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You can save yourself some money and just gut the air pump. Thats what I did. I re-lubricated the bearings at the same time and welded the ports shut. It's basically just an idler pully now.
I was afraid I was going to break it trying to get it open. Any tips?
If you eliminate the air pump, you MUST eliminate the cats.
You can have an air pump without cats, although it is a huge waste, but you cannot have cats without the air pump (on a system engineered to include an air pump).
I can't speak for anyone else here, but I never heard that. What's the reasoning behind it?
I removed the air pump (very noisy) on my '92 F350 w/5.8L engine two years ago. I have been running a shorter belt since then with no issues. I also replaced the tensioner and pulley at the same time.
I can't speak for anyone else here, but I never heard that. What's the reasoning behind it?
The hotter the environment, the faster a chemical reaction will take place. The catalyst (platinum) is on a screen in the cat that the exhaust passes thru.
The catalytic converter starts off as cold, it cannot work effectively. When the cat is cold the AIR pump takes fresh air, pushes it through a dedicated passage in the cylinder heads, and injects it into the cat to heat it.
If the cats are not warm, the cats cannot do their chemical magic, they will not clean the exhaust, it will clog the screen shorting its life and increase back pressure in the exhaust.
The very hot air and the exhaust produce the following reactions:
2NOx → xO2 + N2
2CO + O2 → 2CO2
CxH2x+2 + [(3x+1)/2]O2 → xCO2 + (x+1)H2O
The hotter the environment, the faster a chemical reaction will take place. The catalyst (platinum) is on a screen in the cat that the exhaust passes thru.
The catalytic converter starts off as cold, it cannot work effectively. When the cat is cold the AIR pump takes fresh air, pushes it through a dedicated passage in the cylinder heads, and injects it into the cat to heat it.
If the cats are not warm, the cats cannot do their chemical magic, they will not clean the exhaust, it will clog the screen shorting its life and increase back pressure in the exhaust.
The very hot air and the exhaust produce the following reactions:
2NOx → xO2 + N2
2CO + O2 → 2CO2
CxH2x+2 + [(3x+1)/2]O2 → xCO2 + (x+1)H2O
Thank you ross, I think that it would be easier to put a smaller belt on as well. I understand about the cats, I just rebuilt my 351 from the pan up and took all emissions off except for the EGR. Thankfully, hooker makes a header that allows you to run one. I was also able to find the belt routing and size diagrams that you were talking about. It is 84.5''
So, this whole air pump deletes a bad thing IF you still have intact cats. I have them but theres nothing in there..
It's sure not gonna hurt anything if you have gutted your cats. The cats will not do what they were intended to do without the air pump. I drove my truck with "good" cats and no air pump for several months with no issues. As was mentioned here earlier, there may well be long term effects to cats themselves if left that way (plugging/back pressure), . My truck doesn't have air pump or cats anymore.
The smog pump pumps fresh air into the cats to help pass emissions.
I would go with the Auto specialties 025030.
Yes. It's true.
The air pump feeds clean oxygen to fire off the cats and make them burn.
It's like the reason you run oxygen with your acetelyne... It allows it to burn super hot. The cats (ones that are designed to burn with an air pump) must have that oxygen to burn off soot and hydrocarbons trapped in the cat. If the air pump is disabled, the cat will clog up and cause a huge obstruction in the exhaust flow.
It might not happen right away, and performance lost will be over time, so may not be noticeable at first, but the cats will clog up, performance will suffer, and eventually the cats will be ruined and can clog to the point of serious drivability issues.
So, this whole air pump deletes a bad thing IF you still have intact cats. I have them but theres nothing in there..
If the cats are gutted or removed, the air pump is doing absolutely nothing and can be removed. To have an air pump with cats gutted/gone is a total waste of the pump's reason to exist.
I just bought a 93 f150 custom with the 302 in it. I was just wondering besides the air pump what else can I remove off of the engine I want to clean up my engine bay?
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