Charcoal Canister connections

I have a Buick 350 in my '81 Grand Prix. I've stripped off all unnecessary emissions stuff but I kept a charcoal canister. The one I have is a junkyard 3-port out of a late 80's chevy truck. It has ports labeled PURGE, AIR CLEANER and TANK.

TANK is obvious... gas tank, and I already have that hooked up.
PURGE is just ported vacuum, right?
And AIR CLEANER - I don't have a port on my air cleaner for this. Can I just cap this?

Canister by bm11 posted Feb 23, 2024 at 1:13 PM

 

I would suggest some kind of vent instead of cap. Too much vacuum in canister might be a problem.

 

Correct - 1977 Buick 350. Reasons I kept it are #1, on the V6 there was a vent line from the gas tank to the charcoal canister, and keeping that intact seemed like a good idea. #2 (& this might seem silly) but it helps keep the stock look. I'm not trying to fool anybody but most people who look in my engine bay wouldn't know that there's a different motor in there.

 

You could just “fake” the vacuum lines if you wanted

 

I might do that.

 

I have a 2 port vacuum canister, #17075849 that I just hooked the 3/8 to the tank vent and the 5/16 to the air cleaner inside the filter. I don't recall what the canister is from, possibly a late 80's S-10. I know a lot of people with older cars, modified and unmodified that always have a fuel smell in the garage. I use a sealed cap with the canister and have no fuel smell.

 

IIRC, I think that’s how I have mine hooked up, I still have the original canister in place.
Geez my memory sucks!

 

I've got a '71 350 in my '85 regal and i kept the canister. prevented my tank building pressure and hissing at me like a stray cat.
one line to tank, one line to the big bowl vent tube on the front of my qjet. Works fine. I got a two port from the junkyard. make sure it doesn't pour coal out of it when tipped upside down, otherwise it'll suck it into the carb, especially if you accidentally overfill the tank.

 

Put an inline fuel filter in the line to the carburetor.

 

plus, i've always been told that if the coal comes out, it's a bad canister. something about the internal mesh/filter being gone, again from overfilling in the past. i dont really know firsthand, but it seems to have worked so far.

 

I never took a failed one apart, but I have rebuilt a few carburetors because they were full of charcoal.

 

I've restored a few of those canisters. Cut open the bottom, put in new filter cloth and charcoal, then glued the bottom back on. I used fish tank activated charcoal.

 

I found a 2-port at a local junkyard, but I forgot my tools so I'll go back and grab it. Also at same yard - 1976 Buick Regal w/ 350.

 

...where you live lol

 

near Pittsburgh