Quote:
Originally Posted by hatzie
I'd keep Cats, Charcoal can, PCV, EGR, and Thermostatic Air Cleaner on a TBI engine.
You can get free flowing non-stock cats that'll still do the job without playing havoc with the power output like the restrictive heavy GM pancakes.
The charcoal canister lets you burn the fuel off that would otherwise evaporate into the air and stink up the garage. It has no negative operational effects.
PCV keeps the crankcase under light vacuum. It recycles blowby gasses and evaporating condensation extending the oil life. The light vacuum also keeps old seals etc from leaking as soon as they would if it was just vented to the atmosphere.
EGR is used to slightly cut the combstion temps to decrease NOX. Why is that good for us? We can run cheap crappy fuel and the ECM will use EGR along with ESC to slightly control Detonation. If you kill off the EGR and ESC you'll need to run slightly higher octane fuel. Not the end of the world but something to be aware of.
That pretty Edelbrock or Mr Gasket or ... compact exposed pleat air filter is actually costing you power. It's intake is directly in the HOT air flow from the radiator fan. Performance folks driving everything from rice burners to Corvettes pay good money for cold air intakes. Why? Cold air has more Oxygen per cubic inch than warm air. The stock GM RV series, and CK series from 1986 back to about 1982 or 83, thermostatic air cleaner (Therm-AC) already has one cold air intake hose that connects to a water rejecting baffle on the RH side of the radiator to take in air from the grille that hasn't passed through the radiator. Some folks actually add a second hose connection to the air cleaner, a second cold air hose, and a radiator support passthrough baffle to the LH side of the engine bay. Very effective cheap CAI with plenty of airflow.
If the temps are above freezing the Thermostatic Air Cleaner (Therm-AC) valve stays in outside air mode so it has ZERO effect on summer performance. Why? It only activates below 35°F or so to keep the throttle blades from icing up and locking the throttle butterflys open or closed.
The Thermostatic Vacuum Switch in the intake or thermostat housing further limits the Therm-AC so it can only operate til the engine is up to operating temp.
On 86 and prior trucks the TVS also cuts vacuum to the Quadrajet secondaries til the engine is up to temp so you don't load up the combustion chambers and spark plugs with carbon.
Don't use the washable K&N etc air filters they look slick but they let way too much dirt through. FRAM, while not the best oil filter manufacturers, makes one of the best air filters available. Don't believe it? Have Blackstone or another lab run a Used Oil Analysis using the K&N for one full oil/filter change interval and a FRAM in the stock air housing for another oil change. Then compare the dissolved solids and silica numbers from one to the other. More of either is BAD.
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Man where do I start, all I can say is you are a GOD for the wealth of knowledge of these trucks that you have. Thanks for everything. Going along with what you said:
The exhaust is stock yet and I haven’t touched it, plans are to put a set of long tubes on and some true duels exiting out sorta below where the passenger side fuel door would be.”yes I’m hacking a hole in my mint box side”. For cats I haven’t decided to loose them completely or use some high flow version. Suggestions welcome!
I plan to keep the Pcv as of right now. The charcoal can I will possibly relocate because it’s just so dang ugly. I didn’t use the pretty air cleaner really for looks, more or less I’ve had them on almost every truck and my Chevelle and I honestly have roughly 10 brand new ones in the boxes yet.
The EGR I haven’t determined quite yet, some guys hate them and have some valid points to remove them. If they are true granted. I run premium fuel on every tank to start with so the crappy fuel point doesn’t matter to me but I didn’t know that to start with so thank you. With running a higher octane premium fuel, is there still a advantage to having that EGR valve or no????
One other question... I noticed when you wrote about deleting the egr you touched on killing the esc also. Will the esc work without the egr valve or do they get deleted sort of like a “package deal”? Or since I run higher octane anyway can I just delete both completely without a issue?