2nd gen N/A engine bay, what a mess
 

So I was doing some rutine engine upkeep the other day and I could barely get at my damn spark plugs! My engine bay is absolutly STUFFED full! It kinda pisses me off, all my friends have huge 350's and 302's and even they have way more working room.

Does anyone have any pic's or Suggestions on how to make your bay a little more spacious?!

Thnx:D

If you think an 'N/A engine bay' has no room to work in, I suggest you never buy a TII. ;)

Here's a way to increase space, increase power, increase reliability (less things to fail), and save weight!

- remove air pump system
- change to stand alone EMS (including ditching the AFM)
- change power steering rack out for manual one
- remove rats nest
- remove cold start system
- change to an electric rad fan
- change to aftermarket intake system
- remove windshield washer system
- remove air conditioning system
- remove EGR system

:D I'm serious by the way.

Ok, so If I remove the air pump what major function am I loosing? Also, what is the EGR system? Sorry guys, I'm pretty new to the whole "Work on Cars thing". In the past my car just went directly to Campbell River Mazda, but I recently found out they're a bunch of Ripoffs and Don't have a clue to start with about rotaries!

In other words,

-failed emmissions
-failed emmissions
-failed emmissions

I HATE northern Virginia emmissions laws! You guys make it sound so easy to just rip it off and forget it:(

Ya, it's nice not to worry bout polluting the air. Heck, bush is going to get us all killed waaaay before a little exhaust in the air will!

I heard that if you remove the airpump that the cats will get clogged fast if you dont remove them also. Is that true?

air pump is what opens the 5th and 6th ports...i dont think your cats will get clogged (correct me if im wrong please)

You're Wrong.

The Airpump also supplys air to the ACV valve... which has something to do with emissions and re-burning exhaust...

good..see i learned something new aswell :) thanks for the correction Liquid Anarchy

If you have a 89-91, than you will need the Air Pump to activate the Auxilliary Ports. Irregardless of series, you'll smoke the Cat w/o the Air Pump.

Is Irregardles even a word? :D

Anyhoo, I did all those things bridgeported said, except for EMS, and I live in Cailifornia, Land of the Strictist Emissions Laws. I just kept em all in the box, and am putting them back in later (air pump and acv mostly). I have much more room to work now. I can change my spark plugs no problem.

When the exhaust goes through the cat, the air pump pulls all the stuff that was filtered out back into the intake and burns it again. Whats funny though, is on my car, the split air pipe wasn't even attached to the acv, and I passed smog with flying colors. My exhaust smells bad and I'm probly buring up my cat, but oh well.

From Dictionary.com:
"Usage Note: Irregardless is a word that many mistakenly believe to be correct usage in formal style, when in fact it is used chiefly in nonstandard speech or casual writing. Coined in the United States in the early 20th century, it has met with a blizzard of condemnation for being an improper yoking of irrespective and regardless and for the logical absurdity of combining the negative ir- prefix and -less suffix in a single term. Although one might reasonably argue that it is no different from words with redundant affixes like debone and unravel, it has been considered a blunder for decades and will probably continue to be so."

Quote:

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<snip>
When the exhaust goes through the cat, the air pump pulls all the stuff that was filtered out back into the intake and burns it again. <snip>

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Uh, you've got it wrong here. The Air pump sends it's charge through the ACV where the air can be sent to the cats to provide more fresh O2 for the reaction going on in there. Too much O2 and the cat burns too hot and dies. Too little and it won't work right either. The Cats are not a filter. After a while the chemically charged ceramic-honeycomb brick can loose it's potency or the small passages in the honeycomb can get clogged with carbon and other crud.

Cory

Well there ya go, learn something new every day. I've never actually looked into what the cat does, thats just what I assumed by pulling things out of the car.

So I've got an s4, if I remove the airpump does this mean i've got to wire the 5th and 6th ports open?

Also, Where do you buy an electric Fan?

OH yeah, so remove the cats and the 5-6 ports also so it solves those issues :)

Yes, except It's spelt Irregardless. I've been Americanized.:D

Please don't ask If Americanized Is a word.

I have about 3/4 of that list done. My engine bay is frigging empty. Can anyone else stand in there while the motor is in it too? :p:

Only the stock cats. A lot of aftermarket ones dont even require an air pump.

Man, I am still laughting at the guy that thought the spark plugs were hard to reach... :)

was the oil filter had to change for you too???bet the fuel filter will require a mechanic :)

and ditching all the emissions equipment on a street car is against the law and lame...

they're a hell of a lot harder to reach than pist-on engine sparkies are. i cut my hands up plenty redoing my plugs.

hehe damm just when I thought I was the only person who had tried this.... :)

A little bit of fallacy in here.
Catalytic convertors are a ceramic mesh with a rhodium and platinum alloy (35% platinum, 73% rhodium).

A catalyst (hence the name catalytic convertor) does not react in a reaction, it instead lowers the activation energy (and thus allows the gases to continue the oxidation reaction). No catalyst is used in a chemical reaction.

rhodium helps break NO and CO in CO2 and N2 via:
2NO (g) + 2CO (g) ---(rhodium)----> N2 (g) + CO2 (g)

platinum helps break CO an HC's (hydrocarbons) into CO2 and water via:
2CO (g) + O2 ---(platinum)---> 2 CO2 (g)
C7H16 (example HC) + 11 O2 (g)---(platinum)--->7CO2 + 8H2O(g)

The addition of Oxygen in the platinum reaction is the reason we need an airpump.

The platinum, rhodium nor its cermics can be consumed, only blocked. Certain additives, especially those containing lead, bond to the rhodium and platinum reaction sites, and prevent them from reaching exhaust gases to react. They are still intact, but unable to provide a reaction.

Too much oxygen has no effect, as it would just be in excess of the platinum reaction, or perhaps over-cool the ceramic (which needs 200 celsius or higher to activate), but this is doubtful. Too much oxygen will not burn out your cat.

Your errors: too much air will kill a cat.
Catalytic convertors will loose their potency. (they will work forever given proper conditions). They are not "charged".