Air Injection Reactor
Burning Brakes
Joined: Jul 2008
Posts: 876
Likes: 0
From: Canastota Ny
I HAVE A 79. it has no evidence of wiring, plugs,holes ...nothing to show that a smog pump was ever on the car. i am the second owner and i asked about it and was told that they never had anything removed from the engine what so ever. did some cars come with out it?
Melting Slicks
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 2,409
Likes: 0
From: Brentwood Tennessee
Cruise-In II Veteran
Cruise-In III Veteran
True
The A.I.R. pump merely blows excess air into the exhaust passage in the hope that it will help burn off any excess hydrocarbons. Obviously, if the car is not "running rich", it does not good at all. But, it was a "Band-aid" idea that addressed one potential issue with lowering emissions levels. Catalytic converters were a better attempt [albeit expensive] toward the "burn-off" effort. So, this pump does nothing for the proper operation/performance of your engine...it just helps to lower emissions IF your air/fuel mixture is too 'rich'. Dump it, if you don't need it; or, if you like originality, leave it there. {P.S. I would not just throw the unit away; there are lots of floks who will pay dearly for a complete and correctly dated air pump and hardware.}
Melting Slicks
Joined: Jan 2000
Posts: 3,326
Likes: 523
From: home
Pros: passes a visual if your state requires it and keeps the original look of the engine if that is what you are after. Cons: more stuff in the engine compartment to wok around, clean, maintain. If I were ever to re install the a.i.r. (which I paid dearly for being a one year, two engine only system). I would gut the pump and plug the holes inside the manifolds and reinstall the trees. Looks original, but isn't functional. Pump have a bad habit of seizing.
Dr. Detroit
Joined: Mar 2012
Posts: 10,097
Likes: 4,027
From: New Braunfels Texas
Probably the dumbest thing and biggest scam the automakers pulled off was the A.I.R. The dilution joke is not a joke....that is what it did.....it pumped air in to dilute exhaust. This did not improve anything....did not make our air cleaner, nothing.
The irony is that when the Catalyst was introduced in 75', it ran hot enough to utilize the extra oxygen that the A.I.R. emitted.....made the burn temp higher. Later incarnations of the A.I.R. had the outlet plumbed directly into the converter. My 92' Camaro was this way.
The statement that it does not hurt performance is not true either........imagine an already choked LT-1 with 2" outlet rams horns on it and a 2" exhaust system having more gas volume pumped directly into the exhaust manifold to have to get through that 2" outlet before it makes it to the pathetic 2" crimp bent system. There is a loss.......how much has never been documented.
The kicker is that proper timing specs on these old engines do more to lower hydrocarbons than the stupid A.I.R. system.
The fact that these pumps trade for upward to $2000 makes me just cringe......
Jebby
The irony is that when the Catalyst was introduced in 75', it ran hot enough to utilize the extra oxygen that the A.I.R. emitted.....made the burn temp higher. Later incarnations of the A.I.R. had the outlet plumbed directly into the converter. My 92' Camaro was this way.
The statement that it does not hurt performance is not true either........imagine an already choked LT-1 with 2" outlet rams horns on it and a 2" exhaust system having more gas volume pumped directly into the exhaust manifold to have to get through that 2" outlet before it makes it to the pathetic 2" crimp bent system. There is a loss.......how much has never been documented.
The kicker is that proper timing specs on these old engines do more to lower hydrocarbons than the stupid A.I.R. system.
The fact that these pumps trade for upward to $2000 makes me just cringe......
Jebby
Melting Slicks
Joined: Jan 2000
Posts: 3,326
Likes: 523
From: home
The real pisser in my situation is I gave away my original pump, diverter valve, hoses, and clamps back in the 70's Took me decades to find another original setup. Very hard to find when my setup was only used for one year on two different h.p. rated engines. I one I found I just happen to stumble on at Corvette Carlisle when I spotted a GJ stamped diverter valve sticking up out of a box.
