Hey all, new user here.

I have a 66 Dynamic 88 that was manufactured in California. I live in Colorado so there isn’t any need for emissions. I’ve decided to remove the smog pump. Is there any tips or tricks I should be aware of?Or is there anything I should be concerned of because of the high altitude?

TYIA!!

 

I'm pretty interested in this as well. What does yours have under the hood? I have a '66 Toronado that has that same system installed and I'd sure like to remove it.

 

First, don't trash those parts. A lot of restorers are looking for them.
Second, the biggest issue is plugging the holes in the exhaust ports. People force tapered pipe plugs in these holes, but those are inverted flare fittings with straight threads that seal on the flare. Use proper inverted flare plugs.

 

Excellent info as always, thanks Joe.

Gosh, I can't believe people would want those things even as part of a restoration. So much extra parts that can fail on you and good luck finding replacements! I guess if you don't plan on using the car and just want to look at it, it would make sense and I suppose there are people out there like that.

 

The system on my 1970 Corvette still operates and hasn't required parts replacement. Once, when the belt broke, I noticed that the exhaust smelled just like a typical old car. When I replaced the belt, the exhaust became non-offensive again.

 

Oh mine still works too (at least as far as I know). It's just I look at it all the time and am just waiting for it to grenade on me.

 

I've seen plenty of older restorations with original smog pump installed, just no belt driving it. Not a bad way to go if you're looking for an original look without compromising function.

 

it has the 425 hi compression super rocket in it.

 

The A.I.R. system probably draws 0.5 HP from the engine. Other than improving access for servicing, there's no real benefit from removing it.

 

How about for drivability/reliability purposes? I understand that if the manifold bleed valve is malfunctioning it will cause the engine to backfire. Actually, it seems any failure in this system will cause backfiring. Also, the CSM says that if the relief valve isn't working correctly it can damage the exhaust system.

 

"Exhaust system damage" is from exploding the muffler on a backfire.

 

Cool car! Pretty interesting engine.......What's it got for a carburetor?

 

I have been seeing that the majority of people use brass inverted fittings, what is your thoughts on that? I grabbed some brass plugs and verified that the threads match. Would you also use some dope tape of something like that?

 

It came standard with the Rochester 2 barrel. Everyone’s telling me to upgrade it to a 4 barrel. Thoughts?

 

That is the main reason why I am removing it. When the spark plugs need to be changed, or fuel pump serviced, it would make it so much easier if that whole system wasn’t there. I have also removed the AC compressor which will allow me to remove that big heavy bracket in the front as well.

 

Would removing the AIR system cause this? To my understanding it just puts fresh air into the exhaust to help offset the emissions. Why would that cause backfires if it did?

 

Yeah that AC bracket is right in the way of the #2 spark plug on my Toro. It's pretty annoying. I welded up a homemade socket using a 3/4" nut and a cut off lawnmower plug socket to make it easier.

 

It’s annoying and extremely heavy haha! When I did the front end work on it, it made it a challenge to get the upper control arm off too!

 

I have decided to put the air pipes back on and plug the check valves on both sides. That is probably going to be the easiest way to remove the AIR system because then you wouldn’t need to get plugs that go into the head. I’ve got it all put back together for the most part, tomorrow I’m going to tune er up and hopefully she’ll be driving again! I’ll post some before and after pics tomorrow.

P.s. last time I was driving, the petcock fell out of the radiator, thankfully I got her home right before she really started to overheat. I got that fixed and it was leaking coolant from the water neck, so I figured that would be a good
time to do address that. As im pulling the bolts out of the intake, it stripped the threads out of the intake where the water neck goes. So I had to rip off all of the accessories, pull the intake off, re tap the threads and put everything back together.

 

The AIR system has the double function of allowing the intake charge to be leaned out a touch when you let off on the gas which helps prevent backfires from an incoming fuel mixture that's too rich. That's the point of the intake bleed valve. I can't see these components on your car in the pictures but they should be back by the distributor.

As an example, on the Toronado that doesn't have AIR, there's a dashpot on the throttle linkage that is connected to the manifold. When you let off on the gas, the throttle linkage hits the dashpot which opens and allows air into the manifold to prevent the rich mixture and backfiring. If you removed the AIR system, you'll have nothing to prevent the rich intake mixtures on deceleration.

Now, I have no idea how "severe" this problem is......it may cause you zero issues at all. I'm pretty interested in how this works out for you.

 

Not the greatest photo but this is what I have before I removed the system. The air system is to the left with the big silver canister.

 

Alright, I’ve got updates, the smog pump delete seems to be a success… ish… I have this valve that keeps blowing the vacuum cap off, maybe it’s not the right size? Anyways, with that capped off the car seems to run fine. I’m trying to get the carb dialed in because I’m sure it was never right to begin with.

 

This is what the system looks like pulled out. And for the valve, I just put a hose clamp on it which seems to be working just fine.

 

What’s interesting is prior to this job, during deacceleration, it would sputter out of the exhaust. Now, the sputter is gone, however, it’s gutless. You would pin it and it would throw you in the back seat. Now under heavy throttle, it’ll sputter and almost die. But it seems to drive it you baby the throttle.

 

I wish I knew more about this stuff so i don't know how much I can help with this. One of our best people on here, username CFair (Chris), removed his AIR system many years ago and he got his engine running great after some tweaking. I'll see if I can find the thread where he spoke about this. You could contact him and see what he's got to say about it.

 

This is the thread I was referring to:

https://classicoldsmobile.com/forums...1/#post1495530

 

Thanks for this! I had basically followed Chris’ instructions except I left the air pipes in the heads and vacuum capped the PCV valve that connects to the air hose that goes to the air pump. All I gotta do now is get the carb dialed in. After some research, I found that I shouldn’t be trying to tune via vacuum at the carb but at one of the vacuum ports on the intake.

 

I have a 500 Cadillac transplanted into a '87 Cutlass and it had an AIR pump system. I couldn't get rid of it as it was an integral part of the belt and pulley arrangement. The pump seized, the belt broke and the engine overheated blowing a head gasket and cracking the heads. Make sure the bearings are good on yours. No they don't take much power. Eventually I learned there's a pulley set with different offsets available (not cheap) that allows eliminating the pump.

 

This AIR system is independent with its own belt coming off of the crank and water pump pulley. I’m sorry to see that you had that catastrophic failure! Did you end up getting all of that fixed?

 

I had a spare set of heads but the ones that cracked were ported and had large BBC valves installed and it really hauled a**. I had to replace them with a stock set. Since then I've aquired another set of heads and I saved the valvetrain from the large valve pair. Eventualy I'llput it all back the way it was. Great engine BTW.