I bought an '86 Z-28 last weekend and had some questions about the emissions.
When I bought it, the cats were already removed, and there was not even a belt on the AIR pump.
I removed the pump and I was going to remove the air tubes from the exhaust manifolds. Will
anything be effected at all by this or should I put the pump back on even though it was not running when I got it?
Thanks, any answers are appreciated

 

Take it all off, granted you don't have to worry about inspections. You will run into a couple of small issues though. If you are keeping the stock manifolds then you will have to plug the holes with pipe plugs on the manifolds. Also there are two pipes that run on the passenger side back of the motor, unless they have been removed. One goes from the passenger side valve cover area and connects to the divertor valve and goes back down to where the cat was. The other is a crossover pipe from the one AIR tube on the manifold to the other side. You should take these off if you can, they are held on with a small bracked on the back of the passenger side head. It is a 14mm nut and bolt. There is also some ground straps on this bolt so you will have to be careful to put them back. However, the problem is getting at this bolt. You will most likely have to rig up something using a 1/4 drive and break it loose. Best of luck.

 

Thank you for the reply.
You dont happen to know what size plugs I will need for the exhaust manifolds?
Also, when I remove the pipes that lead to the valve cover is there anything there that I will need to plug? I am at work now and going to try this when I get off, dont have pc to ask questions when get home so trying to think of them all now.