The air pump annoys me because:
It weighs 10 pounds.
It “moo’s” into my Apexi intakes. (why does it feed back into it anyway?)

How much air does the cat really need? Would either of these ideas work as a lightweight replacement for the air pump?

1. Could the air be bled off the main turbo with a solenoid controlled air valve? I mean, what’s one more solenoid when you’ve already got 50 of them?

2. Why couldn’t you use the electricity to the air pump clutch to drive a lightweight 12vdc air pump?

I want to get rid of the air pump without affecting the effectiveness of the cat.

I am keeping my stock cat because:
1. I am a tree hugger
2. I can’t afford to upgrade the stock ECU

 

1. Keep the air pump.
2. Get a box-style intake.

Problem solved.

 

I think I am going to switch to a box intake, but I'd still like to get rid of the air pump.

 

It's not worth it unless you delete the cat. Without it you would be hard pressed to pass emission with the cat alone. Your cat will die young, and if I'm not mistaken it provide for some minor cooling of the engine as well.

 

There have been people (mostly single turbo guys) who have used C4 Vette electric airpumps. However, they aren't designed to run as much as a rotary one so they are really only handy to help emissions tests. The other problem would be mounting it. Unless you are a handy fabricator, this isn't one that's just going to bolt right up.

If you are really that concerned with keeping the stock cat and keeping the emissions "happy", you'll have to compromise and keep the airpump. There has been some talk about the newer metallic substrate cats doing well without airpumps (as far as emissions) but I have yet to see any real hard data on it yet.