[ed.]

Thread title basically, in my very limited experience the 3VZ-FE engine is the honey badger of engines, crazy nastyass 3VZ-FE don't care, 3VZ-FE don't give a shit.

But its owner does give a shit, at least about the EGR system. It might not care about inhaling its own fart gas, it just wants to internally combust and crank dat shaft, but if the EGR system can be disabled by simply disconnecting the two vacuum lines going to the throttle body, I'll need something to plug the nipples so that unfiltered air doesn't go inside the TB. What's something I can use besides tape since I really don't want bits of tape going into my engine?

 

[ed.]

ok scratch that...just realised I could just loop the lines to prevent any vacuum from opening the valves lol

 

[norm356]

You are correct.
Also, the auto parts store sells an assortment of rubber nipples to cap off things like that.

 

[ed.]

Jagshemash, great success! From what others have mentioned on other forums around egr deletes (e.g. ih8mud) the EGR valve should be hot, but not so hot as to burn your hand due to the exhaust gases it normally sends to the intake. 25km drive around the city, up and down highways and residential streets and got out, popped the bonnet and the EGR valve itself was cool enough to still let me touch it for more than a few seconds.

Yellow lines below are how I routed the hoses. I couldn't pull off the further hose from the modulator end as that one seemed to be stuck on very tight and I didn't want to risk snapping it, so I just used my fingernail to push the closer hose off the tube (you can see there's a gap allow you to get the leverage required to push the hose out). Pic below was shamelessly stolen from this thread; all I did was add the yellow lines showing how I looped the vacuum lines.

With no vacuum source the valve should stay closed, although now I'm wondering if it's possible for the exhaust pressure to be able to overcome that? Thinking of installing a blanking plate to be 100% sure but I've no idea how much pressure is required to open the valve.

edit: ok according to the factory manual it seems like if there's enough pressure in the exhaust, it'll open the modulator anyway. Damn and blast. Time to get a blanking plate.