Removing all emissions control/vacuum systems: Good or bad idea?

[Greg A-M]

Still plugging along on Pinkie, my '74 225 Duster.

I live in California and the car was, from what I can tell, a CA market car and it came with the full outfit of emissions control systems that new CA cars had to have in the 70's. Thing is now all these systems aren't needed anymore because the car is older than the cut off date for smog testing, 1975.

If I were to isolate all the old emissions control systems and remove them would I gain power and fuel economy? If I'm wrong and I remove them anyway will the car have a hard time running properly and have problems with pinging and the sort.

If this is a good idea, can you tell me the full extent of things I should remove? I don't want to end up pulling out stuff I actually need.

 

[kesteb]

I would, those 40 year old parts are most likely not working any longer anyway. What to remove? Look at pictures of older \6s and make yours look the same.

 

[emsvitil]

You want to keep the charcoal canister...........

 

[Greg A-M]

These questions mostly come from a place of not knowing anything about cars that were ever made to smog.

I've looked through a few of the other emissions control/EGR threads people have put up and I'm starting to draw my own conclusions as to what needs to go. The problem I'm really facing is figuring out what still works and what doesn't. A lot of the vacuum lines are disconnected and wiring is just hanging around without any lear indication of where it's supposed to go.

Now that I know a thing or two more I have another question:
If I'm not running an EGR (my car came to me with a cover plate and no EGR) and I'm not sure what kind of choke I'm running at this point (Also car came with no choke. I'm using a basic automatic choke run from the mount on the manifold) what should I be keeping/discarding relating to either of those? I still have the standard electronic distributor /w vacuum advance (ECU is a tad drippy but not too serious) and I don't whats-what when it comes to the wiring for it all? Should I start from the ground up or post some pictures and get pointed in what ever direction I need to start heading?

 

[jos51700]

Keep the vacuum advance.

 

[BillGrissom]

They can't expect people to maintain those vacuum emissions controls today, especially since parts aren't available, so good they don't require it. If you do want to keep some, I have most parts from a spare 74 slant engine (for my 64 someday), you are welcome to if you stop by on your next trip to Tahoe (PM). I recall testing the hot air diverter on the air cleaner and found it still actuates the flapper door and holds vacuum, plus the exhaust shroud and duct. That is a nice thing to keep to heat up the inlet air on cold mornings. If you ever get your engine to MPFI and electronic spark control (like I plan), that will get your emissions much lower than the 1974 design. There have been posts describing the complicated distributor vacuum advance controls in those years.

I wouldn't worry about EGR, since neither my 96 Voyager 2.4L or 2002 T&C 3.8L have EGR. The same engines used in cars did have EGR. The EPA classifies minivans as "trucks" so lesser emission and safety requirements. Makes no sense, so don't feel guilty getting better mileage and polluting less in a car than your neighbor in an F350 with an always-empty bed.