Tom Keliher

I have been working on my car for the last 3 days, trying to get all the A.I.R. valves and hoses hooked up again. Now that I am due for a smog check, all that stuff has to be in place and working. I had to heat up the headers and bend the tubing for the A.I.R. valve on the passenger side, but I got it hooked up. What a PITA! Had to remove the diverter valve and dipstick to get it on, and then put all that stuff back and it was almost impossible to get the dipstick clamps aligned and connected again, but I did it.

The final PITA is getting the steel tubing and A.I.R. valve that goes from the diverter down to the cat's. It is a non flexible line and has multiple curves. I finally got it into place, and now the HUGE hassle has been getting to the nut on the back of the cylinder head where it has to bolt up to. I finally got the nut loose, and managed to get the tubing on the stud and the nut started. I had to stretch my fingers like the grinch to get it started. But now it is so tight I can no longer get a portion of my hand in there with the tubing in the way. I think I can get a flex head ratchet and socket down in there though, so I have to bring it home from work. What a PITA! Once it is all in place and tight, the final deal is to connect all the tubing to the cat's and then my car will be ready to take a smog test. Except I am waiting for some emissions hoses to come into the parts dept at local Chevy dealer to make it all factory original emissions equipment.

So, anyone else ever take off/re-install the passenger side A.I.R tubing that goes down to the cat's? What tool did you use to get down in there?

Black Missile

Is it a rather large sized nut like around 15mm or 16mm? If so, easiest way to access the nut is to remove the RH exhaust manifold and tighten it up from underneath like I did. You may have better results (hand room) using a smaller drive wrench like a 1/4 drive wrench/socket or just using a plain flat/long wrench.

Sounds like you may have cross-threaded the nut onto the stud slightly. As you may know, there are two 'grounding' straps that are secured by the nut. The 'flickering' lights you have been experiencing may be due to these grounding points not being fully secured and/or clean.

Goodluck!





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1989 Firebird GTA: black on black 5.7 liter (N10 dual exhaust) with T-tops and leather.

Mike89GTA

Yup, I know exactly what you're going through. Whoever designed that into the car should be shot in the head! They decided to put an AIR tube (which is highly inflexible), the computer harness, grounding straps, lots of other ^&%$^#@!@ I can't remember right now all on one bolt that is about 2 inches from the firewall and air conditioner. What I had to do was turn it a little bit from the top, crawl under car, turn it a little bit, then go back up to top, turn it a little bit, etc.. Eventually I got it tight but it came loose again of course. The whole process took hours.

Mike89GTA

BTW, it helps to be 6'7" and have long arms because it's easier to get to from underneath, still very hard to do. I think I used just a regular open ended 14mm/12mm wrench, or maybe it was the 13mm/15mm one. Can't remember.

Tom Keliher

Heh-heh, you guys cracked me up!

Yep, it is 14mm. No, nothing is stripped, I just can't fit my big hand in there any more with the AIR tubing flange in place on the stud. As for the flickering lights, that is one ground point I can eliminate, because the nut was tighter then hell, to get loose before I put the AIR tube into place.

I am pretty sure my flex head ratchet will get in there, since it can basically set a socket onto a nut in a 180* arc. Just wondering what other creative ideas people may have about doing it. I may have to resort to the "top of car/under the car" routine but I would rather not. Done that too many times already!

sparks383iroc

Do you have any ratchet wrenches (we call them dog bones). That's what I used when removing the A.I.R. tube when I installed my headers. Got mine at Sears.

Sparks a flyin'

Guest

If its the one that goes into the back of the RH head... its 9/16"... but anyway

Some moron at GM thought it would be funny to attach the world to a spot nobody can get to. Easiest way? Pull the friggen engine I have a flexhead ratchet with a bent handle on it that I use to get to it, and even then its no fun. FYI I have bent the living crap outa that tube, I stick a phillips screwdriver in the holt where the large nut is, and bend appropriately. Hasnt broken yet.

Pat Hall

iTrader: (31)

The only "innovative" tool I can add for suggestion is a cheap 9/16 or 14mm wrench that you don't care about. I stuck it in a bench vise and kept bending the wrench until I had the right angle to get a decent grip on the nut, and it still took forever. By the way, that air tubing is plenty flexible when you're pissed off!



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89RS w/350 TPI; 69RS/SS w/450 HP 350/Muncie 4-Speed "Too weird to live, too rare to die."

Tom Keliher

Just an update: The swivel head ratchet and socket did the trick!