lushdrunk

what does the air pump do? and what would happen if I removed it? also what is the black weight disk on the from of the water pump do?

thanks

radhunter

The air pump and the "frisbee" do next to nothing. Take em both off and trash them. Removing the air pump will clean up your engine compartment. Removing the "frisbee" is reported to boost your hp a little.

Dale1990

In a properly functioning emissions system, the AIR pump supplies extra oxygen to the exhaust stream to improve the efficiency of the catalytic converter during different operating modes (warm-up, cruise, etc). Removing it will not harm the car or throw codes. It will also not give back a noticeable amount of power. Removing the pump, hoses and valves will clean up the engine bay nicely. It would be wise not to throw the parts away since more cities are requiring emissions equipment on the car to pass inspections (crummy practice IMHO).

The Frisbee is there as a vibration damper. Most people have removed it w/o incident but some have noticed increased vibration when the A/C engages - YMMV. Depending on your water pump and pulley, you may need to put washers on the bolts to make up for the missing material.

Corvette Kid

Mine doesn't do anything. It's resting in a box somewhere.....

evmlarry

Mine likes to sit there and make an annoying noise.

bogus

For the most part, it's during start up.

As for the "crummy practice," it's all about how the EPA mandates inspections. It's not the cities making these decisions, it's states, after being told by the EPA they won't get highway funding unless their ground level emissions are lowered. The crummy practice, is, in my opinion, the unequal way these things are being enforced.

It's part harmonic dampener, part belt retainer. GM had an issue with the belt bounding off, so they put the 5 lb chunk of iron on it. Smart... real smart... Most have found that removing it has no effect whatsoever on belt performance, but does free up a couple of hp on the engine.

lushdrunk

so removing the airpump will not give the 20hp promised by mid america. lol ? the car is a daily driver, would I be better off leaving the airpump and frisby?

bogus

either way... there is benefit to leaving, but the airpump will die shortly... that's a given.

Plasticman

On my 87, I disconnected the pump valves which effectively prevented the pump from sending air through to the exhaust, and it therefore dumps the pumped air through a "muffler" assembly (before removing the whole unit), and took it through the Illinois smog emission test which at that time was a rolling dyno test, with a tail pipe sniffer. Passed with no issues whatsoever (just like it always had).

Plasticman