My car doesnt need to pass anymore. Should I unplug the egr and take the cats off? Would it even make a noticeable difference in the 1/4?\




thx

 

idk if the EGR is the smogpump pulley. but i took mine off this week
the car always backfired when i rev'd my engine, cut the belt and it didnt backfire. i finally took out the pulley and put 1/2" pipe ends (i think, i can check tomorrow) where the 2 hoses went.
i havent had any problems at all, she's been driving better actually. but then again that could be because of the engine restore i gave her

 

If they are working properly, don't take them off. The EGR is improving your gas mileage, and the cats keep your car from stinking. You won't gain any power by removing them if they are working correctly, just have a bad smelling car and reduced fuel mileage.

 

GM spent a lot of money to get some pretty bright people to put together the complete system. unless you are running it on the track or at the strip and not driving it on the street, keep everything on, even the smog stuff. what little power it will cost you will keep the air that much cleaner for my grandkids, and yours when you get them.
the computer is designed to operate all that stuff and it generally needs the imput.
taking the cats off may violate fed law anyway.
if you have to run it smog system free once in a while, like at the strip, then spend a few bucks and have them do a chip for that. take the car in, put it on a dyno, and let them design a chip that will turn everything off and give you max horsepower. then use it at the strip. you can even have them do a max fuel mileage one for your daily comutes. that is the beauty of the computer system. you dont need to get under the hood, just drop the computer box, pull out the chip you dont want to use that day and put in the one you do and your ready to run like the wind.

 

There's more to that stuff than just "needing it to pass". Leave it on. Don't hack your car. EGR is a good thing anyway.

 

gosh I can't even count how many of my friends, friends parent, and other random people I've talked to that say the cat is garbage and to take it off. as for the EGR valve I only know a few people who think that is also junk. but then again it's not just the EGR it's the whole computer, their like me and love the old school basic motor. minimal wires, carbs no computers.

 

Ask them what they are basing their information on and see what they say. You want sources, hard facts, the science behind the issue. Anything else, smile, nod, and forget about it until you can do your own research.

Modern engines with their wires and computers are better in every way than engines of the past. With these advancements comes a degree of complexity. Imagine what all those blacksmiths/farriers were saying when people starting chugging around in those damn "horseless carriages"! Tell you what...they either learned to work on cars and became successful mechanics, or they died off. Takes true passion to stay on the cutting edge of a hobby. Anything else I think is just some form of laziness.

/end rant..sorry!

 

i go way back to when we would bore and stroke a 283 out to 317 and put 6 dueces on an edelbrock ram manifold. we ran flathead rails on hawthorne blvd, in hawthorne california. fuel injection was mechanical and you spent 5 or 6 hours with a vaccume tube with a floating ball in it getting the darn things tuned right.' with all that we got a few hours of running right and most of the night we had to listen to the darn injectors clicking.
carbs were just tbi without the computer monitored and more effected spray, rather than the gravity fall of the gas.
vaccume lines are not even close to a computer monitoring the engine and you can make that computer do what ever you want the engine to do, and it only take a couple of nice clean minutes to change it over. not hours cussing at the car.
been there, done that, computers are better.
its just that some of the old folks, and i used to be one of the, well im still old, dont understand what that little chip can do.
once you sit down with them and ask then to explain how they would do something manually, and you tell them all you have to do it hook your laptop up and do it in 3 minutes, they begin to learn. no banged nuckles is a good thing. no dirty hands is a good thing. spending more time driving it is better than spending more time fixing it.

 

You'll always get conflicting opinions online. What else could you expect. Why not test it both ways for yourself then you'll know the truth?

 

EGR does exactly nothing at WOT (unless its stuck open) so there is no performance gain in removing it.
AIR is the tubes that go into the exhaust manifolds. They're mostly annoying and worthless.
The cat, well... you're going to hear a lot of differing opinion on those. The factory ones are somewhat restrictive. Some of the aftermarket ones are better, but if you want to talk about the law its illegal to replace a functioning cat as well so I think on that one do what you want. Some people are also still living in the mid 70's when they came out, when the cat was VERY restrictive and ditching it could add 40HP easy. Its also possible to run clean without one in place, if your tune is right. So equating a missing cat to destroying the environment is silly if you ask that same person to inspect their belongings for items made in China that made a lot more pollution in production and transport than their missing catalytic converter car ever will.

 

How many people remove the cat and other emissions devices and then spend the time to tune the engine for max performance and clean emissions? Maybe one in a million?

The cat and the other emissions devices (including the computer) are there to compensate for an engine that isnt running 100% all the time. Its also a federal law that makes it illegal to remove them, even if you think your state doesnt care.

Replace your stock cat with an aftermarket cat, and you'll have all the power and all of the cleaner air as well.

 

have any of you replaced your factory chip with an aftermarket adjustable one? I've seen them online but I've never found anyone who has done it.

 

I removed ALL emissions equipment (EGR, AIR pump, purge canister, cat) whatsoever. I'm not saying it was the best idea but it does make the engine compartment considerably less cluttered and I haven't noticed any difference in gas mileage or performance.

 

Performance - right, there is nothing to be gained. Those systems aren't doing anything when you put your foot down. The cat is still there, but thats it.

Gas mileage - that can vary... some see a change, some will not. Age, wear, and general condition of the engine and vehicle can make a difference here too. A freshly rebuilt engine built and broken in properly runs much more efficiently than something with 150k miles on it. You may notice a difference with the the newer engine, and you may not with the worn out old engine. Driving style also makes a difference.