Nearly any engine will pop on deceleration with open pipes. Pre 1949 Ford products did it a lot because of the ignition advance system used. There was a time when some carbs (Holly I think, maybe Solex) had a vacuum controlled idle shut off valve to stop this. Most fuel injected engines read the manifold pressure (vacuum) and adjust the mixture so that popping is rare.
Removing the AI helps some by reducing the amount of fresh air in the exhaust system.
Larger pilot jets can reduce popping, but you might easily end up with an over rich mixture below 3500 RPM, the range where the engine runs primarily on the transition ports before the slides open significantly. On the other hand, adjusting the pilot jet size can eliminate mid range flatspots.
The higher the engine speed when the throttles close, the more vacuum/less oxygen in the cylinders so, the more popping.
