reed valve info

The bike is an '81 GPz1100, with the early FI. It has sat for 16 years or so, and so much needs to be done, I'm tearing it most of the way down. Most of the exterior (seat, instruments, tank, fender, yada, yada, yada,) is ruined so I'm toying with a mild custom job. Now, I've never had to work on this bike before, so I'm looking at new stuff. I'm tearing the FI apart right now, and am seriously considering swapping in a MegaSquirt engine controller, so the stupid airflow meter is going, along with everything else the bike doesn't need. So, here's my question- do I need to keep the air suction system? will deleting it hurt anything but emissions? Looking at the reed valve and cover, it looks like a simple block-off plate could be made out of stock aluminum. Anybody have an opinion?
Bruce

I've not tried this on an injected bike, but have removed the system from two carbureated bikes. I use a piece of 5/8" heater hose from one side to the other and remove all the valve, intake, etc.