Help With EGR!

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ivanogburn

Well-known member
Joined
Jun 18, 2007
Messages
53
So I find I am stuck with a underpowered 1973+ Lincoln 460 that has EGR pollution crap stuck on. :mad:

My question is this, is there a way to remove the EGR and still have the engine run properly?

It was suggested that all I needed to do is replace the stock intake with a non-EGR intake (ex. Eldebrock Performer #7166) and I would guess plug the exhaust line coming from the engine to the EGR valve and that would get rid off that crud and the engine would work fine.

That sounds way too simple. Will that actually work? And if so what will it do to the engine's performance and life?

The engine isn't what I thought it was, nor what I paid for, but its all I have (for now) and I really don't want to screw it up or spend mucho-bucks messing with it, only to get an ounce of performance upgrade. ((yea - I am cheap! :D))

I am looking for old fashioned experienced advice here - and you are the guys to go to.
 
My experience is that you can eliminate the Exhaust Gas Recirculation (EGR) with no adverse or ill effects. Just change the intake manifold and plug the line leading from the exhaust manifold as someone else has previously suggested to you. It's that easy. In some cases, you can use a block off plate on the intake manifold instead of replacing it. The performance gains realized would come from the installation of the Performer intake manifold and not from the removal of the EGR itself in my opinion. Do you plan on changing the carb too? If so, I would suggest a matching Edelbrock carb.
 
I have removed EGRs from many small blocks as well as a few Olds and Pontiac engines without any trouble at all. The good thing was that it was all contained in the intake and tapped off the crossover. I usually changed the intake but on one of the Olds, I just used a block off plate.
I would just trace the vacumn line back to where ever it comes from and plug the source. I cant remember if the line passes through a temp controlled thingy on the manifold or what but if it passes through one of them thingys in the coolant passage, pull that and plug it too just because they are ugly.
 
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Eliminating the EGR is no big deal. But if you think it's going to gain you any noticeable power, you'll be disappointed. The main problems with engines of this era are low compression, terrible cams (and cam timing) crappy heads and poor ignition advance. You can work the heads or better yet, get some earlier ones. The 429 CJ heads came on more than just the 429 CJs. I once found a set on a '74 460 Ford police engine. They had the correct CJ casting number, the giant ports, the bigger valves, factory guide plates and all.
Anyhow, even with the heads you have, with some work, a good cam, induction and exhaust followed with proper tuning, you'll have a bona fide ground-pounder with torque to spare.
 
i've been spending some time researching this since i bought my corvette, never really knew how it worked before. The funny thing is, the only thing you might really gain by eliminating the egr is less weight. The only time it's really active is part throttle. It dosn't do anything during wide open throttle, so it dosn't really affect performance. Oh wait, one more benefit of removing it, it's ugly, would pretty up your engine. :p
 
i've been spending some time researching this since i bought my corvette, never really knew how it worked before. The funny thing is, the only thing you might really gain by eliminating the egr is less weight. The only time it's really active is part throttle. It dosn't do anything during wide open throttle, so it dosn't really affect performance. Oh wait, one more benefit of removing it, it's ugly, would pretty up your engine. :p
Actually, it has some benefit in a stock engine. Besides helping it to run a bit cleaner, it actually aids combustion efficiency. But once you install a cam with a bit more overlap, you've made it's function redundant as the overlap accomplishes the same thing. Case in point, since you're a Vette guy. The '96 LT4 Corvette engine, which was just an upgrade of the LT1, did not have an EGR from the factory, Reason? A bit more overlap in it's cam profile which allowed it to meet emissions standards w/o an EGR.
 

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