I have a 1987 Iroc-Z Camaro and I hear that the smog pump robs power and I should remove it but what does it do? Second question, if I remove it will my car run right? Please help me out, Thx

The smog pump blows clean air into the exhaust to reduce tailpipe emissions. It uses almost no horsepower.

It's main purpose is to take up space in my precious engine bay. Makes a good door stop though.

You can bypass it easily if removed. There is a tech article on what belt to buy and how to route it, however apeiron is right it does not take much horsepower maybe 1-2 not enough to notice, but weight and cleaniness is important to some people.

hey my car doesn't have a serpentine belt its got 2 seperate belts so can I just unbolt it and ditch the belt? and do I need to remove the cat if I do this?

Close but not quite.

The smog pump blows clean air into the exhaust until the engine reaches operating temperature. Once the exhaust gets hot enough, the extra air isn't required to lower tailpipe emissions and a valve opens to divert the air away from the exhaust. It's only purpose is to reduce exhaust emissions of a cold engine. Think of it as a cold engine normally runs rich. Any unburnt fuel goes out the exhaust. Extra air is added to the exhaust to lean out that raw fuel in the exhaust which lowers emissions. An O2 sensor may keep the system in an open loop longer without the smog pump.

I took mine off my truck years ago and my TBI system never knew it was missing. The downside of the pump is that once they get moisture in them, they will seize up. It uses little to no hp but once it seizes, it will eat a belt. It also adds unneeded weight to the car.

Not quite again.

Once the engine goes to closed loop control, the air is diverted directly to the cat where it supplies extra oxygen for converting CO to CO2.

If you remove the belt, block off the tubes on the exhaust. As Stephen said, they will freeze up, and if you remove the belt and leave the rest hooked up to the exhaust, expect it to freeze up. Ask me how I know.

The other thing the pump can do is crankcase evacuation. . .

when mine went sounded like the water pump,has that knocking kinda sound,good thing removed b4 the bearing seized!

The GM smog pumps need to be modified to be crankcase evac systems. The inlet is in the front behind the pulley which isn't an easy way to run an inlet hose 2. The Ford pumps are more popular since they have an inlet and outlet port.

get rid of it! it does take energy away from the engine....with age they can seize and burn up the belt! it happened to me. when i removed the belt, the car picked up some power! i still passed emissions...

Good luck being able to quantify that energy loss on the dyno or at the drag strip.

So on my 87 Tpi engine, it can just be removed and the ECU will not be bothered at all?
Not worried about the HP, but it would be nice to have better access to the engine.

http://www.thirdgen.org/techboard/ex...i-run-tpi.html

Only 175 posts to date.

So what is the simplest way of blanking off the inlets on the manifolds? just a bolt in each hole?

While when I worked for BMW they did a test on smog pumps and they came up with a loss of .7 of 1 HP.

Auggie

some people crimp the tube about an inch above the manifold

You know I think you don't think you have to do anything because of the check valves.

Auggie

I doing a smog removal on my 86 Iror z mostly because of all the space they take up, im also removing the Cat, no emission controls in WV =). It can give a small amount of HP back, buck to really get some decent Hp put new headers on it.

Wow, you bumped a thread from 2 years ago Good on you for using the search function though! I am getting ready to do an AIR delete also, so I have been sifting through the posts. There is a really good sticky with a pictoral guide in the exhaust forum.

Actually, federal law applies to all 50 states, and federal laws say you cannot remove or disable the emissions devices on any street vehicle.

Please keep the cat on your car by replacing it with an aftermarket "high-flow" cat. You'll keep the air clean and help keep the smog-nazis from having California emissions standards in every state.

i also have 2 belts rather than a serpentine belt. how do i remove my smog pump? i really want the extra space in my engine compartment
and it seems my smog pump has been dumping carbon into the combustion chamber and it is causing it to diesel a little bit. maybe its not the pump but i have replaced a whole lot of crap in my car and retarded my distrubuter and it keeps dieseling so im just trying to eliminate the variables one at a time.

any advice is appreciated!

How do you keep the cat from burning up if you remove the smog pump?

this is quite old but i have to know. where is the article at for the different belt i need to know, my smog pump is shot and i burn belts pretty fast i dont want to buy another since im on historic tags

Tech articles

http://www.thirdgen.org/serpentine

a bolt would probably suffice, but you can go to about any auto parts store and get some plugs, i forget the proper name for them but they are pretty cheap.

but yeah it really doesn't hurt or harm the engine much. my car had most of it removed when i got it, i just took the tubes off of the manifolds. if you want a little more room then it wouldn't hurt if u removed everything.

They use a pipe thread, not a regular bolt thread. You have to use pipe plugs to block the holes.

People need to think a little bit before removing this stuff. Very little HP is lost on a streetcar by deleting this stuff. NC used to not inspect for any of that. Now they do and so are other states joining the emissions testing and inspection. If you delete the emissions equipment, add carburetors or after market EFI without an EGR you are just asking for headaches down the road.

Mine was very easy on an '86. Cut the belt and remove the pump and unnecessary brackets. Unbolt all 8 of the air injectors on the exaust manifold, plug them with pipe plugs from hardware store (take one of the fittings with you that you took off the manifold). Remove hoses from coolant switch, remove and plug vacuum lines that go to diverter and carb, run straight run of hose from pvc to carb. Disconnect vacuum line to exaust valve and leave it open. I then had to unbolt air tube connected to rear exaust bolt and cut off the 1/2" tube to cat. My cat did not leak air as I thought it would, but you could throw a bolt in there if you wanted. I later removed the cat and hammered a steel rod through it until all the catylist crumbled and fell out. I then put the "empty cat" back on just in case a visual inspection. I then cut off factory muffler and bolted on a "thrush welded" exaust dumped in front of rear axle...Damn! sounds good, feels way better, runs better, and looks much better under the hood, and I can change my plugs without cutting up my hands. Don't know about codes on an '86, pulled the bulb out a long time ago. Not one problem after six months.

So going by the federal law, is it illegal to replace the factory engine with something completely mechanical? After all, removing the engine would be the ultimate removal of all emissions devices.

ok, so i just cut the belt off of my smog pump. i had 3 separate belts so I just cut that. my question is, can I just take the pump off? I'm in eastern NC and don't know the laws here completely. if nothing else in theory couldn't I just take it off and then when my car goes in for inspection put it back on real fast like? or is it difficult to take off/put on?

In NC if you disable the emissions you will fail the inspection. That means you will not get your tag sticker until you fix the problem. Yes you can find that place that people go to in your area to get it inspected that doesn't check. BUT, NC does crackdowns and then go after the car owners. If your car passes the test again all is good if not you will pay a hefty fine.

That pump does not hurt you in any way. Leave it on pass the test so you won't have to worry. If you was racing the car where you needed every ounce of power that's one thing. But if that was the case it would not be a street driven car anyway. For a street driven car it's not worth the time and hassle.

Motermouth has a point. The smog pump is a "cheater" in that it pumps fresh air into the exhaust, and only uses 1-2 hp tops. Keep it on IMO.

When I worked for BMW they said that smog pump losses were .7 tenths of 1 HP.

Auggie

i just gutted mine and she works fine. no hp loss and didnt need to get a new belt

where can i find headers that will work with the smog pump and if i take mine off can i pass emissions in az without it? i hae an 83 camaro

Even an idler pulleys still require power to turn, so yes, you're still losing power and consequently illegal

Im curious how you "gutted" one as well. Ive opened one up and there isnt much to take out. The bearings actually ride on the mechanism containing the vanes, so removing it prevents you from reassembling the pulley. Solve that hurdle and you'll find the shaft doesnt go through the pump completely, so chalk up a custom shaft and bearings. By then you'll wonder why you didnt just take it off and use a shorter belt before failing visual inspection

white83, use any header with air tubes. Almost all shorties offer with and without versions