I can. It's really quite easy to do. It helps to go to a quiet place away from any distractions. Close your eyes and concentrate. Try rubbing your temples, too. Before you know it, you can imagine all sorts of things!

All seriousness aside, you might be surprised at the vacuum leaks you can find, and not just from a bad line. Consider the actuators in the HVAC system, for example. Or the power brake booster. If you did the carb cleaner spray trick around the engine, that's not going to pick up a vacuum leak inside the cab.

If your latest finds with the carb and EGR valve don't fix the problem, I'd suggest a thorough check for vacuum leaks. Not just the carb spray trick, either, as that really only works for major leaks out in the open. I suggest using a handheld vacuum pump (with gauge) and pulling a vacuum on each line from the manifold. If everything is intact on that circuit, the vacuum will hold. If not, the vacuum will quickly decay. This is a quick and easy test. I found several leaks on my truck, stuff that was not readily apparent. One was the vacuum advance actuator and another the throttle kicker.

And a word of warning: If you respond that (insert name of part) must be good because it's new, I shall move into your guest room until you repent and change your ways. I'll PM you a list of my dietary needs.

 

The gaskets you use should fit the outline of the mated parts. If they don't you have the wrong gasket. Using a plate to block off the EGR valve seat sounds right to me. And if there's no value to having an operational EGR system might as well JBWeld it on with through bolts. None of the guys here seem to be cheerleading for the brilliant engineering behind the EGR system. Grab a beer and plug and chug.

 

Yeah… just don’t get why the gasket included with the edelbrock 1406 is square bore. The phenolic spacer I got is 4 bore and obviously so is the egr spacer plate. I called edelbrock and they said I could use the square gasket or the felpro 4 bore gasket I got. You guys tell me… use square bore between carb and spacer or the 4 bore?

 

I think that the 4 bore that fits the mating surfaces is the way to go. Otherwise you'll have a gasket width gap between the primary and secondary barrels. Might not affect the operation and if Edelbrock says use either and you can't make up your mind flip a coin.

Maybe choose the gasket that looks the most robust.

 

I guess the phenolic spacer replaces the EGR spacer so there won't be any EGR valve seat to plug? Or does the new spacer have the exhaust gas passages and a seat for an EGR valve?

 

You can use the gasket with the 4 holes or the one with the large hole in the middle, it doesn't matter. By the way both of these types of gaskets are "square bore" gaskets, because the bottom of the carb is square. The other term opposite "square bore" is a "spread bore" carb and gasket, which you don't have. GM used the "spread bore" more than Ford did, but that is a 4 barrel carb where the front barrels are small, the back barrels are larger.

What are you planning to use after you plug the hole in the intake? Intake-gasket, new spacer, gasket and then the carb? Or are you going to keep using the original EGR spacer also.

 

I was planning to use the original EGR spacer with the phenolic spacer on top of that.

 

You're planning on stacking two spacers? I have to ask why?

Did you post a picture of the new spacer?

 

I had assumed that the factory EGR spacer needed to go back on to cover the ear of the EGR vent in the manifold or whatever. The new phenolic spacer is 1” and would go on top of that. Sometimes I get long crank times when the truck is hot, like when running around out and about. Would be nice to slove that fuel boil issue while I have the carb off.

I guess if I do get the hole plugged off well I could just eliminate the factory EGR spacer plate altogether and just put the phenolic spacer in its place. There is a manifold vacuum hose on the front of that plate but I could probably relocate that to a different port on the manifold pretty easily.

 

I was wondering if the studs were long enough to accommodate the added inch in height. You are on the right track, be very aware of how everything fits together to make sure everything is sealed up. I am not sure what setup you had going when you had the hot start problems, but blocking the hole on the EGR should help the heat problems somewhat. Hopefully after all this, the EGR valve was leaking a little bit and blocking it cures the problem..

 

I did actually order longer studs to accommodate the spacer

 

Good news and bad news. Good news is that I was able to tap and plug the EGR hole in the manifold with with a 1/2” NPT plug and loctite. I’m very confident that it’s tight and secure.

Bad news is that the old gasket was stuck to the bottom of the carb and I had to remove it from the truck altogether to try to scrape it off (didn’t finish yet). In doing so I was astonished at how much fuel was in the carb. Definitely didn’t seem normal. That being said I was moving it around a lot with the fuel line connected.

Also, if I want to put the 1” phenolic spacer on top of the EGR spacer plate I need to use longer studs. 2 of my old studs won’t budge… tips on how to get them out??

Lastly, I’m now wondering if I could just eliminate the EGR spacer plate completely and just put the phenolic spacer right on top of the intake with a gasket? Now that the hole is plugged it seems like the spacer would cover what needs to be covered? Only thing is there is a vacuum line on the front of the EGR spacer plate. Could I just relocate that to an unused port on the manifold?

 

If it's just a small vacuum line to some sort of device, you probably can move it. If it's the PCV connection I would move that to the proper port on the carb (I think your carb has such a port?) or re-consider getting rid of the spacer. The PCV needs to be introduced to ALL of the cylinders equally so it idles well. It's usually centrally located or I think your carb is setup to distribute it inside the carb. You have blocked the exhaust gases, so they would not directly hit the phenolic spacer and burn it up. So it should work if it covers everything.

 

I would strongly suggest leaving them alone and going with some option that allows you to use them as is.

If the studs won’t unthread with normal force, trying harder is likely to break them. Then you’ve got a major pain on your hands, dealing with a broken stud or two.

 

Unfortunately the EGR seems to have not been the main issue. The surging might be slightly less but the idle is still inconsistent and going up and down. As you can see in the picture below the EGR it’s completely eliminated from the equation. The hole is plugged tight and I replaced the EGR spacer plate with a phenolic spacer and new gaskets. Everything is tight and the truck still has a very inconsistent idle and wants to stall out in gear. The vacuum advance hose is still sucking air as well. Turning the wheel in gear is pretty much an instant stall. Video below. I tried checking as many hoses as possible as well. Removing hose from brake booster and plugging it did nothing as well disconnecting/plugging hose to tree on firewall that goes to heater. Hoses on tree on back of manifold seem fine as well.