Another smog thread

[slomotion]

I'm sure several of you are tired of seeing "smog threads", but I've searched these forums, Youtube, and a couple of other sites for some definitive answers and what I'm reading is "just take off the EGR, put a block-off plate on, and pull any associated stuff," or "pull the smog air pump and put plugs in the exhaust manifolds." Simple right?
Well, I'm a slow learner and apparently need someone to hold my hand a little longer
I have an '81 305 with low mileage, but a lot of the hoses are old, brittle, and leaking vacuum. My thought is if they're not up to task how do I know the diaphragms in the system are good? Our state inspections are safety related more than the old "sniffers", so rather than "restore" a system that wasn't exactly engine friendly, I'd like to take all that stuff off.
I'd like to see a carburetor, distributor, PCV, and a vacuum hose from the intake to the distributor vacuum port when I look at the top of the engine.
There are four wires that go into the back of the dist., and the "Electronic Spark" is alive and well, but with the dist. having a vacuum hook up does that mean there's no computer?
I've also added a couple of photo's of components with vacuum lines right behind the thermostat housing. One has an orange colored hex head, and there's a blue thingy right next to it.
The catalytic converter is intact and I will leave it in place if removing the other stuff doesn't impact it.
I don't drive this van more than 2000 miles a year, as it's not a work truck or daily driver, so it isn't going to decimate the atmosphere if all the extra parts come off. I just want a simple dependable engine that doesn't need a science major to trouble shoot any potential problems.
As you can see by the photo's there's way too much stuff on this engine.

Thanks in advance for the help!

[blakeduren]

Those are coolant temp vacuum switches. They switch vacuum to/away from things until the engine warms up or before the engine warms up to temp. They run various “extra” systems like the heat riser in the exhaust or keep vac from the distributor vac advance until the engine is warm.
Add to your list the vac line for the transmission and the short vac line to the rear pot on the carb. There is probably several rubber lines that run to a charcoal canister also.
But yes....you can get rid of several systems off the engine..

[Dead Parrot]

IMO - The things to keep are PCV, THERMAC, and the charcoal fuel vapor capture setup. And maybe the exhaust riser valve coupled with the intake crossover.

PCV - does a lot to keep oil clean and is one of the most effective of the earlier pollution controls. Simple and is already figured into the carb setup.
THERMAC - really helps with cold weather warm up and preventing carb icing when temps are somewhere around 30s~60F and high humidity. Also simple.
Charcoal canister mostly gets rid of the raw gas smell from the gas tank vent.

The exhaust riser valve - intake crossover does help with warm up but if the valve sticks shut, it can cause the intake to get very hot and result in carb damage.

In your pics, looks like the EGR is already missing. And some of the AIR pump hoses.

[slomotion]

Thank you for the responses!
I'm still on the fence about whether to delete the systems or just clean up and refurbish the whole mess. The van is 100% original and in my indecision am somewhat reluctant to deviate as long as things are working. (The original impulse to delete everything was the result of a couple of vacuum leaks that took a while to find.)
Parrot, you're right, the EGR, air pump, and associated diaphragms had been removed, and I ran up against "what else can go?".
Now the question remains restore or rebuild. If the van had been modified in any way there wouldn't be any question, but although it's not anything really special, it is a 40 year old original.
Decisions, decisions........

Thanks guys!

[truckin 79]

I left all of my smog stuff there in 79 truck just in case I have to pass emissions in CO again. I bypassed all the thermal vacuum stuff by thermostat housing. I have constant vacuum to exhaust stove pipe so it is open all the time. I also kept vacuum to transmission modulator as well. I have vacuum to EGR right now but plan to plug that off as well. I have vacuum for distributor but I am planning on putting a Mallory distributor with no vacuum canister. I have a Mallory Comp 9000 on Trans Am with vacuum canister and it runs great. I do not have vacuum to thermac on air cleaner either but with a properly operating choke and have not had any cold weather starts. I did pass emissions with the current set up with the help of a AEM wide band sensor from Ebay. So all the smog stuff is not really necessary in my opinion. I did keep the catalytic converter though figured it will not hurt anything.