The Camaro Club (UK)

So having finally done my injectors, replaced the heater matrix, given it a service, got new tyres, fixed LOTS of small electrical gremlins and nearly finished the proper AC Delete I'm ready for the next challenge (I'm selectively ignoring the T-Top seals sat in the kitchen which need fitting at the moment....)

My car is ex-California so is covered in anti smog / air equipment which I want to remove. Before I start I wanted to check if anyone had done this and if there was anything I'm missing or any pitfalls!

It was a twin cat / exhaust car originally, but had the cats removed some time ago by a previous owner. It now has a open twin pipe system from the standard headers (!!) all the way back to the rear silencers (straight through type). The air has been re-connected into this, without the cats.

My theory is as follows:

1 - Get under-drive pulley set (not specifically linked, but if I've got to change the serpentine belt then I may as well do this too!) as per this item from Summit http://www.summitracing.com/int/parts/b ... del/camaro
2 - Order shorter serpentine belt - part number 935K6 (due to under-drive kit mentioned above, otherwise 968K6)
3 - Install under-drive kit and new belt, routing as per this article http://www.thirdgen.org/serpentine
4 - Remove air pump, now not used due to above
5 - Remove valve and all air pipes from top of engine and headers etc.
6 - Block holes in headers for now, buy new headers eventually (see below)
7 - Block / weld holes in exhaust (pipes which would have gone into the cats have been welded into current exhaust)
8 - Possible modified PROM, but not yet. Maybe this could be an Xmas pressie from the wife! (see below)

Have I missed anything? Some articles refer to re-programming the PROM (100mV loss to O2 sensors need compensating for when removing the air?) but most say it's not necessary. Any side effects I need to know about? I know it won't unleash loads of power, but it will release a little and save some weight and tidy up the engine bay etc. etc.

Also, my aftermarket exhaust system hooks into the standard headers which I assume haven't been modified. Does anyone know of any half decent headers which would replace this without further modification?

Sorry for the long post, hope it all makes sense. I have trawled the web, and this site, beforehand so hopefully I haven't asked anything which has already been answered. Sorry if I have!

Chuck all that rubbish away and save all the sensor worry by putting a Holley vac sec on it which is what I did with my 3rd gen, I also had straight through pipes but with two cherry bombs and they exited by the passenger side rear wheel. Oh how I miss charging round the local tescos car park with the exhaust vibrations setting off car alarms

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1997 30th Anniversary SS SLP
1993 GMC Typhoon

I have Hedman Street Headers.
http://www.summitracing.com/parts/hed-68470


Hedman Y pipe.
http://www.summitracing.com/parts/hed-17478

And this to couple it to my 3" Flowmaster exhaust.
http://www.summitracing.com/parts/flo-15925

Various kits for various tube diameters.

Sounds like a good plan I believe that it's a 1/4" npt fitting for the exhaust headers, i counted 6 of them when looking earlier today. So you should be able to buy some 1/4 npt threaded plugs until you get new headers in, to seal off the where the air pipes currently go into the header (planning on doing the same in a couple of weeks).

Another thing i came across is that there is a hot water hose that that is on the line that goes to / comes from the heater matrix and routes water through the throttle body. It's possible to direct this hose straight to the block, avoiding the routing across the the throttle body. Idea of having it is that it helps get warm air in the engine for cold days and i would guess emissions too, as it warms up the air as it travels through the intake. You may only release 1 or 2 hp, but a few less hoses and slightly tidier engine too.

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Did you notice much difference going from stock headers? I've heard a lot that on 2nd gens headers make a huge difference from the factory log - looking at the ones on the 3rd gen they appear to be a similar log style design to the 2nd gens, wonder if they make a good bit of difference?

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I got the car and dumped the original headers almost immediately,
I bought some Edelbrocks but they rusted through... ....and were small diameter tubes.

I think for the induction and heads I have these Hedmans are a must.

It´s a completely different motor too now, the stock headers were on a 305 I
now have a 355.

Thanks for all the info regarding headers, unfortunately I can't stretch to that at the moment but it'll come!

On the basis that no-one said they've had problems regarding the air removal, I'm going for it. Therefore I've just ordered 8 x 1/4 npt blanks (78camaro, there are two more hiding further back on the stock headers!) from ebay http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/AIRLIFT-ACCUA ... 2a456e589c which should blank off the 8 air holes in the stock headers. Cost about £15.

I've also decided to ignore the under-drive element for now, so I've ordered the 968K6 belt which cross references to current Dayco part 5060968 http://www.summitracing.com/int/parts/d ... /overview/ just in case anyone needs it. Cost $80 including shipping.

Finally I'll need to work out how to blank the exhaust air feed (which used to go into the cats) without a welder before I start.....Don't really want to resort to a coke can, exhaust gum and some jubilee clips if I can help it! May try and cut the pipes off, crush them, fold them over and stick a pop rivet through for now.....Neither option is ideal, but without a welder what do i do

Managed to do most of this over the weekend. Info as follows if needed!

Had to remove pump first as the replacement belt wouldn't route correctly with it still installed as it was in the way
Once removed (remove pipe at rear, remove pulley, then remove two torx mounting bolts and slide out the pump) the new belt fitted a treat following the new routing.
Removed air valve and hoses. This left one open metal pipe from the exhaust, and two open pipes from the headers
Test fired the car, ran fine with no warning lights on the dash. Let her warm up, seemed fine. Slight noise / blowing from two header pipes, slight noise / sucking from exhaust. Not too obvious though.
Removed air pipes from headers. Used copious amounts of WD40 first for a couple of days. Tight fit but managed to remove 7 of them fine with a 14mm spanner, last one had to be cut off then a socket could be used to remove the bolt.
Use 8 x blanks from ebay, copper 1/4" BSP flanged plugs to seal the holes in the headers. Think they should be 1/4" NPT but the BSP copper fittings I got had a wide top and were a nice tight fit so sealed perfectly. Item number 111497270835 if anyone needs it.
For now I used heater hose attached to the pipe from the exhaust and used a blank with a jubilee clip to seal it. Will do it properly at exhaust later with a welder (catalysts already removed), but looks OK for now and seals it up a treat.

Obviously new headers would work better, but that comes later and seems like I'll need to sort the O2 sensor out as well so will have to wait. But along with the A/C removal there is a lot more room in the engine bay and a lot of redundant bits / weight on the shed floor.

Cheers, Jon

Tip; do not install under drive pulley set, you lose charging and water circulation.

Glad to hear that you got it sorted! Have you noticed any issues / difference with engine idle or anything? I read that apparently by taking out the AIR, a sensor is removed which puts off the readings by 100mv or so, which then gives a slight false reading to the ECM. Don't know if this is true?

Thanks for the write up - i'll be doing this in a few weeks. Having swapped the plugs out on Sunday, found out what a huge PITA those pipes are as they seem to get in the way of everything. I've already removed the compressor pump and immediate connections, still got some rubber hose as well as the pipes to remove. Would like to go with aftermarket headers, that may be something for next year. Everything from the headers back is a new exhaust, so no connections in there to bung up from what i can see, which helps a bit in getting the job done.

Cheers!

Ray

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How to post pics: When writing a message, scroll down and use the "attach file" option. Where possible, a photo sharing service can be used such as Flickr, Imgur etc. The image location (usually ending in .jpg) can be copy and pasted between the ][ brackets that appear when you click the 'Img' button (you can find this button at the top of the message box).

How to post youtube vids: Click on the 'youtubeHD' button at the top of the message box and in the middle of the ][ brackets that just appeared, copy and paste everything from the youtube web address that appears after the = sign i.e if this is the url: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K2cNqaPSHv0 just copy "K2cNqaPSHv0").