air pump removal ?

Topic: air pump removal ? (Read 2367 times) previous topic - next topic

air pump removal ?

January 29, 2008, 09:04:38 AM

been told that if i remove my air pump that the insides
of the cats will melt and plug. been also thinking of
gutting the single cat at the y pipe.would i gain any
power? would the precats plug ? ive got a new mustang
catted h pipe and headers but dont want to use it yet. i put
turbo lers on, but it is still has no sound. this is an
88 with a 5.0 single into dual lers. my 86 capri had
a catco 2 cat h pipe. i did the smog remove and had no
problem but only put 200 miles on it. anyone done this
or any info is appreciated.--irv toms

air pump removal ?

Reply #1 – January 29, 2008, 12:08:44 PM

By plug do you mean clog
No by removing the smog pump it will not hurt the cats at least I never heard of it of everyone how has done it it will cause the car to fail emissions test.
Gutting the cat will also cause the car to fail emissions test but will enhance performance.
Mustang headers and H-pipe will bolt right up.

air pump removal ?

Reply #2 – January 29, 2008, 10:30:15 PM

No point in removing or guttin the airpump.
It's a dyno proven 1hp loss.

air pump removal ?

Reply #3 – January 30, 2008, 02:15:36 AM

Quote from: dominator;200869

No point in removing or guttin the airpump.
It's a dyno proven 1hp loss.

?????????

and when the bushings in the smog pump start to bind, that wont drag down the engine? I was throwing belts on my ole 3.8 till i figured out what was going on.

To each his own. I vote to getting them blunders out from under the hood. At the least, bypass the smog. You just have to think about how it works then make sure the correct plumbing is also unhooked as well incase you just want to delete the function but leave it in the car.

air pump removal ?

Reply #4 – January 30, 2008, 06:36:36 AM

OK I give you 1hp though maybe a little more how about the weight and the niceness of cleaning up under the hood.

air pump removal ?

Reply #5 – January 30, 2008, 07:43:20 AM

Well i can't count for the cleaning up under the hood,that's personal preference.
As for the weight,2-5lb maybe?? not worth anything for that little weight.

jcassity:who was talking about binding bushings or a locked up pump,please read the post before you contribute.

air pump removal ?

Reply #6 – January 30, 2008, 06:32:03 PM

In NC, car will pass emissions if all original smog equipment is present, although it does not necessarily need to work, or pass the test, if the car is older than 1995 model. I had problems with my smogpump being noisy. I got another smogpump at the junkyard. It went noisy. So.... I took the thing apart and took the inside of the pump out, now I have just an empty can with a pully on it - very quiet.. But now, I take that off too in between inspections. I would feel like a polluter, except, I am told that all the pump does is add oxygen to the exhaust so that it increases the Parts Per million (PPM) of oxygen, or, reduces the PPM of hydrocarbons. Ostensibly, the "added" air helps the catylytic converter remove more hydrocarbons if there is more air. Wherever I disconnected a hose, I plugged it. With the steel pipe coming up from Catalytic Converter, and that other one next to it, I got those 1" or so rubber caps from autozone or somewhere. The other little hoses got a self tapping woodscrew, or something screwed in to the open end in order to plug it. I personally have not experienced problems. the toughest thing is that the doggone serpentine belt has a long span without support, and it makes a little noise. That is why god made radios! Anyway, I worried about it awhile, but, with all the hoses plugged, it seems like it has been ok for the last 40,000 miles or so.

air pump removal ?

Reply #7 – January 30, 2008, 06:51:29 PM

Quote from: irv

been told that if i remove my air pump that the insides
of the cats will melt and plug.

AIR pump removal shouldn't cause your cats to clog up.

Quote from: thunderblunder;201051

I would feel like a polluter, except, I am told that all the pump does is add oxygen to the exhaust so that it increases the Parts Per million (PPM) of oxygen, or, reduces the PPM of hydrocarbons. Ostensibly, the "added" air helps the catylytic converter remove more hydrocarbons if there is more air.

The removal of the Thermactor pump reduces the catalytic's converter efficiency in taking care of HC and CO:

HC + O2 -> H2O + CO2
CO + O2 -> CO2

Those are both oxidizing reactions, and require an oxygen rich environment to take place.
Less 02 means more HC and CO.

The NOx conversion is a reducing environment and takes place in the upstream half of the cat.

NOx -> N2 + O2

Also, the AIR pump initially directs air to the exhaust manifold while running a rich mixture in order to light off the precats quickly.

So, you are polluting more by removing the AIR pump.

air pump removal ?

Reply #8 – January 31, 2008, 01:48:33 PM

Just get rid of all that air pump junk...it's definitely more than 2-5lbs...plus it makes header installs and tune ups much easier. I ran without one on my old T-bird and had no problems, however, I ran an off-road h-pipe with it. Convertor life may suffer, but not by a measurable amount...the 3rd cat on this cars always falls apart anyway so gutting it may not be a bad idea...gutting mine yielded a very marginal change in exhaust note and gained me about 2mpg.

You can say what you will, but 1-2hp and 5lbs here and 10lbs there...after awhile it adds up. I'll continue with my methods...nobody else here has yet to go 14.30's into a 20mph head-wind with a stone stock HO(speed density) and AOD/convertor.

air pump removal ?

Reply #9 – February 03, 2008, 12:37:47 AM

Quote from: dominator;200935

jcassity:who was talking about binding bushings or a locked up pump,please read the post before you contribute.

lol,

air pump removal ?

Reply #10 – April 11, 2010, 05:38:32 AM

Yaaay look at me opening an old thread back up! wanna hear something funny? least I thought so anyway... I have actually heard of doing something "useful" with those things...: Go ahead and take about 5-20 of those and belt em all together and dump em all into your intake! Get about 1 psi from the Poor Man's "Supercharger"?!?!?!? lmao

prolly work on a bike though...

Hey, but heres a real question: If one was to further pollute the planet and take that pump out, is there anything useful that one could use to fill up that bizzare looking giant hole in ones now useless ac/air pump bracket?

air pump removal ?

Reply #11 – April 11, 2010, 10:13:53 AM

you could debate about pollution , its probably more mathmatically applicable to say that the removeal would increase engine efficiency as less fuel required to get / achieve X speed. At the pump, not running a smog (if a motor was tuned up) could be argued less fuel used.

These motors / electronics werent really all that efficient to start with and the smog actually is considered restrictive. Nowadays, there are better but more expensive technologies to work with the emissions rather than just "have" emissions to meet CAFE standards.

Not sure what I would put in that area if you remove it.

BTW, you dont have to remove the pump system, just short belt the engine and leave the pump in place.

air pump removal ?

Reply #12 – April 12, 2010, 11:16:19 AM

I have no air pump on my 93 Coupe with Magnaflow 3-way high flow cats. The newer cats don't need the air pump but you can get a 3-way with the air option which does increase the amount of NC and CO but typically this is not needed to pass most inspections. From what I have been able to tell it just depends on your state and who inspects the car.

http://www.car-sound.com/04basics/04converter.asp

Darren

air pump removal ?

Reply #13 – April 12, 2010, 04:17:54 PM

You can say what you will, but 1-2hp and 5lbs here and 10lbs there...after awhile it adds up. I'll continue with my methods...nobody else here has yet to go 14.30's into a 20mph head-wind with a stone stock HO(speed density) and AOD/convertor.[/QUOTE]

HAHAHAHAHAH that's the best you could get with a stock HO.
Now if that where an SO that would be a feat but in an HO that's just average.