So...through the powers of patience and craigslist, i just scored a 77 F350 Super Camper Special (a truck i've been looking for a screaming deal for ~5 years now) for $300. when i checked it out, it didn't run below ~4000 rpm which is where is idled. the kid who had it had vacuum lines looped all wrong and was using WD40 for starting fluid. i bought it, threw a working holley on it, and started to investigate the mystery of the pinned idle.

turns out, you can't use a square bore EGR plate (as a carb spacer/adapter) on a factory spread bore intake...the holes don't quite get covered all the way...DUH! $30 carb spacer/adapter and now it idles and runs fine.

but, being that i live in the Peoples Republic of Candycornia, i will have to figure out how to get this truck to pass smog. i was really surprised the intake has the casting for the EGR, but there is no hole there, and there never was. obviously, no catalytic converters either. it has the 9900lb gvw package, so that probably explains why there is no EGR.

so the real question is, what DOES this truck need for smog? there is a little vacuum tree on the thermostat housing, but its not connected and the ports are mostly broken off. does anyone have a diagram or know a good manual that will help me get past der smog *****?

 

First, welcome to FTE and the acquisition of yer SCS.

Second, I suggest re-titling this thread with your real questions. Something like "Smogging an F350 in California ...Questions!". Alternatively, start another thread with a more intuitive title to catch FTE'ers attention..

From what I can deduce, smogging an F350 is hit and miss in terms of what is actually supposed to be on it.

There are two guys in here who frequently reference the Ford Master Parts Catalog (Mike and NumberDummy). They **might** be able to help you out. The others are fellow F350 owners in CA.. one guy is NBC_Steve with his 79 F350 4x4 named "Candy Cane". Ya might try PMing him to get the info. I helped NBC R&R his longblock and don't recall seeing catalytic converters... at least that's a start, right?!

Btw, it's the Peoples' Republik of Commiefornia.

 

Welcome to FTE

It's just plain 'ol Camper Special, Ford dropped 'Super' from the name after 1976.

1973/76 F350 Super Camper Special, 1977/79 F350 Camper Special, 1973/79 F350 Trailer Special are Styleside Regular Cab pickups on the 140" wheelbase and all are 2WD.

The rear axle is set back further than other 1973/79 Stylesides. There's a door on the right quarter panel in front of the right rear wheel that the spare tire fits behind.

FTE member lives in San Berdoo, has a 1976 F350 Super Camper Special 390 4V. Has a DSO code of 72, so it came from NorCal originally (DSO 71: SoCal).

Originally it came with PCV, EGR, Evap/Em. No cat (no cat in 1977/79 either). 1977/79 will be the same. I don't recall if it had T/E (smog pump), or not. What size is your trucks engine?

In California, it's the SELLERS responsibility that a vehicle passes the smog test. How was it registered in 2012, 2011 and etc if smog parts are missing?

If the year tag has expired and the OP didn't get a Certificate of Non-Operation, you'll be in the same boat as San Berdoo FTE member who didn't pay attention, bought truck in 2008 with expired tags.

Weight, registration and penalty fees accrued since 2008 are now over 3 GRAND! He also didn't pay attention, cuz most of the smog parts it had...are missing. So it cannot be registered until parts are reinstalled. Clueless.

EGR valve bolts to EGR/Carb spacer plate. Evap/Em: Round steel charcoal cannister (1973/77) located on right (passenger) side inner frame rail below alternator. Fuel tank has round vapor valve.

Vapor line routes along right frame rail to cannister, then a hose routes from cannister to elbow on air cleaner.

Where in CA do you live?

 

Wow, Am I glad I live in "if it's not effed up it's not done right and you can't do it right if you don't have beer" Smogberta and not the Peoples' Republik of Commiefornia

 

Welcome Sooper,

Here is a link that has great information on what your truck will need to pass smog in California. It's really based on the year, GVWR, and engine size. Hopefully you have a 460 like I do. Good luck!

https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/8...or-460-a.html#

 

thanks for the quick help. the truck was originally an east coast truck (Norfolk plant) and its a 460 4bbl, 9900lb GVWR with federal emissions tag on the valve cover. i spoke with my local smog guy, he said all i need is the factory air cleaner, PCV and maaayyybeee an emissions spec carb (it needs a carb anyway, its running with one borrowed off my t-bird).

when i plug in the license plate, VIN, and my zip code (San Diego) into the CA DMV site, it comes up as $158 in fees owed. i sure hope thats the case...i picked the truck up for $150 ($300 if the kid ever finds the pink), cause no one wanted to take a couple hours trouble shooting some bad grounds, dirty dizzy, and bad vacuum leaks. someone actually tried to time and tune it with a huge vacuum leak around the ghetto EGR adapter some used to try and convert from a spread to square bore carb. it also was backfiring like a ****, due to the PO using WD40 as starting fluid, and loaded up on unburned fuel really really bad.

still working out an electric choke issue on the holley, but heres where we're at stats wise after a weekend of tinkering:
~20in/hg of steady vacuum at idle, needle vibrates very fast +/- 1.5 in/hg, drops at WOT and spikes right back
-10* advanced timing, idled a little fast at the factory 12* spec
-max fuel pressure 9 psi cold, hovers around 4 at hot idle
-running on the 220* side of the coolant gauge, no idea how accurate that one is but the sender looks fresh
-these plugs are pretty ****ed, but gonna keep burning off all the sooty unburned old gas, WD40 and seafoam off the cylinders and intake tract. the 4 glasspacks all sound pretty loaded with fuel too, definitely gonna need to replace those. it also has no crossover pipe, i bet that will help a ton...






i believe that somewhere on this tag is a number that corresponds to the smog diagram which shows everything i need, vaccum wise?

any idea what this is? i think its part of the air cleaner heater assembly?

 

its a $300 non-running (or so the PO thought) truck. i know it'll have issues, but the smog is the biggest glaring concern. everything seems very solid, i think it just passed through 1 too many tweaker kids who don't know how to troubleshoot (or complete a thought). way i look at it, if i can get it to pass smog and be registered on the road for >$1500 i'll be stoked. i got it running and idling for $300 so far. it'll make a good long term restoration project, pre-runner type build that i can throw a slide in camper in the back and get away for a while with my wife and dog.

as far as i can tell, it never had any emissions equipment. there is no air pump holes or bracketry and no hole in the EGR casting boss on the intake so there is no exhaust gas present at the rear p-side corner of the intake.

a fuel system diagram for a Federal spec F350 camper special with dual tanks would be nice, as well as a vacuum diagram. there is a mystery fuel line chopped off in the engine compartment, but that appears to have been part of the dual tank system? not sure. the rear tank has been removed, and it seems to be capped off, but i don't really know what all those lines are for yet either. i'm only a little familiar with the EEC-IV dual tank setups. it seems to be running fine now, would a non-existent return like make a difference?

thanks for the help, let me know if any other pictures would help you help me. i live in San Diego, is there any old-ford meetups i should start attending?

 

2 more silly questions:
regarding the factory 8* retarded timing chain set...
is there any way to tell without taking the cover off if it has a 0* swapped in?
will a 0* chain cause a smog fail?
i know they bump the power significantly...

if this engine ends up running 75% as good as the EFI 460 i had in my 91 van i'll be stoked!

 

Nice score, I think you will be okay on emissions, similar situation on my 78 some tinkering and few trips to the JY to fill in the missing pieces and passed smog the first time, F350 460 and high GVWR really help.

You mentioned a "Federal" tag any picture of that? mine has the emissions stiker very similar to yours and also another valve cover sticker that decodes to California requirements.

I am in San Diego also when I went to get smog the tech ask if it was a federal vehicle and I said "sure I guess" then he said oh wait it has an EGR that means California. Who knows if that is correct but regardless it passed with only EGR and Evap (the two rectangular charcoal canisters), It did not need pressure test because of the two tanks, just new gas caps.

Anyway, like you said for that price you can do a little smog trouble shooting!

Good luck and let us know what happens!

 

Hey Texin, where you located in SD? i might need to take a gander it your rig if you don't mind. ASSuming it fails the smog, i might need a good one to reference. nothing like seeing a clean example to get you motivated!

my local tech who i trust said PCV, factory air cleaner, and smog legal carb (one of those non adjustable Holleys or Edelbrocks should do it) if its federal. my plan is to get the factory air cleaner, roll down and see what happens. at the very least i pass, at the very worst, i have to buy a couple more pieces from the junkyard.

the tag i posted a picture of says US EPA at the bottom. Wouldn't a CA truck read something like "CA EPA" or "CARB" requirements? the truck definitely came from the east coast, there is a parking permit from 1981 issued in Raliegh, NC. either way, the intake is cast over where the EGR would exit into the spacer plate, and i really don't see any evidence of this intake ever having been taken off or swapped. all the part numbers code correctly to a mid 76 production run big block.

my theory with the truck and how it ended up to me is this:
10900lb weight ticket in the glov ebox
evidence of a blown radiator hose (the shorty between the timing cover and the block)
doused carb, dizzy, corroded all the engine grounds
truck won't run, lets try and swap this holley on here...with the wrong pieces
won't idle, loads up and back fires, only runs pinned
the tune was completely screwed with
screw it, put it on craigslist for cheap

 

Look thru junkyards for 460 (7 valve cover bolts per side) 1977/78 LTD/Grand Marquis/Lincoln Town Car/Mark V for the air cleaner and any other missing emissions related parts. 460 VIN engine code is A (F150/350: J).

SAME parts as 1977/79 F150/350 460's. There were more of these cars produced w/460's than F150/350's, and so, are much easier to find, especially here in rust free CA

Assembled in Norfolk VA = 5th digit of VIN = N / The DSO code stamped on the Warranty Plate (3rd line-far right) when decoded, will tell what Ford District Sales Office in what city/state the truck was ordered from.

 

Thanks for the reply number dummy. you wouldn't happen to have any diagrams would you? or is that another member i'm thinking of? sorry...been reading a LOT of random threads on google over the past few days, most from this site (GREAT RESOURCE) but i can't keep everything quite straight yet!

i promise, this will turn into a build thread soon, i've accumulated a bunch of parts that are going to make their way onto this truck...

 

Sooper Camper, I am in North Park, I will have to check out my tag again but I think the only clue to it being a Cali truck was the DSO and also the second valve cover tag. But I really don't think your average smog tech would even catch that. Either way my guess is if you get it set up for Federal regs you will pass the visual at least.

More than welcome to take a look at mine although I am not 100% on the vacuum routing yet, but it did pass

If you get set up for Federal I would love to know what that includes to compare with mine.

IIRC you have the 4350 spread bore manifold? An adapter to square bore might be a red flag at smog I don't know. You might have to find a 4350 to throw on there to pass and then switch back.

Isn't CA great!

 

Sure, you bet...how many would'ja like to see? Whiz over to my residencia, look at the parts catalog pics on microfiche slides.

1973/79 Ford Light Truck Parts Catalog available on a CD (from hipoparts.com), but I don't have it. All I have are the original FoMoCo microfiche versions: 1978, 1981, 1985, final 10/88 editions.

DSO: 71 (Los Angeles-SoCal), 72 (San Jose-NorCal) Ford District Sales Offices.

 

it did have the 4350 on a spreadbore manifold. i don't think the spacer would matter as long as i have the right carb. i think with a CA spec truck, you need the 4350 or one with an EO number, but for federal you can just use one of the "non-adjustable emissions carbs" like these:

Holley Performance Emission Replacement Carbs Products

gonna search for the DSO tag tonight.