I think I messed up, need advice

[BlindHawk]

First let me say that even tho I have not posted in a long time, I have been around reading and lurking.
So here is the story, I have an old '85 K5 rust bucket with a '72 350 w/ edelbrock performer intake and a quad jet carb, headers and pipes with (don't remember the brand) mufflers and no cats. Sounds and runs great!
I recently purchased an '89 K5, put the lift, shafts, tires and what not from the '85 to the '89. No problems there. Then one day about a month ago, I decided to take the headers and pipes off the old truck and put them on the '89. Now this went with out a problem and they still sound good and gave me a little more power.
But now here lies the problem. I have so many damn fumes now emitting from the engine that I don't think saddam hussein could survive driving it.
Its starting to run crappy also.
It smells like the gas/air mixture, and I'm sure it has something to do with JUST putting the headers on without adjusting the TBI or anything like that. So the question is, what do I do with it now? I tossed the old manifold and pipes so I can't put those back on, and I know nothing about TBI or the emissions or this year motor. I am not ready to do a motor swap either.

 

[G.M.H]

The tbi engine needs the Oxygen sensor which was mounted in the manifold or exh pipe.That could be the problem.

 

[sled_dog]

did you save the oxygen sensor? it is a really important piece that was sticking out of your exhaust piping and should have registered a bit of acknowledgment from you. Also do you have cats on there? You will likely need them to pass emissions, they also help create a little backpressure(which is a good thing, if you don't agree, go put on a fartpipe like the rest of the ricers), and help lose some of the smell that just naturally comes from a not 100% perfectly tuned engine(as pretty much no factory unit is).

 

[BlindHawk]

The oxygen sensor got lost/damaged/burned/stomped/twisted/mangled or something else. I wasnt even thinking about that when I took the manifolds off. I was thinking thats what the problem was. So what do I do now? Get one from a junkyard? But how to make it work with headers?
I have no cats, we dont have inspection here so I can get away without them.

 

[jac6695]

You have a couple of options:

1. Take to a muffler shop and ask the to install a new oxygen sensor.
2. Go buy a sensor for the truck, buy a sparkplug non-fouler (look in the "Help" section of parts store)
and weld the nonfouler to the pipe after cutting it down some (you will need the tip of the O2 sensor in the pipe).

Did your truck have EGR? Probably not. Is the wiring and plug from the O2 sensor still there?

 

[elacruze]

Oops. You tossed the Oxygen sensor. Put one back. If you need a single-wire sensor, it needs to be near the head, maybe 6-12" down a primary tube. If you had a heated (4-wire) sensor, it can go anywhere.

 

[BlindHawk]

I will look to see what type of wires are there tomorrow, the truck is at my place of work.
thanks for the help, /forums/images/graemlins/peace.gif
I will report back any other problems.

 

[BigRed89]

Like elacruze said, the oxygen sensor placement is important if it's a one wire sensor you end up using. If it's too far down the exhaust system, you will end up with poor gas mileage. You probably had a one wire sensor in there, and you'll probably be better off going with a heated sensor so that your sensor location isn't as important. Good luck!

 

[Thunder]

Besids the O2 make sure you have all the other sensors hooked up also. TBI needs all the sensors to run right.