Race Engine Forum UK

Hello Gentlemen,

Now that I've got my integrale running correctly, many thanks to Mr. Croft and others for the help and advice, I would now like to remove 2 items that I believe are for emission purposes and 1 for vacuum control for air condition ducts ( I think ).

I have enclosed a couple of photographs of the said items. Can I safely remove these items without affecting the performance of the engine?

My reason for removing said items is to save a few ounces of weight from the car but most especially clean up the engine compartment of items that aren't necessary.

I should point out though that emission rules in my country are actually very lenient especially for a 1989 automobile and that my car does not have air conditioning.

Thanks in advance for your inputs and advices.

Manuel

You can certainly get rid of the EGR and blank off the EGR port on the inlet manifold..

G

Guy Croft wrote:You can certainly get rid of the EGR and blank off the EGR port on the inlet manifold..

G

Hi Mr. Croft,

I removed both parts on the top photograph. Although I don't have an EGR port on the intake manifold.

Next thing that I'd like to remove is the part on the lower photograph. I believe that it's the canister for the oil breather. I once read an article on the early Mitsubishi evolution lancers that they recommend disconnecting the hose from the breather into the intake hose so as the intake won't inhale any fumes from the breather. It's supposed to keep the throttle body and intercooler clean.

Do you suggest that I do the same on the integrale by just removing said canister and venting the breather to the atmosphere?

Manuel

I have heard of it being done for that exact reason, but from what I've read you have to ensure you do it correctly so as not to pressurise the crank case with boost pressure. I don't know the correct way sorry, but I know there is info on the Lancia Sport forum . I won't post a link as you can probably find more info by searching the forum, and it's against the rules.

If you do a google search for positive crankcase ventilation system its simple to understand how the system works. Its essential that you have a one way valve at the inlet manifold end of the system as otherwise you will be pressurising the crankcase etc.. One way valves can break causing excessive amounts of oil vapour to be pushed into the inlet system (i.e. pre turbo inlet pipe).

You can easily remove the vapour pipe from the inlet pipes (pre throttle or pre turbo). You will need to block off the pipe though as you don't want air from atmosphere being sucked in. If you run an Air flow meter (sometimes called MAF) and its placed before the vent pipe extra air would be entering the system unmonitored, and could cause your fueling to be leaned out. You can vent this pipe direct to atmosphere with a small breather filter, or alternatively run it to an oil catch tank - this will also indicate how well your engine is running. Some catch tank then have a filter at the top too.

NB: In the UK you should fail an MOT with an oil vapour system venting to atmosphere, not sure about your country.

PCV is rather essential in modern engines. First, it will pull out fumes and water vapor so your oil will not contaminate as quickly. Relying on natural ventilation will usually not work, since the whole engine and ventilation was designed with PCV in mind. You will have to redesign the entire ventilation system in order to be safe. Second, Turbo engines require a lot of ventilation, because the crank case is pressurized by blow by gasses much more than a naturally aspirated engine. Third, low crank case pressure helps your piston rings seal, it will give you more power. In extreme cases where you are working with dry sump engines, you can pump so much air out with the dry sump system that the "pumping losses" are greatly reduced, giving you an overall power gain just for that. You don't want to do the reverse and have a high pressure in your turbo engine while at boost. If your engine emits so much nasty stuff out of the crank case ventilation after the oil separator, you need to fix your engine, not block the outlet of the nasty stuff.

Many thanks for the advices gentlemen. I will not in any way be blocking the ventilation or pcv valve whatsoever. I actually plan to place a breather in place of the hose leading to the intake hose. The inlet on the intake hose will be plugged and a small K&N breather would be installed on top of the canister.

hybrid565 wrote:Many thanks for the advices gentlemen. I will not in any way be blocking the ventilation or pcv valve whatsoever. I actually plan to place a breather in place of the hose leading to the intake hose. The inlet on the intake hose will be plugged and a small K&N breather would be installed on top of the canister.

That will stop the PCV from functioning. PCV is not just a valve, it's a whole system. PCV requires your inlet to supply vacuum to the crank case. If you disconnect those 2 from each other, your are converting your engine ventilation system to "normal atmospheric" and it will not function properly.