Smog Pump Confusion

[Evil Joe]

Although I've thoroughly searched the forums, I am still confused about the purpose the smog pump. As far as a I understand, it basically has two purposes:

1.) Pumps air to converters to aid in oxidation.
2.) Pumps air directly to the exhaust manifold to also aid in oxidation.

It seems that in case #2 - the pump would have trouble pushing air into the manifold because of the high exhaust pressure.

Is this correct??



Finally, if I by-pass the pump, do I have to worry about plugging the heads? (What is the purpose of even plugging the heads?) Right now, I just removed (completely) the metal tube that goes from the H-pipe to the rubber connector. (My H-pipe does not have any converters nor is there is a boss/port for this tube.)

Is this okay or should I plug that hole in the rubber connector?

(I dont want to pull the whole smog system because I live in CA and I have to deal with the periodic smog checks...ugh!)