So I was under the hood today changing my plugs and saw this little pulley I had never seen on a vehicle before. It has two hoses. One is an air intake and the other runs back into the darkness and ends somewhere I cant see.



I unhooked the line and its pumping air, what is this ?

Smog pump ? If so what good is it ? What does it do.

Just wondering.

 

Kinda off topic but, What can I do to get more power out of my straight 6.

Its pretty sluggy and just cant get me up to speed fast enough. Anything I can do to get it running like a champ ?

 

That is an air pump. It pumps air into the exhaust to help burn the gases cleaner (and cooler, I think). I have read somewhere that if you disconnect it that you will only get like 0.2 more Horsepower. Not worth it IMHO. Just leave it hooked up.

As far as more power, do a tune-up: spark plugs, wires, new distributor cap and rotor, PCV valve, fuel and air filter. Good luck!

-Matt

 

In a 300, are you talking horsepower? If so it takes money. It's got a good LONG stroke, so it's a torque motor, not a speed motor. I'd swap in a 351.

 

The 2 hoses are for TAB and TAD valves. The TAD does send air into the exhaust manifold or pump air into the cat.

 

un hook it if they dont do emition checks. mine is off but i dont know what the difference was since i bought it that way. it saves drag on the motor and more room for air to go especially if you have a cat back exhaust.



for more power tune up and a cat back exhaust and high flow air filter will help.

 

Okay, dhag I'm going to tell you truth about that system. On a computer controlled vehicle it is required. The catalytic converter was designed for use WITH the air pump pushing air into it to help cool it, and burn off the hydrocarbons. The pump itself requires LESS THAN 1HP to run, so you are not losing ANY power having it on there. The only thing removing it does it confuse the computer and force more fuel down the engines throat, causing premature cat, and o2 sensor failure.

 

AGREED! (Just like I said before!) LEAVE IT ON!!

-Matt

 

I bipassed my air pump because it was locked up and after about a week the truck started running really rich so i looked at the o2 sensor and it was shot. so I replaced it and then replaced my air pump and the troubles went away. So I would suggest to leave the air pump on. my .02$

 

Agreed it takes no real measurable horsepower.

What I disagree with is the assertion that it will damage things if you disable it, but only in some cases.

IF it is an older truck and only pumps air into the exhaust behind the first converter and IF it does NOT pump air directly into the head (this depends on the truck!) and IF the truck is running correctly to begin with (air/fuel sensors are good, mixture is good) and IF it's pre '96 so it doesn't have a second O2 sensor, disconnecting it will do no harm. If the truck is running right the only time it should be running any exhaust that is too rich and would foul the O2 sensor and converter is at full throttle and in the first couple of minutes after a cold start. This just is not enough of the time to foul things badly, it will burn off.

However, if your truck is not running right to begin with there is less room for error without the fresh air going to the converter to burn off excess fuel. And if the fresh air goes in at any point before an O2 sensor, yes it will screw up the computer and you cannot do it, period.

The only thing I can think of that you would disable it for is if the pump locked up or you had that tube rust through, both things do happen. Ever call Ford to see what that tube that runs to the exhaust costs? I did it on my '91 300-6 WITHOUT the air injected heads and never had a problem. The air tube was rusted through and made a huge exhaust leak before I even got it and then the bearings in the air pump got scary. Sorry, not paying over $100 to fix an emissions system that only makes a serious difference at full throttle and a couple of minutes of cold startup...

 

My truck is a 96, and it has an idler pulley inplace of the air pump. I think they were done away with by 96. Or is it just the 351 Bronco?

 

My '96 302 has one, its on the bottom left, burried. If you have an idler puller (making 2) than someone must have pulled it.

 

My '95 351w has two idler pulleys, both up by the alternator. One is on the spring tensioner for the belt, the other is just an idler. My smog pump is way low on the passenger side too.

 

The air pump is on the passenger's side at the bottom. Top driver's side is a pulley or an Air conditioning compressor.

-Matt

 

Hey there, as far as getting some extra ponies out of the 300, there is not a whole lot to do. On mine(94 f150 300 straight 6) I had the huge "granny muffler" and resonator hacked off and I replaced it with 2.5 in straight pipe and a small 12 in glasspack. It sounds okay-not much like a v-8 but kinda like a tractor on crack. It gave me a noticeable power gain. I then put new plugs-wires-cap and rotor on it. Ran a bottle of injector cleaner through it. This all made it run much better and gave me a little extra power to boot. The 300 is no stoplight bully anyway, but it does fine for itself. They last forever if you keep that oil changed too. They really excell at pulling things and hauling stuff. It is really amazing at what my truck will pull with it's "wee" six!!