Disconnect Air Pump?
 

I had a shop do a tune/oil change in my 1979 SA. It has California emissions, and I was wondering about having them removed to get some more power, but decided against it. The shop did remove the belt that drives the air pump and plugged the intake from the air cleaner. It was explained that the pump creates backfiring of unburned fuel which could damage the muffler. I was wondering if any other SA owners have done this. Thanks for the help/advice and apologies if this has been covered elsewhere.

If you have the factory exhaust system, you must have a functional air pump for the exhaust system to be fully functional. You gain virtually no power by removing the belt for the air pump and risk damaging an exhaust system that's impossible to replace unless you are using an aftermarket exhaust.

Thank you very much. I'll be putting it back the way it was before I drive it again.