I got the Hawk's SS Y pipe for OEM manifolds...very nice piece. Just one question what do I do with the air tube?

 

plumb it up to the air cleaner .... instant supercharger.

 

buy some headers

 

Just plug it. It can't "supercharge" anything!

 

Yeah I suspected that would be what people do/did. I plugged it on my 87' 15-20 years ago when I had that car. So I will just plug this one too, I was just curious if people left them open pumping air...didn't know if there would be any issues with that.

As for the other responses, I shouldn't be surprised by the useless responses prior to yours as every board has them. I guess I was assuming that prior to posting with off topic ideas that they would read the thread titles and associated signature. If they had they would have noticed that the topic thread did not ask whether or not I should buy headers or attempt to supercharge my car. Additionally if they had tried to come up with an intelligent response they would have noticed the 1K bhp TT Z06 in my sig. Not to mention the other Superchargers and Turbo chargers on the same car listed in my sig.

I purchased the OEM off road Y pipe because it is stupid IMO to put headers on a vehicle that has poor flowing heads, a small camshaft, and not enough intake to take advantage of the headers. Now when I swap out the heads and camshaft, that will be the time to go with some LT headers. Not interested in making anymore tq at a useless low RPM, that the LTs would offer. I like the power in the mid range and upper end...where it belongs. The reason for the off road Y pipe (besides that it is a nice OEM replacement piece) is that I suspect the cats are old and poor flowing and have an affect on my mpg as I daily drive the Firebird. I didn't just want to cut the cats out as I would like to retain as much of the stock pieces as possible on this particular car.

Just was wondering about options with the air tube and whether or not to plug or not...so thanks for your response!

 

Plug the tube coming out of the cat, but not the pump itelf. Or are you removing the pump? I'm not sure a pump would like having its outlet plugged. I'd think the backpressure build up wouldn't be very nice to a pumps internals. If you want a really clean look. Cut the tube off the cat, weld the hole shut & give the case a good sanding to blend in the weld. Maybe a high temp coat so that it doesn't look modified.

An afterthought....Just gut the TT Z06 & put the drivetrain in your 3rd gen!

 

just drill a hole in the exhaust and weld the pipe on

 

The sarcasm was lost on this one

 

LOL. I have a low mileage 01+ LS1 w/cam sitting in my garage. All LS1's after 01+ were basically LS6 minus the Heads and Cam...same case and intake. I didn't want to change the 91 Formula Bird too much...all though it would be bad *** and my 17 year old that I sold my 2000 Camaro to has been bugging me to death to do the LS1 swap. But I will probably just put an intake on it, and eventually do a H&C when it comes time to do a tear down.

Is there any harm in just letting the tube be cut off and blow air to atmosphere? I started the car yesterday and I dont feel any air coming out of the tube at all????

 

I think I need to back up & better understand which pipe your referring to. Nothing I've already is "wrong"...I just thing I might be confusing what you were referring to.

Use small words, so that I can understand.......

 

I have the stock exhaust manifolds (car is a 91' Firebird). I purchased the Hawk's SS Y pipe that connects to the stock exhaust manifolds and is essentially and off road "cat delete" or test pipe. The air tube runs down on the passenger side and then to a splitter block on the cats (splits the air tubes into two air tubes..one too each cat). I simply cut the air tube off...but have not plugged it yet. It seems that it would not hurt to let the air pump just keep pumping air out of the tube...right?

 

just drill a hole into the exhaust pipe and stick the air injection pipe in and weld it up. Or delete all the air injection stuff anyways since without a cat converter the rest of the system is useless and serves no purpose.

 

Wouldn't hurt a thing at all. Might even be a good idea NOT to plug it, since a smog pump would be pumping into a closed up tube. You leaving the smog pump & A.I.R. tubes on the manifolds? If your taking the tubes off the manifolds, you can go by Home Depot/Lowe's/ec. & buy 8 1/4" NPT plugs, to put in the manifold holes. Makes for a clean look, but also obvious that it has been modified.

My smog pump is gone, but the A.I.R. tubes are still on the manifolds, along with the little air diverter box. The hose that would connect to the pipe going to the cat, is just laying at the rear of the engine. Can't see the open end, so it all look untouched.

But despite my smog pump being gone (its in my shed now) my emmissions tests are WAY clean, thanks to a good engine & good Magnaflow cat.

 

Thanks you have described what I have well. I am just going to leave it open then. Who knows maybe I will do an STS kit someday.

 

Mine's been that way for a year or so now-no problems, no funny noises.

 

here a option, not as nice a hawks SS piece, but it allows you to keep air tubes hooked up. http://www.jegs.com/i/JEGS/555/31051/10002/-1?CT=999