Solved! How to delete your smog pump on an 88 V6 car

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Solved! How to delete your smog pump on an 88 V6 car

April 21, 2010, 01:10:22 AM

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I figured it out. Go to post 26 for the answer.

This posting is unique to 1988 model Cougars or Thunderbirds with a 3.8L. No other cars have this accessory setup.

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Ok, I was told to open a new thread, so here it is:D

I have done the proper searching, and can find nothing about what I need. I've seen plenty on the 5.0 and the older 3.8, but the 88 had an entirely different belt/acc setup than either of those two motors.

I already had enough common sense to get a string and run it in my intended belt path, and then measure the length. Went to autozone, bought a 56" belt, slapped it on, and all seemed well. As I was driving home, temp gauge starts rising. Got to thinking about it, opened up the hood, and looked carefully. Realized, I was running my water pump BACKWARDS.

My question to you fine people, is, does anyone know how to route a belt w/out a smog pump, and still get the water pump to turn the right direction on the 88 3.8.

My best, and only guess, is to try to put some kind of spacers on the bolts holding down the ac compressor, which will be staying on, so that it is in line with the front set of pulleys, then ditch the second belt. From here I may be able to run the belt around the water pump, as intended, and then back up towards the alt., but I dont know if the runaround will clear the pulley.

Short of that, my only other guess is a different tensioner on the DS that would pull in the UP direction:hick:.

Pics are included of course:

[SIZE="1"][SIZE="1"](oh, and btw, NO, I'm not putting in a 5.0! It is not the answer!)[/SIZE][/SIZE]:D

Solved! How to delete your smog pump on an 88 V6 car

Reply #1 – April 22, 2010, 01:29:36 AM

Ok, since I am stumped, and no one else seems to know, here is what I ended up doing.

I put the smog pump back on, but I made it a little different. Instead of having the pump pull air, and feed it into the pressure ridden exhaust pipe, I did exactly the opposite.:flip:

As most of us know how a turbo works, by making use of the pressure in the exhaust sytem, this is what my smog pump now does. I took the hose that originally flowed into the exhaust from the outlet of the pump, and rerouted it to the intake of the pump, so that the exhaust gasses at high speeds should actually take the load off of the turbine inside, if not actually helping it. There's no way that thing is hindering in any possible way now.:rollin:Hell, when I get around to hard piping my intake, I might actually decide to feed the outlet of the pump directly into it for a ghetto blower effect.

(more)

It does make one hell of a racket, but it actually sounds pretty cool. I'm going to drive it tomorrow and see how it feels and sounds on the road with the hood down. If its too loud, I'm just gonna put a short hose between the inlet and outlet so they feed each other. Seems the only other way to go for minimal restriction.

Other than this, I see no possible way to run the belt w/out the pump, short of either getting an electric water pump and getting the tensioner to move further to the DS, or by shimming the ac compressor out about 7/8" and cutting off part of a couple brackets (b/c its on a separate belt).

Here is a pic. of engine comp., and a crude drawing of what I did.:hick:

Solved! How to delete your smog pump on an 88 V6 car

Reply #2 – April 22, 2010, 10:14:44 AM

Can you make an idler pulley work where the smog pump used to be?

Darren

Solved! How to delete your smog pump on an 88 V6 car

Reply #3 – April 22, 2010, 11:50:27 AM

I'm not tying to say don't do it. Just have a couple of thinking points.
1. A smog pump doesn't take all that much HP to turn.
2. If you still have Cats I've read that running w/o the pump can cause them to fail.

Not sure what "Fail" means in this case. I will assume that they will just stop being effective. I have seen cats melt, but thats typically from dumping lots of raw gas into them. If that was the case, you can always knock them out with rod. I assume you don't have a sniffer test for inspection.

As far as your your turbo, I predict imminent Smog pump failure. And, "failure" here means melty, seizy, screechy, badneess.

Solved! How to delete your smog pump on an 88 V6 car

Reply #4 – April 22, 2010, 11:59:54 AM

Why not skip the middleman? :flame:

Solved! How to delete your smog pump on an 88 V6 car

Reply #5 – April 22, 2010, 12:39:03 PM

Converter 101:

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

and for the Wiki lovers out there:

http://wikicars.org/en/Catalytic_converter

The addition of extra oxygen by the air pump makes the converters more efficient. The internals of the converter melt due to high temperatures in the converter usually caused by very rich conditions in the exhaust stream.

Darren

Solved! How to delete your smog pump on an 88 V6 car

Reply #6 – April 22, 2010, 01:44:25 PM

Quote from: 88CougarGT;319263

Why not skip the middleman? :flame:

:rollin:

:rollin:

See, I DONT have cats, so I have no worries:D

Solved! How to delete your smog pump on an 88 V6 car

Reply #7 – April 22, 2010, 04:50:58 PM

Quote from: Aerocoupe;319268

Darren

Off topic...

Darren,

That sure is one distracting avatar.....

I tend to loose track of everything you say.:D

Solved! How to delete your smog pump on an 88 V6 car

Reply #8 – April 22, 2010, 05:40:05 PM

Yeah, I miss going to the home games...end of off topic.

Darren

Solved! How to delete your smog pump on an 88 V6 car

Reply #9 – April 22, 2010, 07:11:48 PM

Here's what you should do:
unhook all the hoses-etc from the smog pump...leave the belt on it, though route it the proper way. A smog pump doesn't rob a noticeable amount of power unless the bearings are going out.
Just leave it on, but no hoses.
Yes, it'll make some noise, this is the air being pumped through it. Think of it as a tiny air compressor...

The turbo idea is nonsensical...it'll not move nearly enough air to make it worth even thinking about beyond this sentence.

Might also do a little searching...I'm sure there's Mustang 3.8 stuff that might apply to your instance here.

OR....one last option. Not sure if there's such a thing, but you could look for a CW rotation waterpump...

Solved! How to delete your smog pump on an 88 V6 car

Reply #10 – April 22, 2010, 07:30:44 PM

One good thing about living in florida: NO INSPECTIONS!!!!!!!! That, in turn = no cat. convs, which also = no smog pump

cw waterpump was my first idea, but then I realized:
"This is a 3.8L!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
If tom morana doesn't make it, it probably doesn't exist. Plus, if the wp spun CW, it would be pulling coolant out of the motor and forcing it to flow UP through the radiator. I'm no engineer, but I don't think they are designed to flow that direction. lol

Also, at first I was running it free w/ no hoses, but then that idea popped into my head. I am actually going to attach both ends together w/ one hose, that way it feeds itself, so its quieter, and has the highest possible chance of not causing any robbed air flow.

I know its very nearly pointless to even worry about this thing, but, like I said above, "Its a 3.8L!!!!!!!" whatever can help, DO IT!!!! :D

Oh yeah, as for it melting itself, the air flow thats coming out of it is hardly even warm. I checked that long before I decided to do something this :hick:ed

and rodsterh is right. thats probably the best avatar on the site:D

Solved! How to delete your smog pump on an 88 V6 car

Reply #11 – May 06, 2010, 03:33:11 PM

just go to ebay and get a smog pump eliminator pulley its a direct bolt in. so you can keep your stock belt size. here is the eliminator pulley im using with my underdrive pulleys setup on my v6.

Solved! How to delete your smog pump on an 88 V6 car

Reply #12 – May 09, 2010, 04:14:10 AM

oooooooooooooohhh!!!:brick:

Solved! How to delete your smog pump on an 88 V6 car

Reply #13 – May 11, 2010, 05:48:23 PM

here is a link to the type i used except for the brand.http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Proform-Smog-Pump-Eliminator-Bracket-68110-/390191689271?cmd=ViewItem&pt=Motors_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories&hash=item5ad93cae37

Solved! How to delete your smog pump on an 88 V6 car

Reply #14 – May 11, 2010, 11:57:49 PM

Quote from: sarjxxx;319327

If tom morana doesn't make it, it probably doesn't exist. Plus, if the wp spun CW, it would be pulling coolant out of the motor and forcing it to flow UP through the radiator. I'm no engineer, but I don't think they are designed to flow that direction. lol

so when your engine is cold and you start it,, the radiator hoses are cold.

when the engine heats up , which hose gets warm first?

:D