So christmas has come and gone and santa brought me a few really fun new things. A shiny new water pump to replace the leaking one - though after looking it appears that the current one may be leaking because of a broken bolt near the bottom. Some prayers to the car gods that theres enough left of it to easily remove are much appreciated. Also I got a nice electric fan to replace the belt driven one. Mine was all cracked and icky. I bought a metal blade to replace the plastic one but it doesnt fit right so im done playing that game and electric it is.

This all means that I need to remove that fan shroud to make the necessary adjustments for the new fan, and that will make getting the water pump out a little easier.

This leads me to the air pump - now I think I understand its function. I guess its meant to help get the cats up to temp faster or something. From everything I have ready though the systems are rarely functional and I am wondering how bad it would be for the running of the engine if I was to just remove it. Now I know that it shares a belt with the AC and at the moment that system is not functional so I don't care about that belt. I've read a few things about replacing the air pump with a gm alternator and that sounds like a solid plan when I get to caring about the AC. So I'd like some general thoughts on air pump removal, good, bad, indifferent.

 

It depends on your state. The air pump is part of the emissions system, so removing it has some legal ramifications. Some states care, some don't. California really cares, I'd guess Georgia doesn't, but you'll need to do the research on that yourself.

I removed the air pump on my car after someone else removed most of the other air injection components. The car has aged out of the smog checks in both New Hampshire and Massachusetts, the states I can see myself living in, so I'm not too concerned with it. If you do remove it, there are two pipes along the intake manifold that can be removed. Plug the holes afterwards as this goes directly into the exhaust. I did replace the air pump with a GM alternator at the same time I installed electric fans. Went from four belts to two, which feels like an improvement.

 

Some areas of georgia, like those closer to atlanta, can be strict about emissions, but where I live there is no testing.

 

Mechanically, as opposed to legally, removing the pump will affect nothing. You pull all the bits you can nget at and leave the pipes you cannot. You need to block off the holes into the manifold where the injection pipes went in, and you are done. A quick tap and a nice Allen headed bolt will do nicely for that.

 

With Greg on the air pump.

That water pump lower bolt, MAY BE the infamous countersunk Philips Setscrew, so be aware of that when digging in.

Good luck.

 

lol I am noticing there are quite a few infamous things on this car. Infamous and dreaded lol. If theres a countersunk set screw in a bottom hole it is very possible thats exactly what it is and I just couldnt see it. I was expecting bolts all around so I didn't even consider that a different type of fastener could be in there. I will know soon enough - that is my next project after i get this fan shroud out. If I can get these little phillips head screws to come out

 

You were absolutely right about that phillips head bolt being the fastener i was talking about. It was mangled beyond recognition in what i believe was an attempt by the previous owner to over tighten everything to try and make up for the fact that they didn't install a gasket. After about 20 minutes of cursing and bleeding and a little bit of hammering I was able to get a torx bit to grab enough to break it loose. After that it came out fine. Infamous lol I see why.

 

To be pedantic, its Pozidriv not Philips. Which is probably why its so mangled. Someone tried to use a Philips driver on it. A set of Pozi screwdrivers is essential on this car.

Treat yourself to a new screw. After all its Christmas!
https://www.sngbarratt.com/English/#...20Id%202639449

 

I might try to source an acceptable replacement locally. 6 dollars shipping on a 1.52 item makes my brain itch lol

 

Woah big spender!
I think it's a PZ #4 from memory.

As said, no problem removing the air pump. In the UK it isn't even fitted - A big pulley used to tension the AC belt is in its place.

 

Every workshop, home mechanic etc needs some of these.