Ok, time for air pump removal...

I've put on my new exhaust and intake. Thus air pump is of no use. Can I just cut the belt and then remove the pump? Anything I should be aware of so that I don't kill myself/car?

Thanx

 

Buy an ACV blockoff plate and take it off too.

 

eh? what u mean felix: "take it off too"

 

the air pump works together with the acv or air control valve to add air to your exhaust so it passes a sniffer test. if you take the air pump off take the acv off too. a plate costs like 10$ or make your own.

 

you might also find that you are wearing out or breaking alternator belts at an alarming rate. that's because the air pump belt does most of the work in turning the water pump and fan. the alternator belt drives the water pump on the "return" side (imagine the belt going round and round... the alt gets the pulling tension first and the w/p is on the side where the belt gets returned to the e-shaft pulley) and to make things worse it has very little wrap around the water pump pulley.

there are two solutions... one, you can half-*** fix it and get a double groove belt pulley from Racing Beat (something like $40) or go to a junkyard and try to find an old Subaru with non-A/C, which has the same type alternator and a double groove alt pulley. If you do that make sure to get the attaching bolts too as the RX-7 stuff is too thick.
Or you can eliminate most of the load on the water pump pulley in the first place, and convert to an electric fan. That's really the best way to do it.

 

Oh... Where can I get a mildly priced electric fan?

 

I remember Black Magics were $99 from Summit last year.

I paid $119 for a Hayden 1600cfm and it did the job, barely... the Black Magic is a much stronger fan. FWIW the 1600cfm was the biggest one that Hayden makes!

If you want to go junkyard shopping, I'm told the only boinger fan that could possibly move enough air is from a 4.6l Thunderbird. The 4.6l Mustangs also have electric fans but the T-bird has a much more cramped engine bay so the fan probably is stronger because it has to work harder.