after dealing with low vacuum and bad idle for the past couple hundred miles (haven't driven the car total more than 500 yet) i have decided to attempt to adjust the rockers, so far so good except for passenger side i needed to take egr valve off, noticed that it doesnt close at all.

would that be a good cause of my 13 in/hg of vacuum at idle?

i have a mig welder, could i get away with filling the hole (intake hole that the plunger *should* be inside) in the egr with metal and then reinstalling it and have no other major issues?

no emissions at my zip btw

or would a block off plate be better? ($ and gas to get)

 

take that egr off, that is a waste of metal that they put on a car, the only thing is it might throw a check engine light on at freeway speeds, but it doesn't affect driveability.
not to bash, but how is it that your car went 110 @ 14.6, it should of been more like 95mph or something right.....110mph you should be in 12's,

 

hehe, read the sig correctly its time@speed


could i get away with filling the egr valve with metal and putting it back on?
i'd hate to drive 10 miles to get a block off if i dont need it

 

got me with that one!!!! GOOD ONE!!! LOL

 

no, don't fill it with metal, get the block off plates, do it correctly

 

If you block it off you're going to need a new chip with it disabled. Otherwise the ECM expects it to be there and and set's the injector pulse width accordingly (it will effect drivability).

 

NO, EGR runs off of throttle body ported low pressure ( before the throttle plates.) To open the valve the engine has to be at part throttle. If the EGR valve is even slightly open it won't idle properly and most likely stall.

 

Umm, I respectively disagree with the "NO" part. It's true that it won't intentionally be open at idle, but it could be stuck open and causing your low vacuum. You can block it off temporarily and see if it fixes your idle problem.

 

I agree, but by experience I never been able to open the valve sightly without the engine stalling much less idle, doesn't mean it isn't possible.

I also agree with blocking it and remove all doubt. Probably easier to block than a stock TPI.

 

okay, i filled the egr with metal to see if it made a difference and nope, none at all. i'll get a block off plate in a few days, no sense in keeping a bad egr valve attached.

adjusting the valves didnt do much either so they were probably good to begin with

after emptying a few cans of wd-40, also the propane torch trick i still cannot find my leak, i've blocked every connection at the carb and soaked everywhere and no increase

i'll do a compression test and see if i have a few bad cylinders


i'm going to be willing to attribute my low vacuum to altitude, does anybody know if altitude affects vacuum as much as this??? i do live at 8300ft and at 5000ft it had 15 in/hg so i still think its a bit on the low side


fyi i've rescued this camaro from a friends garage where it was kept for 7 years and not started, i've rebuilt the carb already

 

block it off, i have had a block off plate on mine for 5 years now

 

Now that you'll eliminated the EG question, I feel better in answering the last.
Altitude: stock settings are good up to 6000ft.
I would suggest adjustment to the fuel/air mixture which will require an increase in timing, especially timing because there doesn't seem to be any intake leaks.) Just don't forget to undo if you move back below 6000ft.

 

well, i did advance the base timing a few degrees, i have it set at 0 as i read somewhere to advance 1 degree for every 1000 ft and its base spec is 8btdc

timing change didnt do a thing for vacuum, with the carb being CCC i can't really adjust the mixture at all except for at idle, a previous owner had drilled out the screw plugs and now they are accessible, i have them 7 turns out as per another post somewhere, nothing i have done has changed the vacuum very much

still haven't done the compression test yet, according to what i've read is to get the motor nice and warm then with the distributor +12v wire disconnected and it at WOT i check it, if it shows a low reading i can spray a lil oil in the cylinder and if it goes up in compression then its bad rings, if it doesnt go up its a bad head gasket?

 

For all you that say to remove the EGR, remember its a required emissions component, and its the only one the computer checks for. The EGR is only active when you're driving along the highway or freeway, not during wide open throttle or at idle. It will reduce combustion chamber temps, which will reduce the chance of knocking or pinging, and you will get better gas mileage with it too.

If the EGR valve is open at idle, and the engine still runs, you will notice the intake manifold get extremely hot.

 

Its will also run very rough.

EGR isn't a bad thing - it will improve your fuel mileage if its working correctly. Replace it with a properly working one, and you will improve mileage and have no SES light on. They do not hurt performance at all when working properly. You won't gain any power by losing it.

You said you dropped the timing to 0*? Why? Theres no need to adjust for altitude, as thats all controlled by the ECM with an L69 engine. Did you unhook the EST cable on the distributor when you made this adjustment? You have to, to do it properly.

I'd suggest setting it back to about 8* initial, plug the EST back in, and install a properly working EGR (and if blocking it made no difference with yours, yours probably works fine - just get a gasket). I bet it will clean up after that.

 

okay, i'll turn the timing back to 8btdc, yes i finally found the cable to disconnect to set the timing as i had a long thread about that before, note that its not the 4 pack that plugs into the cap, its on the side.

yes my manifold did get noticeably hotter near the egr at idle, as i was adjusting the driver side rockers at idle (i redid the entire motor later correctly!) i went to remove the passenger side valve cover and the back top bolt was fairly hot to the touch while the rest (even next to exhaust manifold) were still mildly warm

i still have that electrical device that the vacuum hose plugs into connected to the ecm, i could very easily redo my egr system with the exception of the vacuum hose that runs to my exhaust manifold butterfly valve, not sure where that one connects and no vacuum diagram has it


my computer doesnt recognize the egr system and hasn't thrown a code yet (except the check engine light but that was me forgetting to plug O2 back in)

btw so its covered, yes i have given the motor a complete tune up cap rotor plugs wires oil coolant timing

i even ran 5 quarts of diesel fuel through the motor for 3 minutes inbetween the oil change to cleanup gunk that might have been inside the motor

 

double post

 

I think you should look at what I did for my TPI, but your running a carb. So leave the sensor that checks the heat for the EGR attached, just don't allow any vacuum go to it, or let the solenoid be connected to vacuum, so none will go to the solenoid or to the EGR, but the computer will think its still attached, and working, since the old school O2 sensors can't tell Nirtates. You won't need that for emissions, if you passed the last time with your car, it shouldn't need to be tested ever again. Go to my site and check it out.

www.cardomain.com/ride/471099