Air Pump Removal Question
 

I was browsing a local speed shop in my town and they have a block off plate for my na 86 rx7. I was wondering if i remove the air pump system if it will hurt the performance of my car or make it run worse/ cause any problems? If you have any info or advice for me please let me know thanks

as for parasitic horse power draw from the pump if the pump is working properly there is very little draw, maybe 1hp. I believe the air pump is used in the activation of the 5th and 6th ports if those are not working properly you will notice a loose in performance. so quick answer if it working fine then why remove it

i was just wondering it was a cheap part and something for me to do to be honest.. but this wont cause any trobles if i do decide to remove it?? is there anything else i would need to do besides a block off plate if i remove the air pump?? my car does sputter at 3500 rpm and then backfires a big boom when i let off the gas would this be an indication of a bad air pump? or something else going wrong?? your advice is much appreciated

anyone else have any advice for me??

with more research i found that on the s4 the 5th and 6th ports use back pressure from the exhaust. The airpump is used for emissions purposes but being that your from north carolina i dont think that will be to big of a deal. The air pump also supplies air to the air control valve which is what you were planning to block off. the air control valve supplies this air to other sources, which i would think would need to be dealt with in some sort of way.As for your 3500 rpm problem you may want to check proper operation of the 5th and 6th ports this can be done by apply grease to the rod right by the actuator because the actuator retracts if you go out driving and increase to over 4k the grease should get smugged. if the grease does not smudge well then its not working correctly. Is your car completly stock do you have an aftermarket exhaust

my guess is your backfiring wouldn't be due to the air pump. the air pump is useful on NA FC's and FC's with catalytic converters, many of ours no longer have cats and many of ours are 13Bt motors as opposed to straight 13B (though I think the stamps on the block are the same). if you have an NA motor it won't hurt much but performance and maybe a little on gas mileage to remove the air pump. if you have a turbo motor go ahead and pull it off.

edit: oh, I guess if you have cats on there you prly shouldn't pull the pump. your cats would be more likely to overheat and then explode and or clog.

as for your hesitation.... check the ground for your ECU under the UIM. This is often referred to as 3800rpm hesitation. Your tachometer is off by 300 rpms (mine too!) This could also be a problem with the secondary fuel injectors as well. They kick in at......yup......3800rpms.

And IMO, removing the air pump is a great idea if you have removed the cats. The engine can only suck in the amount of air that it blows out. air input = air output. So, without that air pump restricting the exhaust, you get more air in = more power! Everyone knows this I'm sure.... but I just wanted to get it out there.

i have an intake and a full 3 inch exhaust from the header back there arent any cats on my car so the cats obviously wouldnt over heat.. to be honest the car didnt start to sputter until i put the exhaust and the intake on the car but i will check the ground on the ecu and the accuator to see if they are working correctly/ tightened.. So if i remove the air pump it will decrease my perfromance?? if u have any other advice to help my car quit supptering that would be great thanks again for the advice

Wow, no one really knows what the air pump is primarily used for i guess and how it helps.

The air pump is mainly used to supply fresh air to the CATs for emmisions. Mazda also decided to use its pressure on Series5 to open up the AUX ports and VDI port. On Series 4 your ports open up with exhaust pressure. With low restrictive exhaust system, you may have to use other means of operating the ports.

The air pump does not restrict exhaust flow. The catalytic converters do.

Remove the catalytic converters and install a cat replacment pipe. Remove the ACV and install a block off plate. Some may suggest running a "yahoo belt" or a dual alt pulley so there is more contact with the water pump pulley. This is mainly done to reduce the slippage on the water pump pulley due to only one belt being present. Many have nothad issue with the water pump slipping, others have. Its up to you.

This only happen while holding the revs at 3500 in neutral, crusing, under load? Mine doesn't sputter, it just makes a lot of poping noises in the exhaust while around that rpm and under. Never understood why. The large backfire could be excesive fuel. Make sure your TPS connector is clean and making good contacts and also make sure yout TPS is set correctly. I have had a few times the TPS connector act up on me and make the engine sputter and backfire and actually stop the engine immediatly.

Wow, way to knock down everyone in this thread and totally ignore how the air pump's primary purpose has been mentioned more than once.:icon_no2:

yea..... by supplying fesh air to the cats via the exhaust pipe..... you restrict airflow from the engine.

the car only sputters on a load usually after half- to full throttle it runs fine if you are just easing in to the gas as for a double belt for the alternator would ii have to get a diff alternator pulley for mine?? well i am assuming i would any suggestions on where to get one at a decent price?? also i have been reading threads on the compression of the engine what is excellent compression i have been told that compression is good until it starts to drop below 60psi

as a general rule for compression in terms of psi:
110-120: excellent
100-110: good
90-100: decent
80-90: still running
<80: needs rebuilt

so i fixed the sputtering on my car after studying the factory service manual on the air pump i noticed the split air line that runs to the cat off of the air control valve.. since my car has no cats on it now i was wondering where it was running so to make a long story short when i got my exhaust done the guy had just cut the line and stuffed it into a part of my frame rail... kinda pissed me of but after getting it out i plugged the line with a bolt and welded it around the bolt now the car runs great again.. so my question is now will this cause any harm with that line pluged?? like i said it the split air line off of the acv.. i just know it made one heck of a diff in the car no more sputtering and it feels super smooth again..

Did the exhaust guy fabricate in the smaller pipe used to actuate the 5th and 6th ports. which i had mentioned above under about 3psi backpressure from the exhaust open. It seems like your arnt working right. With no cats and the oversized exhaust i dont think you would be able to create that much pressure even if he did install the pipes. That is probably the cause of your hestitation. the backfiring your adding much more fuel with the secondary injectors firing and if the 5th and 6th ports arnt opening not much more air. The fuel is igniting in your exhaust....maybe im not sure. I told you how to test the 5th and 6th ports earlier. If they are not operating you are loosing performance.. PS 3 in is very very large for an NA your also going to loose low end scavaging from the excessive size.

i was just planning ahead as i have a 13bre that i am planning on runnin in the car that is the reason for the 3 inch exhaust i am just trying to make the car run good until i can get the motor finished but my hesitation is gone and now the car is runnin good?? no he didnt fab the slplit air line back into the exhaust system like i said it was cut and crammed into the frame rail but like i said i plugged this line.. so far i havent had any problems back out of the car its running great again so i am assuming its not having an effect on anything

also would my car benefit from an safc? i do think it is runnin rich as i can smell the gas in the exhaust will the safc with tune help to fix this problem??

I think all stock RX-7's would benefit from an SAFC... apparently they run pig rich at many points. I just bought an SAFCII, I'll be learning a lot about all that very soon.

:uhh: No

13B = Non Turbo
13BT = Turbo

I don't know about you, but I see more n/a engines then turbo engines.

I don't know if you made a typo here, but it's sounding like you are saying, removing the air pump will hurt performance and fuel milage?

If you have CATs, removing the air pump will allow the CATs to clog up and your performance will suffer along with your fuel millage. Removing the air pump and removing the CATs, will not hurt your fuel millage or performance. You have the possibility of gaining performance and possibly millage.

Your right is has, but with phrases stating you will loose performance removing it.

on in s5 you will loose performance because of the operation of the 5th and 6th ports and vdi on the s4 not a big deal. in theory i can see how the person mentioned about the airpump creating air in the exhaust therefore taking up the space that the engine exhaust . but its not going to make a difference first because the exhaust is just going to push that air out. second the airpump not going to be pumping into the exhaust when your looking for that power its more used to warm up the cat during first start up. But on a s4 removing the cats are going to hurt performance because the back pressure from the cat is going to open the 5th and 6th port in proper operation....

Right, since he has a S4, we don't have to worry :)

If removing the air pump would give you all this extra power from not restricting the exhaust, it would be listed as a "mod". I see his point too, but its not "restricting" the exhaust as he mentioned. Remember the CAT is wide and though it has a bunch of little holes and not one larger empty one, the air from the air pump would make no difference in restriction/power at all.

I believe the most restriction in the exhaust is the mufflers. I removed my cats and kept the stock muffs and gained almost nothing. I removed the muffs and put on ebay junk (thats is no longer on) and it was akick in the ass about 4000 rpm.

Greetings from Greece.

I have a S5 FC3C Turbo and I am about to remove my air pump too. I noticed that there is a label on the pump that says "NEVER REMOVE.NO OILING".

What does "No oiling" mean???
Does it refer to the oil injection in the engine???

If you remove the air pump do you have to premix???

I thank you in advance.

I think it means you don't have to oil the pump. And I don't think it should affect oil injection unless the OMP uses some fresh air to operate, but I don't see why it would...

and the "never remove" refers only to emissions right??