De-smogging

[bjr34bass]

Forgive me, I'm from MI and now live in BFE AZ, so i'm not familiar with smog equipment except for what I've searched for here and I defintely don't need to have smog equipment....

I bought a k5 in CA that has some semblance of smog equipment. It's at least got the "dryer hose vent" running from the exhaust manifold to the intake. Can I just take that off? Cap it? Let it dangle? What else should I be looking for to remove? I read on here that the smog equipment doesn't make much difference, so I'll leave it all if that makes sense too. I figure I might as well remove the "dryer hose" to limit the hot air she's taking in. I've got a 88 w/ TBI. Also flowmaster dual exhaust which doesn't seem like it would be smog friendly anyway. Maybe that's why the registration was expired.

 

[79rustyk10]

The dryer tube just feeds warm air to the air cleaner on cold starts so it warms up faster. As for removing ****, just get rid of the catalytic converter and air pump if equipped. Anything else will cause issues. Honestly if it runs great, and there's no issues as is, I'd leave it.

 

[Mastiff]

My 83 was a spaghetti bowl of vacuum hoses, and I was glad to clean that junk up when it was no longer required. I don't think the TBI's were nearly as bad, bud I'd dump the AIR pump stuff, just for looks/clutter if nothing else. That's the little steel lines going into the exhaust manifolds. You can remove them and cap the manifolds. To get rid of the pump, I had to get a different belt, not sure about your exact situation. You could also get rid of EGR if you wanted, but most people don't think it's hurting much, and it may confuse the computer if it asks for it and nothing happens. Cat converter may be a horsepower drag if it's old and partially plugged. I just got rid of mine recently because I was at the pipe place for something else anyway. Charcoal canister is the other thing I can think of. It's not hurting anything, but you could lose it if you wanted to make the engine bay less cluttered.

Bottom line, I think, is that only the cat may be robbing any significant horsepower. The rest, IMO, is just a matter of getting rid of clutter. If that doesn't matter to you, I'd just leave it. You never know if you might have to move someplace that has inspections. FYI, AZ has a collector car thing you can do to get out of smog. There are some requirements, but basically you need to keep the truck in a garage and not use it for commuting.

 

[Burbdood 74]

The only thing robbing significant power is the A.I.R. pump. I'm not sure the catalytic converter is going to rob power by itself unless it's old and plugged up. Usually it's the whole exhaust instead of just the converter if said converter is in decent shape.

IMO, TBI needs all of the smog stuff to work properly except the A.I.R. pump. Taking off the other stuff starts messing with the computer and then you get into drivability issues and you'll get a SES light.

 

[4X4HIGH]

Keep in mind that just because you may not have emissions testing where you currently live the emissions is a FEDERAL mandated requirement and it is a FEDERAL crime to remove or disable ANY emissions related components.

 

[Mastiff]

Keep in mind that just because you may not have emissions testing where you currently live the emissions is a FEDERAL mandated requirement and it is a FEDERAL crime to remove or disable ANY emissions related components.

So the FBI is going to come sweep up every street rod owner in the country? They could just go to any car show or parade and get a few hundred people at a pop. Nobody shows a car with an AIR pump.

Arizona lets collector cars off the hook for emissions. Presumably this is because they know people want to tune for performance (or looks) and are planning to get rid of components. Personally, I'm not worried about the FBI.

 

[diesel4me]

I don't think they could build enough jails to hold all the people who disabled or deleted their emission controls!....it's too bad they make engines so they run worse sometimes without them though,due to cam profiles and computer management...you dont always gain as much as you think removing or disabling them..