OK, for most of you this will be an amazingly easy question to answer but what exactly is the A.I.R. sytem and how do I know I have it? Do it have something to do with that hole in my exhaust manifold going to my snorkel? My only understanding of it is that it deals with emissions and has something to do with the exhaust manifolds. I already performed a search on this and I got hundreds of results. I need to know #1-For more general knowledge about my car, #2-I need to know if should specify A.I.R. when I get my SLP headers. Thanks.

 

The AIR system takes a portion of burnt exhaust gasses and combines it with fresh air to which it directs it into the cat. This improves part throttle emissions and is necessary for a 3-way cat to function properly.


Your car was equipped with AIR from the factory. Whether or not it is still present on the car will have to be determined by you. Previous owners of these cars are notorious for removing the AIR and or removing portions of it, rendering it useless. However it is easy to find out. Look at your stock exhaust manifolds. Do you see tiny tubes that come up off of them and route towards the rear of your motor? If so you have the provisions for air. Next, looking under the hood and at the front accessories of the motor, see if there is an air pump on at the lower passenger side corner. If so look at the back side of it and notice if there is a tube that runs out of it and into a diverter valve on the passenger side valve cover. If all the plumbing is intact that chances are it is working properly. There should also be a thin metal tube that runs to your cat. If any one portion is removed than your system is not working.

Refer to this thread to see what a 305 TBI AIR system looks like.

If you have a visual inspection in your area than you will need to retain the AIR when ordering headers. Likewise, you will need it to pass the sniffer test. If not, than it is up to you to decide weather or not you want it. On an LO3 removing it will not throw a code or cause your car to run differently. It will pollute more though and can cause pre-mature cat failure (if you retain the stock or any other 3-way cat).

 

I really appreciate the info but it brings more questions to mind. What exactly is premature cat failure? If I removed the air pump connection, diverter valve, and everything else making up the A.I.R. system and put SLP non-A.I.R. shorties on would I gain more performance over using the A.I.R. shorties? I know for a FACT we have NO emission inspections so would you just go ahead and recommend taking it off? Thanks alot.

 

OK, just read a mess of stuff on the A.I.R system and it's deletion and have learned a whole lot. I think its deletion would definetly open up the engine bay and look cleaner but I still want to know about performance. Any difference with or without it other than weight??? And basically if I dont remove the smog pump it causes problems? When I got my Flowmaster put on the guy put basically a OE cat back on and routed the O2 tube back to it (I just checked). There's basically no way to delete a.i.r, and keep the same cat without the risk of it clogging. Can't I just run an offroad pipe in place of the cat when I delete a.i.r. and put on my headers? Will cat deletion make my car just straight up LOUD though? In that case I guess I'd have to suck it up and get a performance cat. Damn, this header/a.i.r. job is adding up. Who would of though it would cost $$ to delete something?

 

You will see no performance gains only a cleaner engine bay.

If you unplug the smog pump but leave it on the engine accessories it will seize up over time. I have had this happen on two LO3 cars. It is easy to remove and will only cost you the removal of two torx bits and a new serpentine belt.


It won't clog right away and it may never clog. There have been numerous cases where poeples 3 way cats clogged because they removed the AIR and made the cat function without the 3rd element.

Yes you can.


Yes it will be much louder and may be too obnocious with your headers and weak cam. I hated the sound of my stock LO3 without a cat.


You will even out in the end. You would not have wanted to run headers with the stock cat anyways. You would have been reducing a nice 3" y-pipe into a crap 2.25" crimpped cat. You can get a universal two way non AIR cat for under $50. The serpentine belt will run you another $20. That alone is almost the cost difference of AIR vs non-AIR headers.

 

Few more questions. We must remember, asking these questions and answering them in this discussion can at the same time be helping numerous people better understand their cars. I know I am getting annoying but I want to do this right. ONe question you didn't answer was if you recommend the delete. I mean, there is no performance gains. Do it or not? If I scrap the smog pump, do I put the delete pulley in I have read about and run the same size belt OR run this set-up......(click link)

https://www.thirdgen.org/newdesign/t...rpentine.shtml

Again, what would you recommend.
Plus, can you tell me where to find a two-way cat w/o air under 50$. (links, companys,etc.)

 

You are not annoying at all. We learn by asking questions. You are fine.


This is a tough one. You can install a new 3" exhuast without AIR for less money than a system that retains it. So from a cost stand point I recomend getting rid of it on your LO3. I also think that removing it makes your engine bay look "cleaner". However, I can respect those that want to keep it in favor of cleaner emissions (with certian combos you can pass the sniffer without AIR).

Check out Ebay for 3" universal two ways cats as well as looking at Carsounds product line.

Here is a picutre of my LO3 with headers, an open element and AIR delete.

 

I think you're mixing the function of EGR with A.I.R.

EGR takes exhaust gases and mixes it with the intake charge at part throttle to reduce combustion temps and formation of NOx pollutants. A.I.R. puts air into the exhaust stream to increase the availability of oxygen to mix with unburnt fuel and improve catalytic converter function. The diverter system "diverts" the air flow to either the exhaust manifolds or the catalytic converter, whichever needs it in the conditions experienced.

 

This is what I meant but I stated it poorly.

 

ShiftyCapone your engine looks awesome I too am eventually going to go with the strut tower brace and open element. What open air element set-up did use use (height, diameter, and it's price. Looks to be the K&N. So did you use the GMPerformance delete pulley in your L03? It looks like your belt setup is the same but I know you have deleted the a.i.r so you must have taken out the air pump.

 

If only you saw it now. Yikes!

I started out with the Summit Racing drop base 14x3 element. I later added a 14x3 K&N filter and Lid. I did that for looks only. The open element was only like $20 but the K&N stuff combined was over $100. Not worth the price unless you want the look. At that time I did.

I did not use any delete pulley. I changed the route of my serpentine belt which required a longer belt (part number escapes me). There is a tech article on the main page as well as numerous threads that cover this in detail. I cannot find the picture I had that illustrated the modified belt route but you can find one with a quick search.

 

I found it.

 

Thank you. The part of helping other people is right. I have the air system but it goes back to after market cat. Air system is there but has been deleted. Also, everyone talkes about serpentine belts. I have an 87 with 3 belts. One for power steering, on for A/c and one for air pump, whats up with that?

 

You have one of the last v-belt cars. They switched to a single serpentine set-up in '88 IIRC.

 

, a thread hijacker...!

 

What a thread hijacker Five. I thought this was a open forum.

 

If I take off my air system, will it mess up my catco direct replacement cat?

 

Not immediately, but eventually it could cause cat fauilure because of unburnt fuel clogging the cat. This wouldn't be an issue if you had a two-way cat, but with a direct replacement cat it is a three-way and will probably clogg eventually. However, ShiftyCapone is running a three-way with A.I.R. delete and hasn't experienced any cat problems. It sounds like you have already replaced your OE cat with the Catco and probably other exhaust mods, but if you plan on doing a header/y-pipe set-up, wait to delete the air if you want. No performance gains will occur when you do but you will have to get either a two-way cat or off-road(no cat). So wait until you spend some cash on headers,y-pipe, etc to blow more on another cat.

 

Initially no, I have not seen any problems but I do not have a long tem diagnosis yet. I only have about 2k miles on my car running this way. It is too premature to predict its fate. So far so good but I doubt it lasts.

 

Ok so really I should just keep the AIR system?

 

your decision really.

i'd just ditch it and put a pipe where the cat goes.

 

Yeah but emissions really screws me.