Cleaning up engine bay?

[Turnburn720]

I saw a post on here a while back about which vacuum lines were unnecessary, I think by Gary Lewis? I can't find it now. I have a carbed 300 in a 1983 f150 with no AC, and want to get rid of all the unnecessary stuff, including vacuum lines and egr stuff. If anyone has a comprehensive list of what I need to do to get rid of all the egr on this particular engine I'd really appreciate it.

Tentatively, my list is to remove the egr valve and replace it with a blockoff plate, remove the air pump and belt, remove the charcoal canister, and cap all the vacuum lines associated with these items. Is this the correct course of action, or do I need to leave some of them and just jump them back to another component?

Thanks

[Machspeed]

Others can answer better than I, I think. I will say that I did this to my truck (351W HO) several years ago and while I don't regret it, there are probably some things that I would do a little differently now had I asked the questions you are. In my own defense, there was no WWW then....LOL! Regardless, these are things that I can overcome but still need to address today because I foolishly, not understanding purpose of components, removed some things that maybe I should have left. For example, I cannot park my truck in an enclosed space without smelling gas. That charcoal canister and related components has purpose! You're question is a good one and I expect you'll see some good responses. I'll be following.      

[Gary Lewis]

What I think you need in the way of vacuum systems is shown here: Documentation/Underhood/Vacuum Systems.  That's not to say that I'm advocating the removal of everything else.

As John said, removal of the vapor canister will bring the smell of gas.  And removal of the EGR will mean you should re-curve your distributor.  And if you have a computer then removal of anything will put the system in limp-home mode.

I don't think an '83 w/a 300 will have a computer, but you need to confirm that before you start.  Can you show us a pic of the distributor?  We'll be looking for the telltale TFI ignition module sticking off of it, and if there is one then you have a computer.  But if you don't and have a vacuum advance then you don't have.

[Turnburn720]

I have a lot of trouble uploading pics gary, but the distributor is a vacuum advance type; no computers in this tractor. I understand the charcoal canister thing, that makes a lot of sense.

[Gary Lewis]

On posting pics, have you read the info at Bullnose Forum/Forum FAQ's?  I need to update that 'cause it doesn't explain why so many people have trouble getting their pics oriented properly.  But basically that's because they didn't take them with the camera oriented properly and the forum doesn't auto-rotate them like many other apps do.

Anyway, if you have a vacuum advance you don't have a computer.  So you can remove things w/o the computer getting its knickers in a twist.