Removing smog equipment 1966

Hello everyone. I am looking to remove the smog equipment from my 1966 with 289. I saw a couple threads from 2005 here about how to plug the holes that will be in the manifold. But no real answers whether they need to be special material, etc. can I just screw a bolt in there? Any guidance, comments, tips or ideas are appreciated. Thank you!
 
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I know nothing about smog pumps and the like...but I do know that any pipe-type fitting(hose barb, etc) is going to be a NPT(national pipe thread) fitting. For things like intake manifolds they are usually 1/8, 1/4, or at most 3/8 depending on the size of the hose involved. In other words...bolt threads wont work, you will need NPT plugs, steel, brass or aluminum works for the intake manifold...but if plugging a hole like that on the exhaust manifold you want steel or iron
 
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I’m curious. Is this factory 1966 for a CA car? When did Ford put air pumps in all their cars?
I’d save any parts in case the CARB or EPA gets picky about old cars or someone wants to restore it.
I don’t know air injection did much without cats, but that’s enough to fail a visual inspection.
 
This is factory smog. It was an option in 1966 and became standard in 67 or 68. I primarily want to remove it to clean the engine up and make it easier to work on. I will be keeping the parts just since it was an option on the car I'll always have it just in case the time ever comes to sell. Some have told me I should see an increase in performance so I'm curious about that.
Thanks.
 
This is factory smog. It was an option in 1966 and became standard in 67 or 68. I primarily want to remove it to clean the engine up and make it easier to work on. I will be keeping the parts just since it was an option on the car I'll always have it just in case the time ever comes to sell. Some have told me I should see an increase in performance so I'm curious about that.
Thanks.
A high school friend’s 68 302 three speed coupe did not have more than a pvc and the dual port distributor. It sure looked like a stock 2bbl. That’s why I was wondering if it was a CA thing or a swapped engine, including the exhaust.
Anyway, got pics of the job or the car?
 
A high school friend’s 68 302 three speed coupe did not have more than a pvc and the dual port distributor. It sure looked like a stock 2bbl. That’s why I was wondering if it was a CA thing or a swapped engine, including the exhaust.
Anyway, got pics of the job or the car?
Hi All. So as it has been said, the smog equiptment was an option in 66/67 then sounds like it became standard in 1968. Not sure if that was CA only or all of the USA. Thanks for the comments and thoughts. Here are a couple pics plus a copy of section 12 in the Ford Shop Manual showing the complete Thermactor Exhaust System. For sure I will have to remove the valve covers to get those tiny nuts to loosen on the air manifold assembly.
 

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Don’t expect to achieve any additional power you can feel. That system affects the unburnt fuel in the exhaust stream, so post cylinder combustion. And, it been stated several times on many different Mustang forums, the Ford air pump uses almost no HP to run. Yes, it will clean it up, but then you’ll have just another striped engine compartment, like a lot of other cars. I think the original system looks cool, but I’m old!