I have an 85 FB with a 2.8 SPFI engine. There is a molded vacuum hose unit that attaches to the intake manifold near the distributor. It is mostly plastic except for the rubber fittings and goes to the (1) PCV valve; (2) the charcoal canister i think and; (3) under the plenum and attaches near the throttle body. There is another split right before it attaches at the throttle body and this goes to some weird gizmo on or by the EGR valve. Does anyone know if this gizmo and extra split is unique to the 85 2.8 because every engine I have checked at the wreckers does not have this extra split??? Mine is shot and I need a new one but GM said they don't carry it anymore. HELP!

What is this extra gizmo?? what does it do, is it crucial??

any suggestions or information would be greatly appreciated.

eddie.

 

It's on my 87, if your talking about the Cold air induction tube (from air intake to valve cover). The splitter on the top intake goes to the brake booster and charcoal canister.

if you looking for this part and cant find it, you can find some heater hose thats small enough to fit inside. make sure you clamp it on the air induction in front of the t/b.


or you can be talking about that gizmo, i used to know the name of it, the vacuume line from it goes to the egr. I was going to replace it, and it was in stock at the parts store. it was on my 85 engine and is on my 87. the name of it is on the vacuum diagram i can't find anymore

 

is it the black tube in this pic inb/w the runners?

Its a big Square. Mine goes to the PVC. It also has a line that attachs to the egr. Another at the back of the engine that ties into to the brake booster, I think. The front part hooks to the plate that is on the top of your intake. Sorry i'm a bit rusty on this piece. But I had a engine fire about a year and a 1/2 ago and the dealer still had this piece. I took what was left of mine in to compare. The one they got for me was a Camaro. It fit my Firebird ok, but some thing was backwards and we had to fight with fitting it. I will try to find some more picks of it.

 

the wire looms make it a bit harder to see, but maybe this is the mystery line. In pic...It comes around the front of the runners. IT then does a 90 and that parallels the Egr lines. But it does not tie into the EGR lines. Its that thing that is melted and up in the air. Thats the other part of it. It just tied directly into the other larger charcoal canister line. Heck if I know what it does beyond emissions

 

here is another pic...this one you can see sarts on top of the runners where is attaches to the throttle body. then it goes to the back of the engine. It has the fitting that plus on int eh back of the engine,. then the pvc. Then there is a line that splits off and runs under teh runners on the drivers side and comes around the front of the engine and goes over to the egr fittings...

Can you see this at all in the pic I hope...

 

here is a close up of the EGR area now...

its hard to see, but this confirms that the one that comes around the front of the runners goes to the larger of the 2 charcoal lines. It does not look like it ties into the EGR like I originally thought

 

shadey mf, no i think we are talking about different things because the one I am talking about doesn't go to the brake booster. that is something different altogether. I will have to check the vacuum diagram though to see if the gizmo is on there because it will be easier if we can figure out its name.

redraif, that's it, that is the tube (part of it is visible anyway)!! The one that is just left of centre in the pic and runs next to the intake openings. another part of it goes the opposite way (from where it attaches to the intake) to the PCV valve just like you said. What year is your car though because it appears as though you do not have the last split. I have one more split where I drew the green circle (a "T" conection). This split then goes to the gizmo (no name for it yet) that is either on or by the EGR valve by the passenger valve cover.

Every one I have seen so far is like your without that split.

 

Mine is an 87. It definately does not have that T off that line in the front. But it does have a T at the back of the engine. does yours have the further back line that line that diverts off & wraps around the runners in a square and goes to the larger charcoal line? Maybe my line further back is the same as your futher to the front line. Does yours go to the larger charcoal canister line?

 

redraif, excellent pics (nice engine accents by the way!). In this one the gizmo which I don't think you have mounts on a bracket that (if I remember correctly) mounts to the EGR somewhere in the green circle. The hose that goes to it splits of the main one where the blue circle is.

You are also right about the third branch of this vacuum line setup that it goes to the charcoal canister and not the EGR. That is the way mine is too.

Still confused though.....

 

Now I'm stumped! I have no clue what it does... So this gizmo is shot, or your vacuum line to the gizmo is shot? If the vacuumline is shot there then I would just get some rubber vacuum hose that is a tight fir and either cut it down and replace the messed up section with the rubber hoses, or I would patch the section by putting teh rubber hoses over it like a band aid.

On the gizmo, I think you need a GM manual for your year. Or go to the dealer and have them look it up using the exploded diagram. Find out what it is. Then research what it did/does. HAve to find out what it is

 

No the gizmo and the line to it is fine (well, i assume the gizmo is fine but who knows considering i don't even know what it is). It it the part that attaches to the manifold around back that is shot and the segement that goes to the PCV valve.

The trick is though that the split to this gizmo up front, it is all molded plastic, the "T" too. ANd it's glued as well so there is no sliding off tubes etc. So my old one is shot (as mentioned above) but the new one without the prevision for the split to this gizmo is molded plastic as well!

So unless I can figure something out, I could use the old one and have a vacuum leak or use the new one and not be able to use that gizmo.

 

Well a hack saw could cure that no T in the new one prob. Cut the T out of the old one and use some larger rubber/silicone hoses like a butt connector on each end and insert the gizmos line in. trick would be to get hoses that are stretchy enough to form a tight seal. You could probably use some pvc line glue for house pipes. Add some glue to the inside of the silicone hose before you add it to seal the line better. Silicone hoses would be best I think.

Seriously, I would go to the dealer. Look at the exploded view on the computer and get them to at least give you the name of this gizmo so we can figure out what it does. Someone has to have an 85 GM manual. If its not needed, then you can safely eliminate it. But vacuum leaks are always a problem! So You need to fix it somehow!

 

I think your "homemade" plan may be the way to go I guess, short of deleting the gizmo. I will definitely check out the dealer though to see what the heck it is.

thanks for all your efforts, greatly appreciated!!!

by the way, i found a pic after all. It is a crappy angle but you can see the extra hose and part of the infamous "gizmo".

 

Hmmmm. Tell you what, I go to the yards alot. Go ahead and give the conversion on the new one a try if the gizmo is important. I will keep my eyes peeled at the yards for this piece for you! Maybe we will get lucky and you won't have to have a rigged one for long. Or maybe the rigged one will do the trick! Also I will check with Hawks 3rd gen parts. We will be going up there in the next few weeks and I can see if he has one, now that I know what it actually is. I bet you would never be able to explain it well enough over the phone w/o pics.

 

Hey, thanks a lot redraif, I really appreciate your offer. That would be cool.

yeah, tell me about it. Back when I first went to GM I must have been there an hour and he still couldn't figure it out even with THEIR detailed pictures from what I was saying. He ended up coming out to the car and STILL had trouble. What is with this mysterious vacuum line set anyway??? hahahaha.

 

I still :hail: to the detail of raifs engine bay. Some day..........., mine will look that good.

 

Thanks Dale! I just did it bit by bit. It was the... each time something broke it got painted or polished before it got put back on the car. As you can see alot has been replaced or fixed since mid 1999!

 

1985 PCV hoses & lines are one year stand alone stuff.
I'd try 1985 V-8 stuff for lines, too.
ALSO 1985 FWD subjects, as they identical to f-body!