Has anybody deleted everything from a vortec 350?

L31MaxExpress said:

Actually you want to keep the trans cooler in the radiator. While It does help heat the fluid quicker, the trans temps will be more stable and it will run cooler than the external cooler only when you are really beating on the trans like towing uphill for 5 miles in 2nd gear at 4,500 rpm.

I have the L31 marine intake without EGR, Thorley Tri-Y headers, and aftermarket bullet race cats on my cammed, 200cc aluminum headed L31 in my Express van.

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I never did it myself. I just added one in line on a ‘13 Silverado because it was documented and that made it easier. However, I remember the debate between bypassing and in-line would get heated quickly on some threads! My whole point was supposed to be that GM engineers probably make a lot of decisions and designs based on regulations, cost, and physical constraints and not always on maximum performance.

These trucks come with massive mufflers and there are no shortages of people who swap over more aggressive exhaust. Even if the gains were debatable... sometimes we just wanna hear the v8 sing! Therefore, some mods, like silencer removals, are just for accoustics and appearance and nothing more.

Schurkey said:

When you have better insight than the engineers at GM, you can pull "everything" off the engine and maybe it'll run better.

Clearly you don't care about air pollution.

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There are some situations where I would agree to leave it as the engineers designed it. However, the engineers have to design to a broader appeal, marketing, and cost, all things that an individual owner does not need to concern himself with.

Jared Jackson said:

One thing that comes to mind is the Throttle Body Coolant Bypass for LS engines. My 5.3 engines in 04 and 05 had a coolant pipe that ran through the throttle body. This was, I think, to help in cold climates make sure the throttle plate did not stick. In Texas, it just made the throttle body hotter. So we bypassed it and capped the lines at the throttle body.

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I had a Bronco with a 302 that had a setup like that. A reasonable concept, but the coolant line fittings that attached to the TB weren’t serviceable and were subject to rust. The choice was either a bypass or a new TB.

Maybe GM did a better job of it.




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east302 said:

I had a Bronco with a 302 that had a setup like that. A reasonable concept, but the coolant line fittings that attached to the TB weren’t serviceable and were subject to rust. The choice was either a bypass or a new TB.

Maybe GM did a better job of it.

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Some Ford 302s had EGR AT the throttle body. That coolant line was there to cool down the EGR gasses, not to warm up the throttle body, that was just a side effect.

I plan on going with no cats when I get headers and do a custom exhaust. We don’t have emmissions here in Iowa so I won’t concern myself with it. If you want power then put headers on, get the heads worked (or buy different ones), maybe even do a cam, and maybe even get a better air filter. I think thats where more HP would come out. And you your getting it tuned anyway may as well do some other stuff.

Thanks again for the info.

After doing more research on this, I think that I will just leave it alone. Having a slightly simpler/cleaner engine bay hardly seems worth the cost and effort. Considering the fact that I use this truck to pull a camper in areas where the gas isn't always the best, and it seems like anything you do to this motor to get any decent gains would require you to run premium, I changed my mind. I have a WRX that needs premium. One is enough. This truck needs to just run on whatever gas is easy to get, and it sounds like the stock vortec 350 is about as good as it gets for that.

For what it's worth, when you get your tune from BB they will give you the choice to run it on regular. I removed the EGR when I did my truck. It was like $50 for the delete kit, which seems like a better option than bolting the original system with 200,*** miles back on a brand new engine, or pay a few hundred bucks for a new EGR system.

I have a custom exhaust with hi-flow cats and headers. A cam is a relatively easy power boost that you can add as well.

If you think that the motor is overly complicated, park your's next to a 2018 and pop the hoods on both...

toomanyhobbies said:

For what it's worth, when you get your tune from BB they will give you the choice to run it on regular. I removed the EGR when I did my truck. It was like $50 for the delete kit, which seems like a better option than bolting the original system with 200,*** miles back on a brand new engine, or pay a few hundred bucks for a new EGR system.

I have a custom exhaust with hi-flow cats and headers. A cam is a relatively easy power boost that you can add as well.

If you think that the motor is overly complicated, park your's next to a 2018 and pop the hoods on both...

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Except you can't tell, because the 2018 is one big plastic engine cover, lol. All you see is the cap to pour in the wiper fluid.

Only reason Vortec cats suck is because the piping to and from is so tiny. Other than that they really don't hurt anything, neither does evap whatsoever. In fact I just went out of my way to make my evap work properly by sourcing a vacuum only reference source since installing the blower. I actually have some spun C6 Corvette factory cats to put into my 1500 at some point. EGR can suck it. Yes it does lower cylinder pressures and therefore NOx, but at the expense of slamming the intake with crap. I personally observed no perceivable difference in mpg or performance by disabling via PCM, but my intake stays noticeably cleaner now so I call that a win. Emission controls aren't necessarily the devil, you just need to learn more about them.

Supercharged111 said:

Only reason Vortec cats suck is because the piping to and from is so tiny. Other than that they really don't hurt anything

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On my 3/4 ton, the piping is bigger, so that isn't a problem - correct?