Hi All,
I am new to this site, but I am in the middle of rebuilding my tired old 302 into a gem of a 331 Stroker. However, the best professional builders are lost as to how to rid my engine compartment of the EGR and it's associated, rusted out parts. Truth be told, my emissions haven't worked for some time since they are completely rusted off in places. I would like to eliminate the smog pump, EGR and all the tubing/hoses.
Does anyone have ideas as to how I can do this and where to find the block-offs? Also, will my computer need to be fooled, or can it be reprogrammed?

Let me know!

Thanks,
Ben

 

The easiest and cheapest way to do this is to put the emissions stuff back in working order. You will likely never get the engine to run right without the emissions stuff in place without spending a lot of time and money.

 

Yeah, the smog pump is not required for proper engine operation, but the EGR is a good thing. It recirculated exhast gases back inot the intake which cools the motor. It increases fuel economy, and prevents pinging an detonation. The EGR is your friend.

 

Exhaust gases tend to be very hot, so I wouldn't count on them cooling off your engine much.

The EGR is there to reduce NOx emissions, and only functions at partial throttle. It has a side effect of increasing mileage because with less air in the chamber, the engine needs to inject less fuel.

 

Thanks for the advice everyone. The Mustangs we've redone seem to get better power from not having the emissions stuff on, and since I am not running any catalytic converters, I didn't see where the smogger would pump O2 and, for that matter, where my 02 sensor would hook back up. I 'll clean up the EGR though...thanks!

 

I removed the EGR (all of it except the egr and 02's) from a 87 300 6. You dont have to replace the belt with a shorter one, just gut the thermactor pump. take it off, break the fins off the shaft and put it back together. From there on, its only a idler pully.

Remove all the egr 'stuff' except the egr and 02 sensors. The egr is only active when a vacuum source is attached. If you have a plate to cover the egr openings , you can use that too. I left mine. The 02's must stay, it WILL run like crap without them.

The check engine light? take the bulb out. the check engine light on these truck was primarily used for emissions stuff anyway. the vital (engine temp, oil pressure) engine stats will show the red engine light anyway if out of wack.

Performance without the system, well, lets put it this way, no more idle problems, EVER. (from the egr, anyways). I can say that I didn't see any improvement in MPGs, but the engine was smoother.

You may see the water temp climb a little higher, but not much, and never in the danger zone.

The EGR system is good as long as everything is working the way its supposed to. If it's not, it can and WILL affect drivability and emissions. I left the cat converter. I saw no need to remove, I just put a brass cap over the inlet air pipe so as not to hear the sound of it belching exhuast. ( you all know the sound).

Keeping this egr working right was not an easy thing. Carbon buildup was a major factor in EGR problems. The computer did not have have codes for the tad/tab solenoids, so if one of them went south, you'd end up replacing alot of stuff before you found one bad. The codes are very general and took a exceptional understanding of the EGR system to analyze a problem sometimes.

Removing the emissions on a old engine probably makes sense if you think about it. If the system is not operating as designed or efficiently, it's probably causing more bad emissions than it is preventing. The computer control is doing more for emissions than the egr is anyway. The computer is tuned for the EGR function to be there, but runs just fine without it. EGR's main job is to cool the combustion chamber to reduce the formation of Nitrogen oxide (NOX) gasses. thats it.

Food for thought and my $.02

 

The exahust gases are also inert, so they do not contribute to combustion. The EGR reduces NOX by reducing the combustion temperature by introducing inert gases. Since it dullutes the intake charge without altering the fuel to oxygen ratio, it also slows the burn rate, which fights engine knock and NOX production. NOX is produced when the combustion temperatures get so high that the nitrogen begins to break down and react with oxygen. This reduces the amount of oxygen that is available to be burned with the fuel. So it increases the fuel economy by increasing the amount of fuel that gets burn in the combustion chamber. It also increases fuel economy because it allows a greater timing advance to be used without having predetonation, which in turn allows you to harness more of the power.

 

well, to maximize our stroker 331 project, I am going with hedman hedders and true duals, running a dynomax turbo on each. no emissions testing=no cat, it was long gone anyway. But, the new exhaust won't have the O2 housing on it, and I'd prefer not to bring it back in...
this brings me back to the egr and 02. honestly, the smog pump and crossovers can go, but i want to make sure i am not eliminating a vacuum source for anything. i haven't had a functioning O2 sensor for years, my old y pipe dual burned them up in a week. the check engine light has been out since then as well. what do i need to hook up back up with the egr, then? MPG isn't an issue since the 302 with 210,000 miles was only getting 8 on a good day. I just want a clean looking, smooth running powerhouse sleeper in the truck. just get nervous that my new project and all the pennies associated with it don't go up in a ball of flames...

 

u need o2 if u are using fuel injection no matter what anyone says u will have poor part throttle responce and worse gas milage. i know this from experence with my truck was without o2 and egr was rigged bought new o2 and collectors with o2 bungs on them and removed egr with thingy from fordfuelinjection. worked great