86IROC112

Check out this picture. Looks like all of these are ground wires, including the braided ground wire that screws into the firewall above the right side valve cover. they have these all tied together and attached to one of the AIR tubes that I think go to the CAT.?? I would think this is a terrible ground. (The clamp used to attach it to the tube is loose too)


Is this where the factory originally grounded these wires? I am wondering if some of these go to the distributor and could be a possible cause of my rough, crappy idle..?

92RS_Ttop

iTrader: (3)

That's not from the factory. The factory ground setup has those wires and the braided strap bolted to the back of the cylinder head. The other side of the braided strap then goes to a bolt screwed into the top of the frame rail. A poor ground for the engine will definitely cause idling and driveability problems.

86IROC112

Frame rail? Is that on the other side of the firewall? I thought that braided strap was bolted to the firewall?

sofakingdom

iTrader: (1)

Some cars had the ground strap going to a screw on the firewall; some had it going to the horizontal "frame" thing at the bottom of the strut tower, below the exhaust. Both are equally effective and all that; they probably just chose the one or the other depending on which was quicker and eeeeezier on the assembly line.

86IROC112

OK, I figured it out. Originally these wires were bolted to the head with a stud then the AIR tube was secured to the end of the stud. The PO never bothered to re-attach the cluster to the head. = very bad ground! I will bolt these wires back to the head and cross my fingers.


On another note, I am getting rid of the smog pump and all of the AIR components and would like to get this AIR tube out of my engine compartment. I haven't gotten under the car yet but does this detach from the CAT or something so I can remove it? I don't even know where the one on the driver's side is??? PO must have removed it.

92RS_Ttop

iTrader: (3)

On my 92, I had to cut the tube off the cat. There was no other way to disconnect it.

86IROC112

How did you cap it off? Pinch it shut?

Ozz1967

iTrader: (4)

That's what I did to mine until I replaced it with a cat that didn't have one.

86IROC112

Anyone happen to know what those wires go to? Two black with a white stripe and one tan colored wire. All go into the large wire loom that runs along the firewall.

Ozz1967

iTrader: (4)

do you have any connectors on the distributor? Looks like it might be the distributor and tach wire from the small sample picture you gave.

92RS_Ttop

iTrader: (3)

Actually, I put a rubber hose cap over the end with a hose clamp. The mechanic who inspected it wasn't too happy with it and replaced the entire hose I cut off. He was a real jerk about emissions stuff.

I've long since replaced the entire exhaust setup with true duals to a pair of glasspacks and no cats. I've also switched mechanics to one that follows the actual state inspections regs(under which my camaro is exempt from emissions inspections), instead of blindly following the federal regs.

86IROC112

It didn't get too hot for rubber?

RBob

iTrader: (1)

Grounds for the ECM/sensors.

RBob.

86IROC112

Got them all bolted back to the head, nice and tight. Very little difference in my crappy idle...


Also replaced the fuel filter and O2 sensor. No diff...

92RS_Ttop

iTrader: (3)

I'm not really sure to be honest. I only drove it for a few days before getting it inspected. I didn't notice any problems with it though. The cat was hollowed out, so it probably didn't get as hot as a normal cat would.