I have a 1978 King cobra and I'm looking to increase performance. I want to get rid of all of the emissions stuff like the smog pump and stuff like that. What all is there to remove and how do I remove it??
I don't have a lot of time right now, but it shouldn't be too hard to find or remove everything smog related. To answer your other questions really quick, for a price I would venture to say about 2-3k. Might even be a little high. And to add the 4 barrel should be as easy as removing the manifold/carb and replacing. Just don't go too big for the carb as these engines weren't really the most performance oriented. I'd say that maybe a 500 cfm would work well, 600 probably being the max. I'm sure someone else can chime in with more specific/better answers though....
Headers and dual exhaust. Also a relatively low buck fix is a "straight up' timing gear set . Many of the emission era 302s came from FoMoCo with the gear 4 degrees or so retarded.