1985 GSL SE Air Pump Delete
 

took the pump off, ACV is gone and covered with block off plate, plugged the lines, car running shitty, is there anything else I need to do?, what am i missing?

If you have the cat, the air-pump is required because the cat will burn up.

no cat, headers straight to muffler

Still have provision for exhaust backpressure to feed actuators for 5th & 6th ports? Maybe some more info than "car running shitty" could help us give you some direction on where to look for the problem.

Sometimes you have to adjust the idle, ignition timing, and turn the little idle mixture resister by the air filter box to compensate for the upgraded exhaust or emissions delete.

Also check for a vacuum leak or some other problem like unplugged sensor etc. created during removal of those parts.

Still baffles me why people remove this stuff. All you gain is simplicity I suppose and there's a good chance the engine runs poorly afterwards. These injected cars are designed to run with the full emissions setup. You don't gain really anything by removing the ACV and air pump.

You gain a lot of power with a free flowing header and exhaust which aren't compatible with an air pump, plus the air pump weighs a ton and saps power. Sure, it's all designed to work together, but it's also designed to sacrifice power in order to meet emissions. If it's power you are after, that stuff has got to go....unless you're in California, in which case, too bad so sad.

We don't care about that stuff here in California. All we care about is power!

This is true, but he original poster just wanted to remove the parts. He didn't say anything about adding a header or exhaust.

:D

I usually remove everything that isn't required to keep the engine starting and running. I hate clutter and extra weight. Unless it's a series 5.

Maybe one day I'll grow up and keep one 100% stock.

He followed up with details on post #3. But yeah, no need to remove stuff unless you are removing the stuff it connects to as well.
Meh, the car is pretty anemic in stock form. Mine was bone stock when I got it last year. That lasted about 6 months. The key is to know when to stop modding.

I'm running a RB header, PP presilencer, and the stock airpump co-exists with it all just fine. In fact, the airpump ensures you're getting enough fresh air into the exhaust on deceleration so it stays cooler. You can claim you're saving a bunch of weight and removing components which require power to run - but if you've pulled out the airpump, you'll note it takes next to nothing to spin one and that one belt is used to offset belt torque on the front pulley and water pump. Removal may require you to run a dual-sheave pulley on your water pump and alternator to get enough belt tension to turn both reliably. Adding more potential problems.

I can appreciate a clean engine bay as much as the next guy, but when the components in question aren't robbing a whole lot of power and help to keep the exhaust cooler and quieter, it makes sense to me to keep them.

I have owned several flavors of 1st gens,bridgeported engine,turbo 12A. I liked the additional over stock power output. Owned my SE for a long time and kept it 100% original all this time except for the cat converters that began to rust out. I put in a cat for a 6 liter Gmc truck that improved the breathing of the engine noticeably,also sure the oe cats were partially plugged up after more than 100k on car. Car was always fun to drive,reliable but having other RXs with RB exhaust in particular knew that in stock configuration the SE exhaust was restrictive. The car passed emissions every year until i registered it as a historic car. At this point i removed all emissions equipment,modded air filter housing and installed a RB streetport system. I did not adjust timing,idle mixture(resistor) and nothing changed regarding driveability,cold starting idle or base idle speed. Those that have or do make these adjustments may be trying to compensate for problems elsewhere. The performance improvements were dramatic as i expected,really woke it up. I then did a DI conversion that further improved performance,even changed exhaust note at idle. I like the fact i can turn the key to start and walk away and the Fi makes the adjustments to the car to bring it to warm base idle with no input from me unlike previous carb models i've owned. I am happy with the performance level,more fun to drive now along with rebuilding and upgrading suspension and brakes. This is my version of a lightly modded 1st gen,enough power to be fun,reliable,practical,cruise and ac work,can be driven for extended periods,almost never listen to the radio anymore. I have kept every component,bracket,nut,bolt removed from this car unlike others i've owned so that if one day i wish to return it to oe,i can. If i were to ever sell this car(unlikely),i don't think the prospective buyer would be turned off by these mods(just drive it!) especially in light of the fact that all removed parts are boxed up and in storage

spray some carb cleaner around the perimeter of that block-off plate. Chances are it is sucking air somewhere. Even if it us just an extremely small air leak, it will run like crap.