I took off the emissions pump and all the immediate vacuum lines that came with it. Plugged a vacuum t that I left open and took off the plumbing the goes into the heads and capped off the threaded holes with 1/4 brass pipe ends. Now the engine idles poorly and is harder to start. I messed with the choke a bit and I think I just flooded it cause now I smell gas and it won't start at all

 

Proving once again that simply ripping off the emissions equipment DOESN'T always make the car run better...

For starters, exactly what vacuum lines did you remove? What else did you disconnect? You need to read the Chassis Service Manual and thoroughly understand how the CCC system works and what it does when you disable parts of it. One thing I can tell you from personal experience is that if you don't have the A.I.R. pump blowing air into the catalyst during closed loop operation, you run the risk of melting the cat matrix. The car will run acceptably with the A.I.R. pump disconnected, but you apparently have screwed up something else in the process. Without knowledge of exactly what you've done, all I can offer is that you need to trace every other connection and ensure it is correct.

 

Well the good news is I played with the choke a bit more and now the thing starts up like a champ from cold starts without having to touch the pedal as well as that it idles smooth when warmed up. I'll definitely look into the whole cat issue but honestly I live in Illinois and anything older than. 94 gets no inspection or emissions testing so I'm not really worried about screwing that up.

 

Understand, but if the matrix melts, it plugs the cat and the car won't run. Also, be aware that just because you don't have emissions testing, doesn't mean you don't need a cat. Here in VA, the state safety inspections every year are SUPPOSED to also check to see that the catalyst is in place. I won't pretend to say that this is done regularly, but why poke the bear? In my case, once I knocked the melted matrix out of the cat, I welded in a straight section of 2.5" pipe. I did this because a straight pipe will flow better than the disruption of the large cat housing. Now the inspector can look under the car and verify that the cat is in place.

Disclaimer: This is for off-road, test purposes only. Removing the cat is a violation of federal law, and I would never, NEVER advocate that...

 

You see I knew I was going to gain some useful knowledge from this thread one way or another. I figured I was going to eventually cut the cat and hollow it out but that pipe trick sounds even better! Thanks for the tip!

 

Just a thought. If you drive the car from one jurisdiction to another, you can find yourself subject to inspection even if the same car wouldn't normally be subject if it was licensed there. I know a few people from Montreal that drove their classic cars through Ontario and got pulled for a spot check. Even though they wouldn't need an annual if they lived there (and there isn't a regular check in QC) they were pulled on a clause in the law allowing it. During that road side check, the car must either appear stock (307 to 403 ... no problemo) or have had their mods inspected and certified. One wasn't. He got to enjoy taking his car back across the border on a flat bed. He got lucky ... it could have been impounded. Be careful.