Smog stuff cleanup and removal

Mark_vaughn · Post by **Mark_vaughn** » Thu Sep 21, 2006 8:28 pm

Hello All. I am trying to figure all this smog stuff out. What has to stay vs what can go. This could be a good reference for everyone not living in CA as well.

I am starting with the intake manifold. Below is a pic of mine. The thing on the top isn't connected to anything, so I am going to take it off. Anyone know what it was for?
The "Christmas Tree" as I have heard it called on the side was fully connected. I know the brake line still needs to be connected, but what about the rest? One goes to something to do with the fuel on the sidewall of the car (third picture down).
Under the carb there is a electical connection of some sort. A sender unit I guess. Is this important. Mine isnt connected now, and looks fairly trashed anyway. You can barely see it under the manifold in the first picture.

Alright now a few other questions. What is this thing? I think it is some type of vapor filter maybe. Is it nessesary or just taking up space? Mine is in the front/drivers corner.

This car is will never go back to it's original smog equipment, so if it isn't needed I would like to take out the clutter and simplify things.

If you have similar questions I encourage you to post pictures and lets learn together.

Thanks for everyone's contribution to the forum. It is a great resource for all us idiots out here!!

Mark

racydave · Post by **racydave** » Thu Sep 21, 2006 8:49 pm

The "vapor canister" is necessary to have functioning, its the crankcase ventilation, and keep good hoses on it or you will leak oil, or have it blow into air cleaner, mine did. If you have the two noisy AIR valves in eng valley on top I replaced with oil drain plugs with same threads (18mm?) from local hardware, good riddance! As for the rest, I replaced my intake and carb, so its all gone. Your gas tank vapor canister is in L/f of eng comp, and probably should be incorperated into air breather assbly if it is not. Make sure you have a vaccume source to the distributor vac advance unit, should have vac on warm eng at part or full throttle. Dave

bandit · Post by **bandit** » Thu Sep 21, 2006 11:14 pm

Hi Mark

On the canister it's a smog piece and you don't need it .
The Manifold sensor on top in picture #2 isn't needed
either .
By the looks of your manifold it's off an 1800 and you shouldn't
have Vac advance on the dizzy so the only hose or hoses running
off the manifold should be your Power brakes and if you have Vac
Advance on the carb >? if not just the brakes .

Daniel

spiderrey · Post by **spiderrey** » Thu Sep 21, 2006 11:27 pm

let me see if i can clarify this a little. the canister is technically a smog piece. i would leave it alone. it absorbs fuel vapors, which r then sucked into the carb and burned off. i would get rid of all the smog and leave this one piece. it dosent hurt performance.
the canister is not 4 crankcase ventilation, it wont leak oil. correct me if im wrong, but im pretty sure about this

So Cal Mark · Post by **So Cal Mark** » Fri Sep 22, 2006 1:13 am

Rey is right, the vapor cannister stores fuel vapors from the tank which are drawn into the manifold once the engine starts. It won't hurt performance and will help the environment; leave it attached. The vac/temp switch in pic 2 operates the egr valve. It goes into the water jacket so if you remove it, you'll have to plug the hole. Just leave it disconnected. Vacuum fittings won't hurt anything, just cap the ones you're not using. The power brake won't work without vacuum to it, so make sure that stays connected.

mbouse · Post by **mbouse** » Fri Sep 22, 2006 4:00 pm

the fittings that go into the water jacket side of the intake manifold should be checked for corrosion before disconnecting and ignoring.

i noticed on the '78 the other day while performing carb maintenance that the disconnected vacuum temperature switch was turning green. soon it will be time to remove that abandoned switch and plug the resulting hole before i start leaking coolant.

if they aren't corroding, and are not hooked up, leave 'em. Charcoal canister should remain on the system, no loss of power association.

I am surprised that no one else stated this....PLEASE DO NOT THROW THE DISCARDED EQUIPMENT AWAY. Our brothers and sisters in the Fiat community in smog regulated states need this no longer produced equipment. offer them up to the community.

So Cal Mark · Post by **So Cal Mark** » Fri Sep 22, 2006 5:57 pm

geez

, great suggestion, I went braindead for a few mintues I guess

Mark_vaughn · Post by **Mark_vaughn** » Fri Sep 22, 2006 9:17 pm

Anyone know what the third picture down is? It has something to do with the fuel/carb, but I don't know what. Says "Weber" on the front.

So Cal Mark · Post by **So Cal Mark** » Fri Sep 22, 2006 10:42 pm

Fiat called it an electrovalve, and as I recall it allowed vapor from the carb bowl to enter the cannister.

mbouse · Post by **mbouse** » Mon Sep 25, 2006 12:58 pm

So Cal Mark wrote:geez , great suggestion, I went braindead for a few mintues I guess

thought you were sleeping, so i pitched in for you.

send those unwanted emission parts to mark, everyone. he can find a home for them.

keep our brothers and sisters rollin'

Mark_vaughn · Post by **Mark_vaughn** » Mon Sep 25, 2006 1:08 pm

How about the air holes in the top here? Should I replace them with a regular bolt or something? Do they make any difference, or does someone need them?

mbouse · Post by **mbouse** » Mon Sep 25, 2006 1:10 pm

are those still sucking in air? they should be plugged. if you cannot find the exact thread size (which I hope someone has handy and can post) I believe that http://www.vickauto.com sells the plugs.

Mark_vaughn · Post by **Mark_vaughn** » Mon Sep 25, 2006 1:18 pm

Would they suck in air without the pump connected?

Off topic, Does Stainless Steel "weld" to Aluminum? Thinking SS bolts.

baggins987 · Post by **baggins987** » Mon Sep 25, 2006 1:39 pm

Steel bolts will experience galvanic corrosion when installed in aluminum (engineering degree comes in handy sometimes) and rust in place (is that what you mean by "weld"?). The solution to that is to use stainless steel hardware which will NOT have galvanic corrosion with aluminum.

HawaiianSpider · Post by **HawaiianSpider** » Mon Sep 25, 2006 7:10 pm

SS can cold weld to aluminum. The 304 alloy SS bolts (usually marked with 2 lines) are not as hard as your steel bolts and will stretch under tension (the 316 SS alloy is much harder but hard to come by). I've read that the 304 SS is safe for most auto applications except for high shear areas such as calipers and suspension. To remedy the cold weld problem in Aluminum, coat the SS bolts with a zinc-based anti-seize lubricant (the silver stuff).

As far as the air pump plugs, I believe what you need are M12x1.25x10mm cocket capscrews.

I'm currently involved in a similar project and am replacing my '79 head, intake, exhaust and carb with the 1800 head, single plane intake, Mark's headers and a 32ADF carb. [Many thanks to Mark who provided 80% of the parts that were required, including the intake, carb and headers] Your post was very timely as I wasn't too sure about the vacuum lines either. Thanks to all those who responded - sounds like the vacuum lines should be fairly straightforward.

Good luck with the project!
Mike