Hi All -

After all these years of keeping everything on the car stock I've finally decided I'd like to improve performance a little bit by installing headers and a new exhaust system. First thing first though is to remove the a.i.r. system/smog pump and related piping.

I've thoroughly researched many previous posts on this topic regarding how to do this so I generally understand all the parts and pieces. So far I've removed the diverter box and associated rubber tubing and I've removed the pump pulley and the pump.

The struggle I'm having is disconnecting the air tubing from the manifolds. I was able to loosen the first two nuts from the drivers side but that's it. I'm struggling to get a wrench on any of those on the passenger side. Any advice for how to loosen these up would be greatly appreciated. I've sprayed PB Blaster on all the fittings. The biggest issue is accessibility. At many of the fittings the manifold itself limits access as well as the tubing itself.

My last question is how to remove the air tubing that goes around the back of the engine. A diagram I have shows two brackets hold this in place. I can see the bracket on the passenger side but I don't see the one on the drivers side. I can see any fasteners as again access is extremely tight. How have you guys been able to get this pipe out?

Thanks in advance for all the help!

 

Leave the AIR pipes in the manifolds. Unless you heat em with a torch, they probably arent coming out willingly. More likely you'll just destroy them trying and bust a knuckle. Pull the entire manifold, put them in a box with all related hardware and store in a safe place for a rainy day. If you really want to get crazy, put a note with the old parts explaining what they are, so down the line you'll remember, or whoever finds them will have a clue.

The hard line used in the mid-80s is bolted to the rear of the heads. At least one of the tabs is slotted so the bolt only has to be loosened. Still, this is the back of the head, and IIRC the studs/bolts are shared with a few ground wires, making the a pain to remove. GM bolted the pipe to the engine before setting the body on the engine. You're looking at a fight however you choose to approach removing the pipe.

 

Thanks for the quick reply Drew. Mine is a 1988 but still has the hard pipe. Did they at some point switch to all rubber? In some posts a few people have said they were able to remove all the A.I.R./smog components in 20 minutes without taking off the manifolds.

if makes sense to remove the manifolds like you said vs. fighting to remove the air tubing only. I have read how it can be difficult to loosen the bolts holding the manifolds. Are the bolts a little more accessible? Are some better accessed from below the car?

Thanks again for the reply.

 

I'm currently in the same boat as you kfsullivan, I have removed the canister, the pump and the diverter valve, I'm wanting to remove the hard pipe to make access to the spark plugs a little bit easier and to clean up the engine bay. Also trying to figure out what to do with the wires and plugs that were attached to the diverter and canister. any info on this subject would be awesome. It seems as if there are a ton of posts on this subject but all of them leave out some really needed info.

 

Jworks, I finally got all the small air tubes removed from the manifolds. I used a 9/16" flare nut wrench (also called a "line" wrench) to better grip the brass fitting that connects the pipe to the manifold. I was able to use the wrench on the three front most nuts on each side but the back one on each side I ended up cutting off using a multi-tool as I just could find no way to attach the wrench and have any clearance to turn the nut.

The other 6 were a pain as it was and each took a while to remove. I was hoping not to cut these as I'm saving the parts just in case, but I saw no other way. I did cut these off with some room to spare so in the future if desperate to put them back on I could possibly cobble/weld it back together.

The metal tubing that goes around the back of the engine for now is still in place. When I install my new headers and exhaust I will look closer at if I can remove this or otherwise may cut it off to hide from view.

The two electrical leads I have just tucked away under the plenum out of site.

I ordered a pulley delete from Amazon instead of buying a different belt. I didn't like the look of the "empty" space below from AC compressor where the air pump was. The delete fit perfectly with no modifications necessary.

I like the cleaner look of the engine bay! Good luck with yours!

 

thank you for the reply, I'm going to try to get to it more tonight or this weekend, I have about 5 projects going on under the hood at a time so I kinda gather information about one or the other and work on it as I go. it looks like I should be able to get to all of the passenger side fittings (or at least the front 3) without a problem. did you use any kind of penetrating oil or heat them up or did you brute force them? and which 2 electrical leads? I had 2 on my canister and 2 on the pump itself. lastly, I have the 3 belt arrangement, so when I pulled the pump out I just removed the 1 belt.

 

Jworks, I did spray PB Blaster to all the fittings the night before. My fittings would start turning without too much problem, however the treads to pretty far into the manifold so it takes awhile to get each one out as you can only get about 1/16 to 1/8 of a turn each time due to clearance restrictions with the wrench. It's a little bit back breaking after awhile but ultimately they come out. Just take your time.

The only electrical leads I had were at the diverter. I just rolled it up and zip tied it and then tucked it out of view under the plenum. I did not have any lead coming off the pump or elsewhere. Surprised an '87 would.

Here's a link to a guy's blog who did the same thing on an '89 Formula. Mine is pretty much the same as what you see on this page except as I mentioned I could not get the back ones out with cutting.

http://motorcitymuscle.blogspot.com/...9-pontiac.html

Hope it goes well.

 

As a last resort, cut the tubing and use a 6 point box wrench on the nuts. If they will not break free, then you will have to use the "blue wrench" (torch). You should be able to find tube nut plugs at NAPA. Use high temp anti-seize on the threads.