not really recommended just in case it ever has to come off to be worked on for whatever reason, but you could if you never in your life plan on taking that apart in case something breaks or needs to be replaced...and since no one can tell the future i'd say keep the connector. Plus saves you from screwing up somehow and possibly damaging the amazingly awesome feature of a vtec engine, what's a vtec engine without vtec lol a low compression LS engine basically (i know major differences in both but just saying from a general view)