I contacted an extremely well known and reputable shop to change out my vacuum lines and they told me they could easily do it but would remove/disconnect all hoses that deal with emissions or are not necessary to simplify things. I am sure if I go down this route my car will not pass emissions if/when I go to sell it (Florida has no emissions) so that is a strike in that regards but is this something that is normally done when changing out the hoses?

The price quoted was only for 3 hours work which to me seems extremely quick. I would imagine it would take 3 hours to just disassemble and reassemble the motor without touching the hoses. Can this job be done that quickly and is this simplification reliable?

I would do the job myself but cannot find enough information on how to remove all the ancillary parts necessary to get the job done in the first place and this seems to be quite a time consuming endeavor which is why I am looking elsewhere.

 

Where there is no testing its common to simplify by removing emissions. If you've done it time and again 3 hours may be enough. It's also common NOT to mess with the vacuum lines unless you're having problems.

 

FWIW, I've done the vacuum job in two FD's and to replace ALL of them it's usually a day long process at least. There are a lot of things that should be done in conjunction with replacing the vacuum lines such as replacing the fuel pulsation dampener, repacking the injectors, new fuel lines, and possibly new oil nozzles and lines. But if you're going to do bare minimum, than the most time consuming part is trying not to break the nipples on the solenoids when you remove the old vacuum hose :P

Like said above, if you're not having issues, I probably wouldn't touch it either.

Matt

 

My car is in pristine condition (and I am not just saying that) with 30k miles. I had it inspected recently and they said I have a small vacuum leak under the manifold. I was going to address the lines as preventative maintenance and maybe hit a thing or two while in there. If this is something I should just avoid until things get worse I can do that as well and avoid the hassle. I figured this is like my other cars in that you fix something before it is an issue but seems this may not be the case here.

 

Even with only 30k, those factory rubber vacuum lines have been on there for over 20 years and exposed to a lot of heat. By now they're essentially baked on the plastic nipples of the various solenoids and check valves...which themselves have been aged and baked. Almost a certainty that when you go to remove them there will be some broken nipples and the need to replace that component. That's why if there's no issue, most leave them alone.
If you have a vacuum leak that's causing issues, it would make sense to change everything out with some quality silicone vacuum lines that aren't affected by age and heat like the OEM rubber stuff. That's your call. If the shop's only charging you 3 hours flat-rate for the job, seems pretty reasonable. Just don't be surprised if some check valves and solenoids end up needing replacement as well. And MrMatt named a few other things that make sense to address while you're in that deep.
As for removing emissions... to remove those components reduces the number of solenoids and needed vacuum lines by about half and certainly simplifies things. But that also requires an aftermarket ECU installation to avoid the Check Engine lights and other running issues. Sounds like you don't really drive it all that much, not looking toward performance mods and want to leave it as stock as possible. If that's accurate I would leave them and stay on the stock ECU.

 

Bigger question is how do you know the car has a vacuum leak? A vacuum leak doesn't mean a vacuum line - it can be a paper lower intake manifold gasket that's failing, injector seals that aren't sealing, etc.

On a stock or near-stock car I don't recommend doing anything with the rat's nest save for replacing any failed or loose fitting lines, especially the ones with the check valves in-line and ones going to the upper intake manifold.

A post throttle body vacuum leak typically manifests itself as a high idle.

Dale

 

I had the car inspected and they said there was a vacuum leak under the manifold. I am bringing it in soon to check this out myself. I have the same question as you had.