Did Dealers remove SMOG?

[Mr70]

I know the 427 cid COPO cars were sold new with the SMOG equipment intact.
But did Don Yenko remove the SMOG equipment from his 427 cid Camaros/Novas/Chevelles before he sold them with his personal touch added?

[YENKO DEUCE REGISTRY]

I can only speak for the Yenko Novas, and to our knowledge there were no Yenko Novas that left Yenko (or any other participating dealers) without the smog equipment. All original Yenko Nova owners that I have spoken with, recall removing the smog equipment themselves.

It was more common for Yenko Chev. to not install something they were supposed to on the Novas, as opposed to removing something.
M

[Mr Yenko]

I don't know if this will help. But my brothers 70 LS-6 Chevelle was sold out of Scuncio Chevrolet.And the orig. owner told us that he ordered the Chevelle with fenderwell headers. When he picked up the car all the smog and exhaust manifolds were in the trunk.
Brian

[9566 BA]

Did all COPO chevelles in 69 come with smog pumps whether they were automatic or 4 speed? What if the car was being sent to Canada? Did Canadaian cars have to follow US emissions standards? Jeff

[Mr70]

9566 BA
Yes,all 69 COPO 427 cars did get smog from the factory regardless of trans.type.I do believe that Canada required it too.Although COPO Pete may enlighten us...

[Chevy454]

Where is Tedford...he could probably shed some light on this also.

[Mr70]

But my question is when restoring a Yenko prepared 427 1969 Super car today,do you include the Smog equipment on the engine?
Do we have survivor Yenko's out there who still have it on?

[Keith Tedford]

All three of the COPO Chevelles sold through Beare Motors had the smog pump. Nurse Chev-Olds in Whitby sold a COPO Camaro and it had the smog pump as well. I believe all solid lifter Chevies, small and big block, had the air pump in '69. I don't think it was legal for the dealer to remove the system. Of course, we pulled everything and put headers on the first chance we had. It would be interesting to see how much the A.I.R system actually hurt performance. The switch to headers gave a definite seat of the pants improvement. I think our smog laws pretty well followed in the foot steps of the American laws.
The Yenko Camaro that was tested for the July 1969 Super Stock and Drag Illustrated magazine had no AIR system but used a set of Doug Thorley headers. It ran 11.944 at 114mph on slicks. I guess that would be one car that came from the dealer less the AIR system.

[Edited by Keith Tedford (09-21-2001 at 04:15 PM).]

[bkhpah]

I have interviewed 4 original owners a 67, 68, and two 69's. All cars sold at Yenko and all had headers on at the time of purchase. This is most likley NOT the case on cars that were shipped via SPAN to other dealerships in the network. I am also fairly certain that not every car sold at Yenko would have had headers. The gentleman that owns the 67 had the headers removed by Yenko for the first PA inspection {at that time twice a year} when the car would not pass with headers. Yenko offered headers, you can bet some were sold with them. The cars that were sold as competition cars were. The race engine Yenko installed in my car were part of the deal...BKH

[Chevy454]

In one of our Camaro reference books (I can't remember if it was Hooper's or McNeish's) it states that all '69 cars came with smog, but that it had been rumored that possibly the low HP 396 Chevelles may have not had the smog...or something to that effect. I know our Camaro has the untapped manifolds, which I see occasionally, which makes me wonder if there was possibly more than 1 car that came without the smog. But, who knows?!

This is a very interesting topic. Did anyone have a chance to speak much with the gentleman that was the original owner of 2 Yenko Camaros? Maybe we need to pick his brain!!!!!

[Keith Tedford]

In '69 I don't think the L34 and L35 powered cars got the AIR pump. California may have been the exception. Back as far as '66 California L79 cars got the AIR pump.

[Belair62]

On a Claifornia side note....there were special emission requirements as early as 1961...no road draft tubes on Cali. cars ...Charlie or ??? how early did Cal. require emissions ?

[bbdon]

In 69, V8 Camaros and Novas had a air pump if they had a manual transmission, but they did not if they have an automatic. The reference books used at the smog check stations here in California erroneously state that the big block automatic cars have a thermal air cleaner. I used to have to put one on, along with a nox kit, to pass the smog test. My understanding is that the air pumps were on all of the cars sold in the US, not just California.

[JoeC]

Poking around in the books I see the carbs were different for w/o A.I.R. If you look through the Holley carb listings they show 1967 396 with or without A.I.R. Then in 1968 - 69 they do not specify with or without A.I.R. for the L78, L72 Holley. It looks like there was only one carb listed for the L72 which I believe is for A.I.R. On the 1969 Q-Jet listing the third digit of part number designates a w/o A.I.R. carb. My listing shows 396 325hp and 350hp Qjets had no A.I.R. in 69 but then in 1970 they list CA and non-CA for 49 state emission carbs. (The people in Cali just have to be different). I think the 49 state emission rule started in 69 and was also an option in 69 but my carb listing does not show it. I will post this question on some sites to see what they say. Also a fan belt listing should show a different part number for w/o A.I.R.

[L72COPO]

In December 1969 I purchased a new SS396, 325HP, M-20 and it had the AIR pump (which I promptly removed). My 69 Yenko Camaro had the original ext. manifolds when I purchased it. They were plugged and all other smog items were missing.
Sometime back I read a tech article (I believe it was in the Chevele Report published by Mark Meekins), that all manual transmission 1969 Chevrolet passenger cars had the AIR system. If memory serves me, this was done to counteract the emission out-put caused by the many different driving skills and techniques of manual transmission operators vs. automatic transmission drivers. In effect factory set shift points vs. operator shift points.

[Chevy454]

So, would an auto car be different? From reading the above, it seems everyone agrees the manual cars got the AIR pumps, but we are "iffy" on the auto cars...?

[L72COPO]

I believe the article went on to say that all solid lifter cars, manual and automatic, had the AIR system. Can't recall the "rule" for California built and sold cars.
My Camaro is a M-21.
Sorry for not including this in my original reply.
Thanks
Don Stowers

[Rowdy Rat]

A gentleman that I know had his Corvette at a local show back in March and brought much of the paper documentation for the car along with him. It seems that a previous owner had made inquiries to GM of Canada (it was originally a Canadian delivered L-88) about the possibility that it was delivered without the A.I.R. equipment. He received paperwork back from GM regarding Canadian specific options, in particular, an option called KD1 which allowed the buyer to delete the A.I.R. equipment (subject to local laws). It was listed as available for all passenger cars with the exception of Corvette.

I have no idea if this was a "paper option" or if people actually ordered it, but it is certainly worth researching.

Regards,

Stan Falenski

[Chevy454]

I was looking through our copy of "The COPO Connection", in the back of the book, where it shows the AMA specs for the ZL-1 & the L-72, it has a heading for the smog pump, but it also show an asterisk (*). When you refer to the footnote, it says "manual trans cars only".

So, is this something that was incorrectly printed due to lead time or...?

[Kurt S]

2 relevant posts from John Z from the CRG site:

Factory smog calibration in those days was simpler on automatics due to the relatively constant and progressive engine load conditions; with a manual, engine loads (and carb metering variations) varied widely, and A.I.R. was required to overcome the rich mixture "spikes" during acceleration and manual gear-changing. Same issue at idle - automatic cars were under an even, constant engine load, but manual cars weren't - that's why A.I.R. cars had retarded base timing, ported spark, and later advance curves - created a rich idle condition, which ensured there was enough unburned fuel in the exhaust gases at idle to "keep the afterburner lit" in the exhaust manifolds with the injected air to keep tailpipe HC numbers down at idle (this also created more heat and higher coolant temperatures at idle). That rich idle condition is why Gary had such a battle trying to pass the HC portion of the Delaware emissions test without the A.I.R. system in place and operating to burn off the excess hydrocarbons in the exhaust manifolds. Later on, catalytic converters simplified calibration somewhat, and even later computer-controlled closed-loop port fuel injection systems coupled with catalytic converters solved it entirely (at VERY high cost).

(The above) post applied to the SB issue; the big-block Camaros were a separate issue, and Jerry is quite correct that ALL big-block '69 Camaros (L34/35/78/89) had A.I.R. systems, regardless of transmission application. EPA emission certification was done not only by powertrain, but by carline application, vehicle weight, aero drag, and coast-down horsepower testing, which created many variables. Every different situation required full EPA certification, including 50,000-mile durability testing, and Chevrolet apparently decided that rather than go to the time and expense of developing and certifying eight different low-volume Camaro big-block combinations, they'd go with only four, that they knew would pass and certify with A.I.R. For the high-volume passenger cars, however (Impala/Caprice), which were built in Nine assembly plants at 7,500 per day (vs. only one plant of Camaros when you factor out the Firebirds at Norwood), it made sense to certify high-volume passenger car combinations as much as possible without the added per-unit cost of the A.I.R. system, so many full-size Impala/Caprice big-block applications were developed and certified WITHOUT the A.I.R. system. I had a brand-new '69 Caprice 2-door hardtop with the 427/THM400 combination, and it didn't have A.I.R. either. Full-size cars and Camaros were totally different certification situations.

[JoeC]

Welcome back Kurt...that's a great John Z post.

[Kurt S]

He's great! He is a nice guy, knows a lot, AND can communicate that info. http://www.yenko.net/ubb/smilies/images/icons/smile.gif

[KLONECO]

I AM NEW TO THIS SITE!BEEN ENJOYING A BUNCH OF CONVERSATIONS AND ARTICLES!!! I AM CURRENTLY DOING A 69 CHEVELLE "YENKO CLONE". TRYING TO GET AS CLOSE AS I CAN TO "ORIGINAL STYLE"!)AS I CAN. I WANT EXHAUST MANIFOLDS!! SICK OF HEADERS!!!!! BUT!......DO I SPEND THE MONEY FOR THE SMOG ROUTE? (I LIKE THE FACTORY LOOK) IF SO..IGNITION,CARBURATION, IS A FACTOR ?WHICH WAY? !(STARTING FRESH HERE) WANT GOOD SOLID PERFORMANCE, PUMP GAS AND BE FAST! /ubbthreads/images/icons/confused.gif OPINIONS WOULD BE INVITED HERE!(this will confuse them!!!) /ubbthreads/images/icons/confused.gif (for sure!!!!) TRAILER QUEENS ARE INVITED TOO!!!!!! /ubbthreads/images/icons/shocked.gif THANKS AL

[shor]

please no caps

[TimG]

I owned a 1969 Chevelle SS with a 325 horse 396 and M40. This car had 9900 miles in 1998 and had no smog pump or holes in the original exhaust manifolds. When this was researched I found that because of the closed element air cleaner and automatic transmission it was smog pump exempt. Also, a 12,000 69 Indy Pace car I owned had a 350/300 horse and automatic transmission. This was smog pump exempt and had no evidence of ever having a smog pump. Neither of these cars were delivered to California.

[Keith Tedford]

Just for interest sake, our 427 came with #68 jets on the primary side and #76 on the secondary side. There was fairly noticeable lean surge at 60 mph. 72 jets in the primaries made the car run much better. Removing the AIR pump didn't make any big difference to the performance. Adding headers and doing some tuning sure did. /ubbthreads/images/icons/laugh.gif

[KLONECO]

That helps!!!! /ubbthreads/images/icons/laugh.gif I guess I"ll just plugem!!!Push comes to shove I can advance to total tribute then!!!!
/ubbthreads/images/icons/grin.gif ( sorry for the mouse letters i just like perfection!!! (BIGGER BETTER MODE!) soorry /ubbthreads/images/icons/mad.gif AL

[Belair62]

Save your money....leave the smog off....leave the headers on if you want it to be a bit quicker.

[KLONECO]

WELL SPEED ISNT THE ISSUE! I MEAN YES! BUT........I HAVE A COUPLE CARS FOR THAT! PERIOD CORRECT "TRIBUTE " IS WHAT I WAS THINKIN!......(oops caps again)((**&^%$@! sooorrry) /ubbthreads/images/icons/confused.gif

(THE RIGHT "LOOK ") YA KNOW THANKS AL