. wish me luck.....
Click to expand...
 
Grundy is a great place for classic insurance....they'll write a policy to a vehicle appraisal.
 
jtrapani said:
buffblazer said:
it all depends on the county you live in and what there enforcement.....

Thanks so much man... I live in rifle for school but I'm a permanent resident in az. As far as emissions stuff I'm not sure that I'll need to worry about that. I called the DMV and they told me that if I bring in an insurance card for classic car insurance then I'll be smog exempt. My insurance lady is hooking me up with that.

Buffblazer, i wish my engine compartment looked like that! I'm gonna follow your lead. wish me luck.....
Click to expand...

it takes a little time to get all the wires re ran and cut away (its amazing how much wire i had that wasent being used anymore) and not getting frustrated helped a lot. Not having AC was a plus also.

basically all i did for the wires is run them through on big strand of wire loom to help hide them, the only downside is if i burn a wire it could take all them with it. but i put lots of fuses in place so "knock on wood" hopefully nothing will happen.

good luck on your emissions and if ya need anything just ask.
Click to expand...
 
would you be able to help me build a parts list so I can get workin on it? I'm assuming the following: Intake manifold, Carb, exhaust (headers back), air cleaner, valve covers..... What am I missing? (probably alot)
 
ahh crap its been a long time since i took all mine off so let me think.

starting at the top, you can keep your old carb and plug off the unused vaccum ports or get a new one with with no emissions when i bought my blazer from my dad i already had an edlebrock on the truck so i didnt have to worry about it.

Next the intake. either get a new perfomer type with no egr, or you can remove the egr off of your existing one and make a block off plate.

then the thermostat housing. it has all those ports and you can block them all off or simply replace it with one with no openings.

valve covers should be fine, the only thing running to those is your pcv valve which you want to keep anyway.

then get headers. it removes all the crap going to them. down on your pass side exhaust tube there will be a vaccum controled valve the shuts when cold to warm the motor up faster and opens when warm to let the exhaust pass. get rid of that when you get your new exhaust.

smog pump get rid of it and all lines going to it.

remove all lines going to the charcoal canister from the motor, you can leave it in the truck since its out of the way but make sure you dont remove the lines running from the canister to the hard lines on the frame, those lines vent the fuel tank through the canister and if you un hook them then you have to build a line with a vent on it so dirt and water doesnt get down in there.

thats all i can think of right now, basically just go to each emissions device and trace the lines running to it back to its source on the motor and then block it off.

its very important that you remove all or none, if you try to do just half or a piece at a time then your motor will run like ****. if your gonna spend the money these are the parts you want.

performance carb
performeance intake
Headers.

if you have any questions about anything i may have forgot just ask and post pics of your engine bay for a reference so that me or anyone else can help better explain.
 
Be careful with the "collector" insurance. To avoid AZ emissions, you must have a vehicle 15 years old or older, and have the collector insurance. I can pretty much promise you that with the collector insurance, you will no longer be able to take your truck offroad. There will also be mileage restrictions.

You might be better off just passing emissions.
 
well I have three trucks so I'm not too worried about milage. I drive the 74 more than the 85.
 
You can drive your vehicle off road, just don't tell em! I'm not supposed to race my car, but I do, its a risk I take as there is not coverage available to vehicles while in competition. Same would apply to offroading.
 
ya know if you were a permanent resident here in rifle you wouldn't have to worry about any of that emissions sniffing stuff.;):D:D
 
I know! thats so sweet that there aren't any emissions regs out here. I may turn into a pretend resident! haha
 
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