What is this and how do I remove and block
 

So first things first, good afternoon. I'm replacing my carburetor w an Edelbrock ( you can tell me how bad they are later) and I ran into a snafoo. What looks like a diaphragm is blocking me from installing the carb as it is in the way. I've attached a pic to see what I'm talking about. Do they sell a block off plate for it? Thanks in advance for any and all help.

Re: What is this and how do I remove and block
 

That is a EGR valve which is a emissions component, if you don't have any emissions insepction I would take it off. They make a block off plate for it. Some might argue to not take it off but it looks like its been unplugged so its probably froze up by now. Tread lightly as it is a federal law that just because you don't have emissions inspection doesn't mean you can take emissions components off.

https://www.jegs.com/i/Mr-Gasket/720/7631/10002/-1

Re: What is this and how do I remove and block
 

MattMan,

Thanks for that super fast reply. I really appreciate your help. I just ordered the block off plate but I won't see it until Thursday..boo. People like yourself make this site a heck of a tool and a pleasure to ask questions. Keep passing that knowledge onto us new guys. Enjoy your day

Re: What is this and how do I remove and block
 

Well I couldn't wait until Thursday so I canned up my own plate and put it in place. It works great and mybtrucknis running better than ever. Thank you forum members!

Re: What is this and how do I remove and block
 

I made the plate out of some square Steele tubing that I had laying around the house. It's cool when you can make your own pieces.

Re: What is this and how do I remove and block
 

Nothing wrong with do it yourself parts. Did you use hi temp gaskets? EGR stands for Exhaust Gas Recirculation. That plate will get toasty.

Eddy carbs are OK. Read some of the threads on setup and tuning. They are often set too rich out of the box. I have a 1405 on my truck and it works good.

Re: What is this and how do I remove and block
 

I used a new gasket specific for the egr. I bought the carb used but almost new. Slapped it on and it runs quite well. Better than the quadrajet I had on it. I'll definitely look into reading the threads on setup and tuning.

Re: What is this and how do I remove and block
 

I've had nothing but Edelbrock carbs on all my older trucks, and have had almost nothing but good luck with them.

The only bit of bad luck I ever had was when I purchased a truck, and the edelbrock on it had a vacuum leak that caused some idle problems. It was at a bushing, and I didn't see anything in the rebuild manual about how to replace the bushing. Luckily, the truck also came with an identical spare carb, so I bought a rebuild kit and rebuilt the spare, and it worked flawlessly.

A lot of people dog on them because they're square-bore carbs. I get the theory on why a spread-bore is better, but if I had to choose between a finicky carb that theoretically had better efficiency (when it worked), or an easy, simple, maintenance-free carb that worked flawlessly, I'd gladly sacrifice the performance for the reliability. I love my Edelbrock carbs.

Re: What is this and how do I remove and block
 

Eddy and Holley are just fiddly to get properly setup.
Just depends on what you want to spend an entire weekend fiddling with...
I'll keep my Rochester Quads. They're dead reliable and they just work. Not because the Eddy and Holly carbs are junk. I just plain don't feel like fiddling with them for two days to make em happy.