Air pump question

[dturpin]

Can anyone tell me if the air pump on a FD should be on all the time when the car is at idle?
As mine isn\'t on at all, but my power Fc says that the air pump relay is on.

[MillSpeed]

Yep, the air pump runs continuously at idle. The little clutch on the pulley disengages it at around 1500-2000 rpm if memory serves. Is your air pump connected?

[dturpin]

Yea I am pretty sure it is connected, it used to come on and off when the car was at idle, looks like I have got to do some fault finding then!  
Has anyone got any idea how much air pumps are?

[nikp]

People often get rid of their air pumps due to upgrading to apexi\'s, etc! They facilitate getting rid of them. Which brings me to the point: you have an Apexi: couldn\'t you just remove the air pump! Car by-pass pipe, down pipe, remove air pump: you\'ll have yourself a nice little runner by then!

[dturpin]

sorry if i seem a bit thick for asking but how do you remove it then, I don\'t relly understand what you just said.

[nikp]

Well, seeing as though you have the apexi ecu, this can be programmed to acount for the removal of the CAT. Now, if there is no CAT, there is no need for the air pump. You need to get a pulley set to replace the pulleys on the bottom of the enigne and the alternator, so you can run a shorter belt, and then it\'s just a case of simply unbolting the air pump! Simple as really!

[Carl]

or just unplug the air pump connector and it will become an idler pulley with no power loss.
Regards
Carl

[dturpin]

Cheers for the advice, will probably just unplug for now as I can\'t really afford new pullies and stuff, plus I have just replaced both belts!
Thanks for all the advice.