how would I reliably plug the air injection points in the heads? Would you go with a new intake manifold or just put a plate over where the egr spacer should go? I sold the edelbrock carb last year after I rebuilt the original holley. What cfm would you go with in a motorhome? basically a 6 ton van? I used a CFM calculator last time I bought a carb and it got me the gutless 600 cfm 1406...

 

I was looking at my first post from this thread, and it still has the edit button there, and I can still edit.

 

Just for you Josh, 'cuase you're wrong so much and have to back-track.

Just kidding.

 

Can't remember if I mentioned this already, but I finally got those little bits and pieces from my carb put into the cleaner. I put it off for so long because I thought I was gonna have to sort through a million little parts and risk mixing stuff up...but it turns out there are only seven large parts I need to clean. Sooooo that's in the process of happening right now, and hopefully by this weekend I can have it back together, on the truck and ready to tune.

And I wonder if all this time, part of my problem was due to worn-out spark plug wires? It sure seems like it runs better with the new plugs and wires...and I haven't changed anything on the carburetor, ignition timing, etc.

 

A hahaha......

No, not really...

Somewhat annoying actually.

 

Plug wires make a big difference.

I bought my truck not running and that was all it needed.

 

Josh, you know I am close to 1,000 posts ahead of you? lol

 

Yeah Yeah Yeah :P

Stay away from those song title games and story game Chat threads Grant :P

 

I will very much have to beg to differ with you on that sir. When I got my '80, it came from a non-incorporated county here in Texas and the PO was very proud he had removed all "that smog crap".

I had to replace it to pass emmisssions in Tarrant County. Long story short- what a PITA!, but the more I restored to original the better this truck ran and the better mileage it got. When I first got it, the thing wouldn't hardly idle, it took forever to warm up to run worth a crap, and when you turned on the AC, it would die. After- none of those problems.

I have to grin a bit when people talk about Fords being cold natured. Usually, they don't have their chokes hooked up and have ripped out or have half or more of their pollution control devices disabled. About a full half or more of that "smog crap" is actually stuff that helps the vehicle run during warm-up.

All the time I find threads that say- "I took of all that smog crap- but now my truck runs like crap, any suggesstions?" Unless you are going to take the time to fully research and understand each function of each component of the EGR system and all the various components and become competent on removing only the restrictive components and are capable of compensating in the systems for those that aren't- you are in for a whole lot less headache and better gas mileage by restoring the system than ripping it out.

Just my $.02 on the subject.

 

You have posted on more of those than me...

 

I agree 100%!! I went through that learn-about-and-reinstall-the emissions-stuff on my
1981.

 

Uh Huh- And once you've been through that and have been so enlightened, it makes you a bit touchy about thinking about the possibilty of someone else re-creating that nightmare for someone else, even if it's the actor himself.

 

Well, you cant just rip it all off.

You have to put a non emission carb on, just to start with.

You have to re set timing and Idle to that of a non emission truck.

If done right, it is a good thing. If done wrong, it runs like crap.

 

It's a balancing act. If you don't have to worry about emissions, or having original equipment, then you can re-vamp the whole system. But as you said, you can't just rip it out. This is what usually happens when someone decides to get rid of smog equipment. They don't know what they are doing and they usually don't gain anything in the process and often times lose.

I don't think that is that much of a benefit to convert to a non-emissions system unless you are going in a totally different direction as in high performance. Much of the bad press these 80's systems get is from the fact they are already malfunctioning from being 20+ years old. If they were working like they were supposed to, they aren't that bad. They are certainly not so bad as to make it worth turning them into gas guzzling pollution monsters which is what most of them wind up as with indiscriminate castration of anything perceived as "smog equipment".

You may gain a minimal amount of performance if done just right, but undoubtedly you will also be increasing the amount of emissions and therefore pollution created by that vehicle. So- even if your vehicle runs better, is that really better? The more drugs and alcohol you consume, the better you feel, is that better for society? Or even your own well being? Ever watch a top fuel dragster run down the track at night? They throw a flame of burning fuel out of their headers a couple of feet high. The point is, performance comes with a trade-off. Top fuel cars don't get miles to the gallon, they use gallons to the quarter mile.

So, there's a trade-off to everything. While you may be able to increase the performance by by-passing emission equipment, the truth of the matter is that in the vast majority of the cases with our era trucks, removing smog equipment usually results in not only decreased performance, but higher gas consumption and increased pollution.

Like I said, once you've been burned by the result of mindless modification, you can't help but be a little defensive when presented with the proposition of it being purported as a good thing without reservation.

 

My concern, is not just a perceived improvement in performance, I just want the motorhome to go up a hill without whining about it. I was thinking along the lines of a performer intake, with a holley 770, straight-up double roller timing chain, and keeping the stock heads, maybe porting the exhaust manifolds

Another issue I have is the limited work space with all of the emissions stuff in there, one of the other guys was talking about limited working space in his vehicle, try a 86 e-350 with a 460, sure the starter comes out easy, but try changing the passenger side spark plugs...

I also have no problem keeping the smog stuff, I just wish there was better documentation on it.