HELP Emissions system delete for 83 Malibu 305 sbc

69hurstolds

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Jan 2, 2006
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If you know HOW the CCC system works, you can bypass some of it, and get by. If you don't know how EVERYTHING AFFECTS EVERYTHING ELSE when disconnected, then you're going to screw it up when you just think you know what you're doing when deleting stuff. If you don't believe me, start in on it and then come back and tell us that your car doesn't run and you don't know what happened. But if you do it right, it's possible to live a normal, non-CCC life. But as mentioned, if your goal is to neaten it all up, it's all got to go. CCC is a messy life under the hood. Your engine is basically hooked up to a life monitor/pacemaker and other than corregated plastic tubing that hides some of it, your wires and vacuum hoses will look like a wad of spaghetti. Welcome to the 80s.

If you have a sniff test or even just a visual test where you live, you're bound to fail at one or both. Always keep it in mind. The previous comment about saving all the CCC is a great idea as well. So remove them via clips and plugs, etc., don't just rip and cut stuff out. You may HAVE to have that stuff again one day, and if you throw it out, it'll cost you 10 times as much to replace it if you ever need it again.

Also, as others have pointed out, you will at MINIMUM have to get rid of the carb and distributor system and swap it with the pre-CCC stuff. You can take out the CEL bulb and never worry about seeing codes again pretty easy as well.

It's ok if you don't know everything about the CCC system. Nobody does. But you can successfully regress into the 70s with the right skills and knowledge and get where you want to go with your project.
 
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Bonnewagon

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On the positive side, here is what I did. My 1983 Bonnewagon came with the Buick V-6, and T-350-C automatic transmission, and full CCC controls. That sucked so I pirated a recently rebuilt 1979 Pontiac Firebird 301 engine,and mated it to a Saginaw 4 speed manual transmission. Here in NY after 25 years you are exempt from emissions. While I waited a few years for that I yanked out ALL the CCC and emissions hardware. The CCC wiring was piggy-backed to the regular wiring, exited the engine bay through a big grommet located under the AC area. It ALL came out as one big rats nest. The '79 engine had EGR, which I retained, and no smog pump in '79, but the original 2 barrel I replaced with a Q-jet and the proper 301 4 barrel manifold. The distributor was stock 1979 HEI, w/vacuum advance. I even managed to get the OEM V-6 AC compressor to fit the 301 once I found the proper brackets. So all I really needed to do was to set up the Q-jet to 1979 Trans Am 301 manual trans specs which only required changing the jets and metering rods. Now it runs great, better than the V-6 ever did, I get 20mpg all day long. I'm not expecting you to get another engine, but like I said, underneath all the junk is just a regular engine. If you found a decent 305 pre-CCC carb and HEI distributor you would be golden.
 
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Clone TIE Pilot

Comic Book Super Hero
Aug 14, 2011
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Galaxy far far away
Keep in mind Qjets ars application specific carburetors, not a one size fits all like a Holley. Also some of the low emission gear is benefical, such as the EVAP system that kerps thd fuel systrm clean and prevents the gassy smell when parked. You can tell if a car doesn't have a cat by just the exhaust smell. Thermac helps the engine warm up faster, etc.

There are performance upgrades for the CCC system. Heated O2 sensors, swapping in a 87+ ECM, and the hot ZZ4 PROM chip which can handle hotter cams. Any header can be made to work with the CCC system as long as you weld on a O2 sensor bung.

Finally, deleting emissions is illegal in all 50 states under federal law.
 
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SwggMsthh

Not-quite-so-new-guy
Jun 11, 2022
26
22
3
If you know HOW the CCC system works, you can bypass some of it, and get by. If you don't know how EVERYTHING AFFECTS EVERYTHING ELSE when disconnected, then you're going to screw it up when you just think you know what you're doing when deleting stuff. If you don't believe me, start in on it and then come back and tell us that your car doesn't run and you don't know what happened. But if you do it right, it's possible to live a normal, non-CCC life. But as mentioned, if your goal is to neaten it all up, it's all got to go. CCC is a messy life under the hood. Your engine is basically hooked up to a life monitor/pacemaker and other than corregated plastic tubing that hides some of it, your wires and vacuum hoses will look like a wad of spaghetti. Welcome to the 80s.

If you have a sniff test or even just a visual test where you live, you're bound to fail at one or both. Always keep it in mind. The previous comment about saving all the CCC is a great idea as well. So remove them via clips and plugs, etc., don't just rip and cut stuff out. You may HAVE to have that stuff again one day, and if you throw it out, it'll cost you 10 times as much to replace it if you ever need it again.

Also, as others have pointed out, you will at MINIMUM have to get rid of the carb and distributor system and swap it with the pre-CCC stuff. You can take out the CEL bulb and never worry about seeing codes again pretty easy as well.

It's ok if you don't know everything about the CCC system. Nobody does. But you can successfully regress into the 70s with the right skills and knowledge and get where you want to go with your project.
Great info, thanks a lot!
 

69hurstolds

Geezer
Supporting Member
Jan 2, 2006
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Possessing and smoking marijuana is illegal in all 50 states under federal law, too. But if nobody's checking, nobody's landing in jail. You can mug and rob someone in Times Square in broad daylight and be right back out on the streets that evening, but you can't take off an EGR valve and block it? I doubt if many people that do it are worried much about it. I cannot prove it, but I believe that's why some states exempt a lot of older vehicles from emissions checks and similar since 1) they're a very small percentage of what's out there, and 2) I think they're too lazy or cheap to chase down the people in an '82 Citation in the local trailer park running around without a converter. Along with reducing the emission check lines.

Again, if you know what you're doing, you can rip out a CCC system and live a normal life. Q-jet, Holley, or whatever carb and ignition system you like. The ZZ4 prom only works for Chevy guys. Just a useless paperweight to me. Olds has no performance ECM mods.

I don't condone it, but I'm not stopping anyone if they want to remove the system. But if you do it, just do it right. I will always resist getting sucked into a "I partially removed my CCC system and my car won't run...what do I do?" discussion. I won't be throwing anyone a lifeline for that.
 
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g0thiac

G-Body Guru
Sep 6, 2020
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I will always resist getting sucked into a "I partially removed my CCC system and my car won't run...what do I do?" discussion. I won't be throwing anyone a lifeline for that.
That's why, I don't understand this.

People on this forum will encourage others to keep CCC, but no one is willing to explain to him or anyone else, how to do that and remove emissions.

So it's a double standard, we want to not do a half *ss job- but is that not exactly what we are telling him, by throwing in an aftermarket carb and distributor?

Teach a man to fish.

Because I tell you If I had someone help me learn, that system so I knew the working of it? Even as a millennial, who wouldn't have much practical use of that information- I still would be VERY grateful.
 
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g0thiac

G-Body Guru
Sep 6, 2020
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There are performance upgrades for the CCC system. Heated O2 sensors, swapping in a 87+ ECM, and the hot ZZ4 PROM chip which can handle hotter cams. Any header can be made to work with the CCC system as long as you weld on a O2 sensor bung.

Finally, deleting emissions is illegal in all 50 states under federal law.
This is the information, he would benefit from if he is to keep CCC.

Is there any ZZ4 on eBay for a reasonable cost also? That would be worth a look 😎🤘🤘🤘
 
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ELCAM

Royal Smart Person
Jun 19, 2021
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From my experience you will get no benefit other than cosmetic from doing this and likely it will run worse.

Many moons ago when I was starting out in this car hobby I would take a job where the customer brought a lot of stuff from the speed shop, I would take the job to install it all. Didn't take long to figure out it was a bad way to make a buck. If you were lucky they would be unimpressed, worse case they were pissed, all that money and no real return. After a few times I never took jobs like that again.

You still have the same crummy heads, low compression pistons and cam designed to work with all the junk you want to remove.

Best answer is get a 350 core and build it to the specifications you want.

If you insist on going this route expect to change the cam to see any benefit at all.
 
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69hurstolds

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Jan 2, 2006
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From my experience you will get no benefit other than cosmetic from doing this and likely it will run worse.
This. There's no way to tune a car exactly for every possible RPM unit. The CCC tries to do it, though. And can do it better than humans, for the most part.
 
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Bonnewagon

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My very first 'emissions' car was my 1981 Malibu wagon. Chevy 229 V-6, Saginaw 3 speed manual trans, no AC, almost a stripper. It was a POS that ran crappy, no guts, bad on gas, just terrible. The original owner bought it as a long distance commuter car and with 2:41 rear gears that was about all it was good for. But he did spring for full gauges so kudos for that. But it would NOT PASS EMISSIONS no matter what I did. And I did all the right stuff, tackling the CCC Dual-Jet carb, fixing all the emissions hardware, new CAT in place of the horrible pellet CAT, rebuilt and fixed the AIR system, I mean I did everything to get it to pass. Still failed. Finally I gave up and swapped in a 1976 Pontiac 350 2 barrel, mated to the 3 speed Saginaw, later a 4 speed Saginaw. With only EGR, HEI, the new CAT, and my custom jetting of the 2GC carb, the basturd PASSED! The inspectors couldn't believe it. I would take the carb apart and put some lean jets in for inspection, then after take them out and put the richer jets back in. A bit of work once a year but I was younger then. Here in Shitty City if they even look under the hood it is to see if an engine is there and not a squirrel in a cage. They concentrate on items they can bang you for monetarily, like tires, lights, brakes, etc.
 
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