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What factory emission equipment came on 1978 K30 350CI w SM465 (Federal not Calif)?

azblazor

azblazor

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What factory emission equipment came on a 1978 K30 350CI w SM465? I have a new purchase that has been registered out of out of my emissions area. It will require smog testing in Maricopa County AZ. The county does not really have a definitive place to go for what is required - exactly. If any one owns a factory stock rig I would really appreciate your description of what emission equipment is factory.
This truck has no stock exhaust or air cleaner
I can tell from searching that it did not come with catalytic convertors from the factory.
i.e.
Does it have 1 or 2 PCV valves - plummed where? to Air cleaner and/or to Vacuum port on carburetor?
Any vapor canister?
Air pump for injection into the exhaust manifold?
etc.
 
azblazor said:
What factory emission equipment came on a 1978 K30 350CI w SM465? I have a new purchase that has been registered out of out of my emissions area. It will require smog testing in Maricopa County AZ. The county does not really have a definitive place to go for what is required - exactly. If any one owns a factory stock rig I would really appreciate your description of what emission equipment is factory.
This truck has no stock exhaust or air cleaner
I can tell from searching that it did not come with catalytic convertors from the factory.
i.e.
Does it have 1 or 2 PCV valves - plummed where? to Air cleaner and/or to Vacuum port on carburetor?
Any vapor canister?
Air pump for injection into the exhaust manifold?
etc.
Click to expand...
The PCV system usually had the valve in the Drivers side rocker cover, and was connected to a large vacuum port on the back of the carburetor, and the pass side breather was plumbed to the air cleaner. Let me see if any of my old manuals have any more info. Has everything been modified, or just the exhaust and air cleaner? None of the 3/4 or 1 tons had cats in California either.
 
Thanks for the comments. I gleaned some info from a Chilton manual in the the section on emissions: the 1978 350 and 400, heavy duty emissions, with A/C non-Calif had only 1 vacuum line to the Air cleaner thermostatic-controlled dampener, this line gets split to the Distributor through a Thermal Vacuum Switch, 1 line to the PCV. I am still trying to determine if the valve cover breather is routed into the Air Cleaner or if I can leave it open through a breather filter.
 
azblazor said:
Thanks for the comments. I gleaned some info from a Chilton manual in the the section on emissions: the 1978 350 and 400, heavy duty emissions, with A/C non-Calif had only 1 vacuum line to the Air cleaner thermostatic-controlled dampener, this line gets split to the Distributor through a Thermal Vacuum Switch, 1 line to the PCV. I am still trying to determine if the valve cover breather is routed into the Air Cleaner or if I can leave it open through a breather filter.
Click to expand...

AFAIK 1978 still means basically no emissions equipment. The PCV simply needs a connection to a vacuum source to operate (which isn't an emissions piece at all, your engine would blow out it's seals without it). The vacuum/butterfly deal in the stock intake housing did have a vacuum hose to it, here in CO they don't care about that but I don't know AZ specifically. Honestly that thing is next to worthless. The vacuum hose to the distributor is worthwhile and probably required for emissions.

From what I know, real emissions requirements didn't start until 1979 with vehicles rated at 6000 lbs or more GVWR (except CA). My stock Blazer had a GVWR of 6200 (an estimated 4700 curb weight plus a rating of 1500 lbs in the truck) and most trucks of the era will crack the 6000+ GVWR mark.
 
sticker on air cleaner or core support of any us aproved vehicle will say catalist . this means it has/requires a cat to meat the rules it was released under.
 
good rule is 1/2 or light 3/4 ton in late 70's -up then you can prob bet on factory cat.

in my state for inspection that rig would not need to be checked for cat. thay say its to old to play with it . so you would get a free pass on no cat if everything else was good.
 
Well I took another approach. I got collector vehicle insurance from American Collectors Insurance, pretty much a completely online process. Took the insurance card down to the DMV and they gave me a 2 year registration with no requirement for emissions testing!!

Thanks for all the replies though.
 
hope there is no tiny mileage limit per year use on that insurance.

and why not just go ask a inspect shop whats required for your year rig ?
 
I would have asked an emissions repair facility if that had become necessary. That may have turned into a chase for a shop who was good enough to people to answer simple questions without expecting an immediate financial gain. I had pretty much figured out what emissions would be required here in urban Maricopa county AZ. I did not want the hassle and extra expense of getting the filters for the correct Air Cleaner that I had found and then taking it down to the Testing facility - to potentially have them find a minor problem or not like the gasket on one of the Gas tank caps, etc, etc, etc. There is a 5000 mile "intended driving amount" on the coverage. I don't hit 5K on my main K30 diesel in a year, I drive a VW diesel to work and divide the non work between a K30 a CJ5 and a motorcycle (and my wife's Subaru). Also the insurance was also about a quarter to a third of what I would have expected for normal coverage.

Anyway this is a solution that worked well for me and saved me money and time. It could help others in AZ with a similar situation.

This "loophole" allowing "collector" cars to waive emissions is a relatively recent (2007) law change here in AZ. Most people do not know about it and the state does not exactly advertise it.
 
wazzabie said:
my 78 k5 federal emisions does not have the air pump. how can i tell if it has the cat?
Click to expand...

If it didn't have a AIR pump, it didn't have a CAT.
I have seen AIR without CAT like on my 85 3/4 ton HD but not the other way around.
Even though talking to my smog guy one without the other doesn't do that much.
 
Don't know if it's 100% true But I heard the easiest way to tell if a vehicle requires a cat is by looking on the gast tank filler or your gas guage, if it says unleaded fuel only it means there should be a cat (leaded gas clogs up cats) My old 78 had a 400 in it and had not cats and did not have that verbage on my fuel guage. I ran no emmisions at all on it and passed inspection just fine. My 76 is the same way.
 
Thanks for the help. Sorry abut stealling the thread but it was related. My 78 K5 came with federal emisions and no air pump or cat.
 
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