pics of cleaned up engine bays

[jasonroman]

hello all. i am looking for information and some pics of cleaned up engine bays.
or direction on where i can go and find some info. have an 85 suburban 5.7 350.
live in jersey. no inspection needed/emissions.
I'm pretty sure there are a ton of things in the engine bay that i don't need.
question is do i need to get a different carb and intake to be able to get rid of the mess???
i was looking around and saw a youtube vid where a guy just took a saws all and cut a bunch of crap out. not really what id like to do. just seems there is a ton of stuff in the engine bay. and if i don't really NEED it all, id like to clean it up some.
appreciate any help

[AcampoDave]

It would help to have an intake manifold without the egr and all the rest on it, then ditch the smog pump and plug the holes in the exhaust manifolds. Here are a couple pics of my pre-smog 283 motor I don't have a visible pcv but you do need to keep that..

[garyd1961]

Mine is in no way a show truck but what I did was to give everything a good scrubbing while I had the motor out. Then I rattle canned the inner fenders and anything else that was black. I made up new wires for the starter and alternator and anything else on the engine. I ran the wires together and hid them where possible. As you can see my brackets on my motor are not factory. I just used what I had on hand and made them work. I also rattle canned the motor and clear coated the intake. I ran my spark plug wires low and made brackets to hold them off the headers. I ran my wires for my 6AL box through the firewall and mounted the box under the dash. I have two power steering belts but it was not planed. I noticed I had an extra pulley so instead of leaving one pulley bare looking like I was missing a belt I just ran two belts. Since these trucks were known for breaking motor mounts I added two short chains for just in case. That's about it for what I did.
ETA, I forgot to say I installed a new heater core and hoses since this picture.

[crm318]

Here is a shot of my engine bay.

[edhtrd71]

This is an old picture of my truck shortly before I switched over to an ls1. I am with you 100% on getting rid of the stuff you don't need. I love to have lots of room to work and nothing i don't need in the way.

[BossHogg69]

just a fuel line, heater hoses, a/c hoses, pcv hose and a hose from carb to distributor for vacuum adv. Not sure I'd pass emissions though

AcampoDave - what kind of paint did you use on your engine? That looks good! Is it rattle can or mixed & shot out of a sho nuff spray gun?

[jasonroman]

Originally Posted by edhtrd71

This is an old picture of my truck shortly before I switched over to an ls1. I am with you 100% on getting rid of the stuff you don't need. I love to have lots of room to work and nothing i don't need in the way.

this is what id like mine to look like. let me know when your headed to jersey,
ill buy beer!!!

[edhtrd71]

Originally Posted by jasonroman

this is what id like mine to look like. let me know when your headed to jersey,
ill buy beer!!!

Lol. Sounds great if I ever make it that far north I'll take you up on it. It does make it so much easier to work on. You really don't have to buy fancy parts to make an engine compartment look good. Just get rid of what you don't need, organize everything else and hide what you can. This is what it now looks like.

[65truckowner]

[AcampoDave]

It's a Duplicolor spray can with a coat of their gloss clear on top. Thanks to TJ for the tip on the gloss clear. It really makes the paint shine.

[BossHogg69]

Originally Posted by AcampoDave

It's a Duplicolor spray can with a coat of their gloss clear on top. Thanks to TJ for the tip on the gloss clear. It really makes the paint shine.

The clear must have threw me off then, because that looked much more glossy and deeper than the typical rattle can job.

[Zeroman]

Not an 85, but you get the idea.....

[jasonroman]

is it possible to do without buying new intake manifold and carb>>>???

can i just clean up what i have now. pretty sure if i take out all the crap it will be a lot easier to do things. like valve cover gaskets, tune ups etc. right now i have about 100 things in the way

[AcampoDave]

Originally Posted by jasonroman

is it possible to do without buying new intake manifold and carb>>>???

can i just clean up what i have now. pretty sure if i take out all the crap it will be a lot easier to do things. like valve cover gaskets, tune ups etc. right now i have about 100 things in the way

Some of it yes, but not all. I'd start with the crapola on the air filter housing and ditch the smog pump. Remember that your motor is tuned to run with all that garbage in place, so proceed slowly. Dump one item at a time so that if you do something that has an adverse effect, you'll be able to correct your course without wondering what the culprit was.

[hayhauler71]

All cleaned up

[dave`12]

Not as nice as these, but it's all mine Not a good picture, but plastic looming for all the wires and some rattlecans (after cleaning) goes a long way. Painting the exhaust manifolds with header paint sets them off nicely as well. Armor All on the hoses also works well. Emory cloth (or fine grit sandpaper) works on unpainted metal such as brake lines.

And everyone loves a shiny air cleaner!

As far as all the emission stuff; I had a 1975 Monza and filled a trash can with all kinds of junk (airpump etc.) and just plugged the resulting holes and it ran great but I would be very careful if I were you. My Monza was simpler than your truck, had no computer etc.

At the very least, I would take pics before and after and keep the stuff you remove incase (as stated above) you need it later (perhaps they reinstate emission requirements, or it messes you up). As an aside, some of that stuff can even be sold down the line to those who are looking for a restoration to factory on a truck that was modified.