Alrighty so this is a bit more out of taste. But lately I have been trying to fix up under the hood and make it look cleaner. I started this months ago by removing the smog pump, and everything related to it. (the old cat had fallen apart from rust and replaced with a non cat exhaust system). Which definitely freed up some working room. Next I tore off the old fan shroud (mine was cracked and busted anyways), which definitely freed up some more room. However yesterday I was servicing oil on a 1987 Chevy Blazer, and my god I was in love with what was under the hood, so little clutter. And a nice little carb sitting in the center with the intake right on top of the engine, perfect, exactly as I would like mine. However I cannot afford a carburetor conversion right now.

Can anyone make any sort of suggestions to make it similar? Any sort of super small compact air filter, etc?


I know this is scatterbrained but any help would be appreciated!

 

Idk you have but if you have a small block you would need to use the associated Parts for a carb. Then of course, you have a fuel pump or two, maybe a third(no idea year)

carb fuel pumps usually had a cam plunger and at least on sbc the block had the spot for a fuel pump but there was not any inside the engine. So you would need to use a custom fuel pump of lower pressure to bring fuel up the line.


you also have to realize the 87 had a Tbi which is throttle body injection unless it too was reverted to a carburetor (acceptable under a variety of reasons in a square, one year only for tbi and the reliability was eh)
your truck probably has things that would not play wel with the technology under the hood at the moment.

that all said, let’s say you want it less stuff in the engine bay, let’s examine what is there. Show us your bay? Canister is far up on the side for the evap, Chevy had theirs tucked against the core support in the area where your truck has front beams and the radiator is hugging into for the air dam system. Your truck has a tin can for vacuum which is necessary for your hvac. Chevy may have been a non Ac truck so no need for vac if they also de smog or no cruise.
You may have ac, that sticks in to the bay a bit so room taken up. That is same on Chevy which he may not have had ac. The ac compressor on Chevy if mounted high takes a lot of space especially if not a pancake like an a6 or sanden. You also have a mix reservoir for overflow on the opposite side of your cap most likely. Chevy had theirs beside the radiator and tall and skinny. Usually. Your washer reservoir is bigger than Chevy and about the Same as área taken. The Chevy body sits higher in the front usually than your truck so the area under hood is increased. That helps the appearance. Your truck has giant ps pump that pumps fluid and a lot of noise. That attracts to the pump which is usually mounted in reach. I you have an air box mounted on the fender with tubes while the Chevy has an air cleaner directly on top of the carb or the tbi and then a 3.4 in j or so diameter duct that just goes into the core support on one side while yours goes from tb to the air cleaner which is flat and not circular and then a tunnel to the front for fresh air. By nature yours will take area. You also likely have a secondary air which the Chevy may also have but the piping is simpler and the system is more beneficial on Ford. Vs shear compliance with emissions for Chevy.

Here is a 75 gm a body car Notice the extras

Here is a 1990 gm fwd car. Lots of room for the day, but notice the air cleaner? That was gm way of an air cleaner for a good chunk of the 90s. Doesn’t seem so bad compared to Ford. The two tubes screws with your head but gm only had one butterfly tb or a cleaner directly above the various plates so they didn’t need more tube

This is leSs SMOG, a missing hose from rad to heater core and no jack/wrench, a missing shroud but otherwise the engine bay is a carb sbc with no air cleaner to the cowl. The right side is a pump hydraulic unit so pay no attention. The difference exists, yes, but you’re going to do a lot to your truck to make it appear pretty when it doesn’t matter

Both my trucks

once you get a big block with ac in California believe me you don’t see any room in those engine bays

 

I hate to say it but GM usually puts way less crap in their engine bays than Ford. At least from what I’ve seen

 

Can be good or bad

they spend more on vehicle specific framework too so things are literally designed to be in and around where gm wants them, typically. Exceptions plenty but generally

 

Lol don't ever look under the hood of a Chevy.

My brother inherited my grandfather's 1500 after he passed. Lifelong mechanic. V6, same year truck as my Ford. I borrowed it once when I had the bed off my truck. Popped the hood to check something and I just ... ???Wow.

I still like my Ford though.

 

Starting from the top:
Removing the smog pump and related components is a good move.
If you removed your fan shroud and didn't reinstall a non-cracked one, go find one. You're going to be back in a week complaining about cooling issues.
That filter right on top of the motor on that blazer is sucking hot air straight off the engine. While it may look "neat", it is robbing power. Cooler air is more dense. Denser air makes more power.

 

So there is really nothing else I can do? I mean I love my Ford. But.....




The engine looks like its on a life support, with the air intake being the ventilator.

 

That intake horn on the top of the radiator support, you can replace that with the horn from an inline 6 or 460 powered truck. Those suck air from the grille instead of up there, so it won't be visual with the hood up.

 

Detail.

Paint plastic pieces.
Youre truck is red.

Ford grey and matching or hot red , even a dull or satin red can have its place. Silver accidents. Paint things that can’t be polished or brought back. Clean up aluminum. Etc

aoso the v6 Chevy argument isn’t the full story. The air cleaner sits on top but the air is tunneled in from the core support. The trucks back to about 75 or so have done that

 

Detail.

Paint plastic pieces.
Youre truck is red.

Ford grey and matching or hot red , even a dull or satin red can have its place. Silver accidents. Paint things that can’t be polished or brought back. Clean up aluminum. Etc

aoso the v6 Chevy argument isn’t the full story. The air cleaner sits on top but the air is tunneled in from the core support. The trucks back to about 75 or so have done that
when the hood is open there is a large square of dirty red visible with uneven surface. The hood.

Put a liner on the hood maybe find a decal or something. Would make the whole thing at least be even. It helps.

hows your panels and front end look?

 

I will have to grab a picture later. However while its not bad, its not good either. I replaced the cracked instrument panel dash a while ago. However the dash as a whole has a major problem. The entire passenger side mount for it broke off. So the dash actually sags about 1.5 inches down on the passenger side. The only way to fix this would be to pull and reinstall the entire dash from another vehicle. However right now it doesn't hurt anything. It does start to wobble and make noise at 76 mph. Thats just on the freeway though. Other than that she is in good condition. The door panels though are another story. They need to be replaced. Cosmetically they are fine, however they make so much noise while driving 50+ mph. But I just cant justify spending 500+ dollars on noise. (checked local pick n pulls and they have nothing thats in no better condition than mine).

 

Jack it up, literally, and add a brace to the floor in a structural secured spot

 

The reason a GM Pickup of the same era as an OBS Ford has so much more "room" under the hood, is just due to the fact that GM decided that Throttle Body Injection was the way to go, as opposed to Ford choosing to go to port injection. Maybe GM was right, maybe they weren't, but *no* you're never going to get the engine bay of an EFI F-Series to look as "clean" as a GM of the same Era, there is just literally more stuff there, due to the basic design philosophy of the EFI system.

Although I'm not sure why this is bothering you, do you spend alot of time with the hood open staring at it? There's a hell of alot better places to spend your time and energy, if you're not having to work on it, than to be worrying about how much "spare room" there is under the hood.

 

Are you saying it’s NOT normal to stare at your engine? I try to at least get 30 minutes a day. It’s a 300, sfaulken
​​​​​​
a 300

 

Oh, I get that, but it's never bothered me that there's lots of stuff under the hood of an F-Series, most of it is there for a reason, and what else would you be doing with the space, if it wasn't taken up by engine?