My heads have been sitting at the machine shop for a week:banghead: I could not get the pipes off the heads as they were rusted fast. The machine shop couldn't either and NOBODY CALLED ME. What did they think I would just forget about them?

 

Anyway... what are those pipes for? Are they vacuum or are they environmental? Can I do without them? I have to tell the machine shop how to proceed. They think they might bust something and then what?

 

EA81 1.8

Those are the air injection pipes - they supply fresh oxygen for the old style catalyst to function properly. If you put in a new aftermarket catalytic converter you won't need those pipes anymore. Since you do need the spacers to mate up to the exhaust you should just cut the pipe off with about 1" of it left sticking out - then hammer the pipe flat and run a weld bead across the flattened end.

 

GD

Thank you Thank you and Thank YOU.

You can also cut the pipe off near the nut going into the air suction plate and use a socket to get it off. Never lost that battle yet. New pipe isn't that hard to come by.

Neither is the coin to stick in behind the pipe and crank the nut back down on to block off the ASV system.

 

The reed valves in the system are prone to failure and then you get melted plastic blown into the air box. Just disable the system if you aren't required to have it.

I told the machine shop to cut the pipes and that I would weld them. This allowed them to do what they had to do the valve job. Here are some photos of the finished product, and more importantly the pipes that were cut off.

 

I must say I am a bit nervous about the important looking bits that will no longer connect to wherever they were connected to. I am solely dependent upon the A:A, B:B method of labeling. If this fails, I'll be like Hansel and Gretel after the birds ate the bread crumb trail.

 

Why do these brass valves look like vacuum junctions? I really need a big picture of what I can happily get rid of under the hood... starting with these connections.

After you weld that shut, it will be like they never existed.

 

Heres a photo of them on the heads:

Get rid of all the exess junk here (ignore the alternator bracket)

 

 

The connections at the top are connected to the air filter box by flexible hoses, so you will just have two open recievers on the air filter box; one on each side. You can plug these with vacum caps.

 

Heres how mine look welded shut:

 

 

 

And here is a shot where you can see one side of the air filter box, just make sure you have the vacum lines that go to each valve cover still attatched.

 

You don't need those valves - they are the Air Injection System. The whole idea was to inject fresh oxygen between the exhaust pulses for the catalyst to work more efficiently. The newer catalysts don't require this and if you put in a $50 ebay cat you won't need those valve or pipes or associated plumbing anymore.

 

GD

In that last picture - you need to block off the ports that went to the AIS reed valves. Those are open to the inside of the filter element so you can suck unfiltered air into your carb if you don't block them.

 

GD

OK... I'm sure I'll be consulting you guys in about a week when I put all this back together in a new way. Thanks. Stay tuned.

 

PS How can I get images inline with my post?