Air Pump Removal Questions....

[grinder]

Hiya ,

Was looking at the car yesterday and im tempted to remove the air pump

So my question is , what does it actually do ??

The car has been decatted fully and the air pipe to the cat has been blanked off on the engine , so is the air pump actually doing anything at this moment intime ??

It doesnt look the easiest thing to remove , there is a lot of stuff in the way

Do i need any blanking plate etc.. to remove it correctly ? ( i have a set in the garage and a dual alt pulley aswell )

Ohh wilst im posting , does anyone know what belts i would need ?? Im sure i read on here years ago that 2 mini fan belts would work ?? Or do i just need to alt belts from a FC ??

Thanks

Stu

[GregR3]

Just had the full Racing Beat fitted and it was blanked off as a pose to removed...Racing beat have PDF instructions that say how to remove it on their website but there\'s a massive warning sticker in our engine bays saying \'do not remove air pump\'...

[Prof]

Air pump is all about Emissiosn Stu - on the Turbo II cars it pumps air into one of three places depending on revs and whether you are on the gas or on cut off.
 
In simplest terms it is designed to feed fresh air into the exhaust system to help reduce the CO and Nitrous oxides.  It supplies air to the car (split air) or to the exhaust port sleeves (port air) or to the funny silencer thing behind the headlight (relief).  It will only ever route the air to one of these three places using that complicated gizmo on the side of the LIM - that\'s what\'s removed and blanked off when the air pump goes.  It also makes about 3 other solenoids redundant too.
 
Even decatted, because it pumps fresh air into the exhaust, it can help change the exhaust gas balance and fool the MOT into a pass, without it you will just about get a well tuned engine to pass.  I did a big write up based on my findings from the service guide and looking at the ACV valve and vac routing - should be in the archives somewhere...

[grinder]

ahhhh so it still pumps air into the exhaust even though that air pipe has been capped off ??

Its just a big thing in the engine bay , so that was the only reason for tempting to remove it

Hummm choices choices choices

[yasiryassin]

might aswel remove it, free up some space and a wee bit of weight reduction lol.

[grinder]

to be honest i thought it was a common thing to do , but Dave ( Prof ) has worried me slightly about it now

[TiddlesRX7]

I did mine Stu (with various PM\'s to Prof for guidance). I\'ve not looked back. I can actually get to that side of the engine and the turbo now from the top. It also helps if you have a friendly MOT station for when the time comes.

Ade

[wolfie1]

Mines is removed

[grinder]

OK , might be something i look into .. does any one have simple instructions of how to remove the thing ??

I had he BOV and TMIC off a few days back .. i bet they need to come off again to remove it all dont they ?

Can you just remove the air pump , or do you need to remove the other stuff ( where you need the blanking plate ? )

Ade , what belts did you use on the alternator ??

Stu

[GregR3]

Many people seem brave enough to take It out, here\'s the link I was on about. I can\'t see any obvious advantage apart from a slight weight decrease. I\'m not too fussed myself

http://www.racingbeat.com/manuals/16425%20Turbo%20Exhaust.pdf

[TiddlesRX7]

I just got a couple of alternator belts from the local autoparts place. Think they were about £3 so Grinder price!

Ade

[grinder]

awesome , did you just take yours in and ask them to match it ?

[TiddlesRX7]

Narr mate I think they just pulled it up on their computer. In fact now that I think about it I had to go to 2 different places cause the first one only had one in stock.

Ade

[Prof]

There is one good reason for doing itapart from weight - if you fit a wideband sensor, the air pump screws with the readings in certain parts of the map.
 
It\'s not too difficult to tune the engine sufficiently to get it through an MOT, our cars being older are subject to the less stringent 1200ppm HC and 3.5% CO test.  If you are really concerned, you could fit a 1 way exhaut check valve in the LIM (where the blanking plate goes), and fit an electric smog pump - one of the solenoid feeds is ideal to switch a relay to power the pump at the correct times to inject air  The advantage is the smog pump can be much smaller than the mechanical air pump.

[yasiryassin]

if there is a eurocarpart near you, you can get the belts there.
if not go on their website, enter in your car details, then go to drive belts section. i got mine from there. i think there might be free delivery in uk mainland, and theres always 20% discount codes.