What do I need to keep?

quicktsi

Registered User
I have the car torn down for head gaskets. Let me give the car information to make your statements. This is going to be our sons first car and has been a dailey driver for us. It is not a show car.

What vacuum lines do I actually need to keep? This thing has like 10 miles of vacuum lines. I do not have any smog checks, visual or safety inspections in the area I live. I am also planning to remove the cats, and using some catless downtubes.

Do I really need the intercooler pipes to be secured? The upper one has 1 bolt and the lower has 2 bolts. I remember seeing people talk about removing these, but of course when I searched I could not find them. I am planning on removing the bolt locations from the pipes and removing the brackets from the motor.

I am planning to remove the brackets the from the heater core lines that attach to the exhaust manifolds. I also plan to remove the hoist location from the passenger side exhaust manifold.

My motivation for this is to make it easier to work on in the future.
 
I have the car torn down for head gaskets. Let me give the car information to make your statements. This is going to be our sons first car and has been a dailey driver for us. It is not a show car.

What vacuum lines do I actually need to keep? This thing has like 10 miles of vacuum lines. I do not have any smog checks, visual or safety inspections in the area I live. I am also planning to remove the cats, and using some catless downtubes.

Do I really need the intercooler pipes to be secured? The upper one has 1 bolt and the lower has 2 bolts. I remember seeing people talk about removing these, but of course when I searched I could not find them. I am planning on removing the bolt locations from the pipes and removing the brackets from the motor.

I am planning to remove the brackets the from the heater core lines that attach to the exhaust manifolds. I also plan to remove the hoist location from the passenger side exhaust manifold.

My motivation for this is to make it easier to work on in the future.

Since I assume reliabilty is the key factor with this car, I make the following recommendations:

Keep all the vacuum lines, and make sure they're in good condition and properly connected. Vacuum leaks are a leading source of problems with these cars, and trying to bypass/disconnect any may cause drivability or check engine light issues.

Removing the cats is a good idea but the exhaust note may sound raspy afterwards. Others can tell you their experiences.

You can remove the bolts from the intercooler pipes. Personally, I wouldn't/don't. They're secured for a reason. Without the intermediate attachment points, the entire weight of the intercooler and piping is hanging by the couplers at the engine. However, many (most?) here remove theirs.

I always re-install the heater hose bracket. Seems that the extra support may prevent breaking the heater core nipples due to vibration/fatigue. Since changing a heater core requires removal of the entire dash, I think it's worth the trouble to keep the bracket for a little insurance.

It shouldn't cause any problems to remove the RH engine hoist bracket.

Cheers,

JD
 
I just got mine all back together after headgaskets... I left off the hoist bracket on the manifold, and that bracket that connects the middle section of the lower IC tube to the block. It wouldn't line up anymore anyway :rolleyes: ... As far as vacuum lines go, I just left all mine there. They all pretty much laid in the locations where they were connected, so when it went back together it was pretty easy to remember which ones went where.
 
Youll want to keep the one big stud for lower IC tube. Without it your tubes will come loose. You need to keep it secures somehow. Youll also want to keep all vaccuum hoses and EGR

I reccomend using arp head studs for a 2.8 chevy instead of teh factory bolts
 
I always have a box of un-needed bolts and brackets after I go thru a car. Nothing makes taking something off in the future easier, then when its not there !
 
Back
Top