de-smog an 87 TBI

[ORYGUNHAMMER]

paid my subscription,where do i tell all the fishin' lies and admit to being a Blazerhaulic,,,,,,,,,HI!,,,,,,,,ok let's get on it! what i need to know today is can i just remove the smog pump and the computer will allow it? bought my second K5 on evielBay= a decent body with no bondo/repaint sort of a survivor if you will but i would say the `bad' is it has original belts on it for instance so i'm refreshing it and painting it(i'm a bodyshop guy for 3 decades) after driving it for 3 weeks and nothing fell of i figured i'd go on with it,now i'm finding out how much `bailing wire' is REALLY under the hood,and what about the cat converter,this 350 needs more way more poop to haul a boat with and here (in Oregon)it doesn't need any smog crap after 20 years age and where i live i don't have to deal with any testing,things a DOG on hills imho

my other K5 is an 82 with a 1970 250 strait six and a four speed base model with 33's and i love that truck!,,,,and a 73 suburban with a huge cadillac motor,i love it toooo

 

[dyeager535]

Unopinionated answer: you can pull the AIR setup, EVAP, and catalytic converter and not cause any issues with how it runs. EVAP is a good setup though, you run into other problems if you remove it. (where do you vent the tank, how do you keep condensation out of the tank, how do you keep the gas vapor from getting ignited, etc)

Opinionated answer: there is no reason to pull any of it unless it's already bad...except maybe the catalytic converter if it's the stock flat one. That is the ONLY emissions item that could potentially add "felt" power by removal, as even new they didn't flow well. AIR system used to rot out around the tubes where they mate up with the manifold, and if the belt is not present, they typically fail once they are hooked back up, so an excuse to remove it if either of those are the case.

Coming from an emissions testing area, I will tell you this. If you think you will EVER sell it, move, or may get emissions testing in your area, leave that stuff on, because it is much more expensive to replace it than it is to leave it in place. If there is no visual, it will likely pass a sniffer/dyno test with no emissions equipment. Washington doesn't do a visual (at least not last time I was tested) so as long as it burns clean, here you are good to go. Sounds like you are in a pretty similar boat, or would be if you moved or sold it, so really doesn't matter.

Just some things to consider!

 

[Col_Sanders]

Like Dyeager said, unless its bad, I'd leave the AIR stuff on. I removed all mine (FL has no inspections) and can't really tell any difference on the butt dyno.

Have you done a good tune up on it yet? You could be surprised at what replacing the fuel filter, plugs, wires, cap , and rotor can do.

 

[ORYGUNHAMMER]

hey!

i'm not anti `green' in any way but let's face it this is an economy ride,i'm in it 2100 on a last minute eBay purchase,shipping from bakersfield cal, licensed and driving,i figger to toss another 1500 at it plus my free labor and drive the wheels off it for the next year(if it'll move?),i'm not a ford guy but actually was looking to buy an Exploder,simply because they look good in front of a driftboat,an S-10 for whatever GM's reasoning is narrow,they always have been,ya look out the mirros and all you see is trailer fenders,anyway,the smog pump is shot i find out once i get into the belts on the thing,i guess it's pumping but you can wag the impeller side to side and the bolts were loose,i'm guessing the guy i bought it from had just hung it on there( he said he `just had it smogged',it had a new radiator,heater core was never hosed(witch had me cussing since i believed it was a leaker,thankfully it isn't,the fan shroud was not correct and in fact i pulled it out and pitched it,i'm looking for the correct one,,the cat converter is original and `the flat one',,ya simply must understand here i'm an old school guy when it comes to MY cars,i've flown under the screen with computer controlled cars,,,paying to have my family's cars fixed but as for mine=OLD,the older the better( i have several cars from the 60's) this ride is for dragging my driftboat to the river and that's about it however pulling a hill it just fell on it's face and i'm like WTHeck!,my old 73 Burb with a Cad motor charges up this dude!,,,,,,,,,`back in the day' when they thrust unleaded and computers on us it was all about `more power equals less throttle' now it's all about `going green' i just want to feel a 350 chevy under my foot,get the 4300 pound rig and 800 pound drifter to the river(plus the dudes and their lunches) and go fish,i have a fresh large journal 40 over 327 on the stand,i bet that motor could rock and roll!,this super duper fuel injected3fiddy wellllllllll

thanks for the replys guys,i'm stepping into the bucket a bit as tomorrow's my birthday so excuse me(slightly),,love the site here=it's ALIVE!,,,edit>once i get past the belts and hoses i'll be hitting the filters and spark plugs,lesseee is my Napa bill paid this month?

 

[dyeager535]

Yeah that's the first thing I'd go after is ignition..plugs, wires, cap/rotor inspection. Most of these are severely neglected by PO's, so that may be your problem.

I just bought my first factory injected K5, and even with the 3.73's, it goes nowhere near as good as the other truck in my signature below.

That's another thing to consider, what size tires are you running, and what codes in the glove box are with either a first (if three digits) or second digit (if four digits) of "G". That's what the truck came with, although that may or may not be correct depending on the previous owners.

 

[ORYGUNHAMMER]

tires

that's one of my next questions,can i go to 33's instead of the stock 31's without some issue from the computer?,,,this truck is bone stock,looking at the shocks last night(and poking around the net)i NOW believe even they are original equipment,,this WAS a loaded truck when new has 3.43 posi R-4 trans,i'm not planning many mods it's basically a `resto' at this point if i don't love it when i'm done i'll find a suburban with leather int.

 

[Thunder]

If you are weak on the hills be sure to change the fuel filter when you do your tune up.. TBI likes clean fuel filter. Your k5 should have no problems towing a 800 lb drift boat. Your cat may be going bad also. Those orginal flat ones did not flow that well when they were new.
I tow a 2500 LB IO fish/ski boat with my 89 350 TBI k5. It does fine on hills. Its no power house like a BBC. But I have no problems keeping up with traffic towing up hill. I have 33" tires with 3.73 700R4. It runs as good or better as any other stock or mild built SBC in a 1/2 ton I have ever had.
A good tune up, open up the exhaust, and fuel filter should help you.
You can go 33" tires without a lift. They may rub slightly on the back of the front fender when flexing off road. Very minor trimming wil fix that.
The computer does not care what kind of tires you have.

 

[dyeager535]

33's and 3.42's with 700, you'll probably not be in overdrive much on hills. It will certainly DECREASE the amount of power you feel over 31's.

Second the computer doesn't care what tires, your speedo does of course.

33x10.5R15's (BFG AT or Muds) will fit just about every stock K5 out there with no rubbing if you want to go that route.

 

[ORYGUNHAMMER]

i'm learning a lot!

quick heremy 82 has 33's and they don't rub but it IS(was) a diesel cab somebody swapped the old strait six into,it has a nice balance side to side front to rear sits ever so slightly higher in front it works great just the way it is especially in lowrange and in the mudand it's just a beater underneath!,this `87 with TBI seems to be down in the nose IMHO,both rigs have two leafs per side in front so i assume that's standard? and obviously to me the options and V8 have overpowered them with time=there isn't much travel under there before hitting the bumpers!,,so i'm considering new springs or possibly the 2+ lift kit i see advertised,i don't want a hi-boy necesarily i want to be able to step in and out easily,,,,,the 33's make the `82 roll out on the road it get's decent milage i just needed mo power the old six banger i had to downshift to pull ANY hills on secondary roads,,,so that's my game= mo power and i'm shooting for 18MPG towing my boat on flat ground for milage i feel it's achievable?

that's the reason i bought the `87 my BB Cad powered suburban drank me out of money but could pull a house and the `82 K5 didn't have enough power on the pavement to keep me happy and is fairly well a stripper model in fact it's an old logging `crummy',the `87 is quite nicely outfitted for a `fishin' rig',one of my neighbors asked me `what's it worth?,i said right back=donmatter itz myfishin rig! and hey! i'm a hot rodder at heart so i'm all about `tinkering,,,,,,,,,,,,i have fantastic credit rating 7.75 so i could go buy a fairly new rig without much squeeling but i wouldn't have fun i'd be worried about scratching my `investment' while it depreciates faster than the salmon runs have

 

[dyeager535]

18 is probably pretty far out of the realm of possibility, even without towing anything that's pretty darn high.

Best I ever got was 17MPG, stripped, diesels are the only ones I'd expect to get much higher than that.

Correct, 2 leafs were the base stock setup, reverse arch, 3 leafs were optional. Even the 3 leafs I've got hit the bumpstops, I think it's time for new springs. Rather not make the ride harsher than it already is though, hoping to get some soft stock ride height ones.

 

[Thunder]

Yeah 18 MPG is very doubtful towing. I get 15-16 flat towing my boat at 60-65 down the interstate with no wind. In the hills? It gets very thirsty I dont even bother checking MPG.. By hills I mean the Sierra Nevada, Cascades, and Costal Ranges. I like to salmon fish too.
But usually on a 700 mile one way tow to the pacific coast I get around 14 MPG average. about 300 miles is on the interstate the rest is on 2 lane mountain highway.
I have tweaked my TBI quite a bit to get 18 MPG at 65 not towing and that is about the best I can make it do. I imagin if I lowered my k5 to stock and put it back on 31" highway tires it would do a bit better. But I am very happy with 18.

paid my subscription,where do i tell all the fishin' lies and admit to being a Blazerhaulic

For the fishin and huntin lies go to the Great Outdoors forum. lotsa good stories/pics there.
For general lunacy you can hang out in the lounge with the rest of us lizzards.

 

[ORYGUNHAMMER]

salmon fishin'

super poor returns this year there's a few still entering the Elk and Sixes rivers,Chetco may have some laggers as well as Cal's Smith but i bet you already know that,oregon fish and wildlife stated it was the worst year since they started keeping records AND I BELIEVE IT,i can PM you a site i hang at from Brooking Or.lots of great fishing fanatics there plus offshore guys too they had a great Albacore year,,,since you know your TBI what good does the `pre-filter' do? it look hi-tech like a MAF sensor or somthing but dosn't it cut the flow down?(i'm thinking pitch it and just plumb to the rad. support)whaddyathink?