what all happens when I remove my air pump? what does the air pump even do?

 

It pumps air Sorry, I couldnt resist....

 

lol, that was insightful 79+90 rx7 =P

Anyway, it for emissions controls... you probably shouldn't remove it if you still have the stock exhaust system, that'll make your 7 smell stinky =(

If you remove your air pump and you still have your compressor, you'll be replacing belts rather often...

 

Wow Fullsmoke...... thats the first i have heard about the car getting stinky. will it have have that sulfur smell? yuck!! are there any benefit's to doing it anyway?
i have thought about doing it, but i may not now. i bought a blockoff plate for it , but i couldnt figure out where to mount it. i'm still confused on that part.
i may just buy a new cat instead of pulling it.

 

Well, not too sure what it will smell like, but if you think about it, the air pump pumps air to the cats because the cats need the extra oxygen to convert the NO and CO to NO2 and CO2... If the cats are starved of oxygen, the conversion cannot take place and that might foul up your cat... I think all that will happen (correct me if i'm wrong) =)

As for the sulfur smell, i'm sure it won't be that smell--where does the sulfur come from? =P
it'll just probably be a stronger fume smell--which i hate since i'm a perfectionist and i like my exhaust odor-less even if it's spewing out stuff that kills the environment =)

The only benefit would be one less pulley to turn, giving you some extra hp around higher rpms (but not much extra).

I just bought a RB street port system and left the pump on there, just to balance the pulleys. but in the future, i will remove the compressor and the air pump and add a double sheaved pulley to the alternator and get an elec fan (i hope i get enuf money to do this) =)

 

See my thread called "This is what a thermal reactor is for" The air pump is to pump air in to the thermal reactor.