Lethalv6

Has anyone ever gutted an egr/air pump on an 86 ? I haven't pulled it but know it's bad, wondering if I can gut the inside and replace some bearings to achieve stock looks with spending $120 for a new one.

W.E.G.

I wonder what would happen if you just run a different belt that does not utilize the AIR pump?

Seems to me if you want to preserve the AIR pump for emission inspection, you could just leave the pump in place.

Not completely sure whether you might need to remove JUST THE PULLEY on the AIR to permit the new belt-routing.

Also, I don't know whether the AIR pump has an internal valve system that keeps the exhaust gas from passing through the conntector lines from the exhaust manifold, and entering the AIR pump if the pump is not actively blowing air from the pump into the exhaust manifold. It would probably suck if the exhaust gas started filling the area under your hood via the AIR lines.

Assuming no back-flow of exhaust through the pump with no pulley, you can keep the pulley and the old belt, and throw it on for a couple hours whenever you have to get it inspected.

Belt routing article on this forum at https://www.thirdgen.org/serpentine/

NoEmissions84TA

iTrader: (1)

How about replacing the air pump pulley with a pulley that incorporates its own bearing?
That way only the pulley would spin, instead of the shaft and internal guts of the air pump.

W.E.G.

I think that's where he got the $120 number.

The delete-pulley costs in that ballpark.
I have no idea where you would get a new-replacement AIR pump.

Drew

iTrader: (58)

86 are V-belt, just pop off the belt that drives the pump - Done.

Lethalv6

Thanks a ton for all the info, I honestly didn't think about the backpurge of exhaust...right now I have the belt removed and since it only feeds the air pump everything else works fine. The oreillys of the world have replacements in stock but I thought maybe folks have done the gut work before.

l_dis_travlr

All that being said, an 86 model in TX qualifies for an antique registration, that eliminates emission inspections. Some restrictions apply, but are not rigorously enforced. I can provide the form number from TDMV if interested.