Yup, I'm the new guy. Just bought a '79 924, and feel like I rescued a pure-bred from the pound. Old owner had it for a year and didn't take very good care of it. (Fortunately, doesn't seem like it was abused.) ANYWAY- I'm in the middle of swapping out all the belts, 3 V-Belts and the timing belt. Trying to get the A/C belt off has been a huge obstacle: loosened the bolts at the pivot point and on the tension bracket, the compressor is pushed all the way over to the "slack" side of the tension bracket, but I have less than a 1/4" of slack and can't get it over either pulley. Granted, I am not the sharpest mechanic in the shop, but I don't want to just yank on it until it comes off. Even if that works, I'm not sure I can but the new on on the same way. Am I missing something?

Second question: After scratching my head for the first week of ownership, I NOW realize that all that extra #$@%* in the front of my engine compartment is California emissions junk. (LOVELY!) Well, I don't live in California and I'd rather not have to A) Work around all that stuff of B) Remove and Reinstall it everytime I need to make any adjustments of repairs. What do I need to do to remove all of that (PERMANENTLY) without hurting performance. (Tell me it doesn't make a difference and I will get to work with my hack-saw!)

Thanks!