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Topic: Air Pump Tube - What To Do With It? (Read 1189 times) previous topic - next topic

Air Pump Tube - What To Do With It?

I am a new owner of an '88 Cougar LS 5.0 with 47K original miles.  The first thing that I did was put a "true" dual exhaust on the car.  I now have the air pump tube that once pumped air into the exhaust hanging free.  For those of you that have made a similar mod, what have you done with this tube?

88 Cougar LS 5.0

Air Pump Tube - What To Do With It?

Reply #1 –
The H-pipe I used had a place to connect the air pump tube.  I shortened the air pump tube with a saw and then used a rubber heater hose to connect it to the tube sticking out of the H-pipe.  It's been working fine for a couple years now.
-Jim
1987 Cougar LS 5.0

Air Pump Tube - What To Do With It?

Reply #2 –
Free the car of the smog pump and related hoses, then you don't have to worry about it.
Project 3G: Grandpa Grocery Getter-'85 Crown Vic LTD 2-door, 351W with heavily ported/polished GT40 heads, heavily ported/polished Typhoon Power Plus upper & lower intake, Comp Cams 265DEH retarded 1*, FAST EZ-EFI, HD T5, 8.8" 3.73 trac lock with extra clutches, 3G alt. swap, '99 CVPI front brakes, '09 CVPI rear disc brakes, '00 CVPI booster&m/c + wilwood adj prop valve.

Parted & Gone-'88 T-bird Sport, 351W swap, ported GT40 heads

Air Pump Tube - What To Do With It?

Reply #3 –
I pulled mine out.

You can connect it like Jim did or you could fully remove the smog stuff. It depends primarily on your local emissions standards.

Air Pump Tube - What To Do With It?

Reply #4 –
Since I had custom dual exhaust installed and I had to have cats I just had the exhaust shop weld a "Y" between the two cats and connect the air pump tube to it. It's worked fine now for 2 years and I've passed emissions no problem.
88 Thunderbird LX: 306, Edelbrock Performer heads, Comp 266HR cam, Edelbrock Performer RPM intake, bunch of other stuff.

Air Pump Tube - What To Do With It?

Reply #5 –
Thanks for the tips.  Since I need to go back and have the ordered tailpipes installed I'll have them connect to air tube to the H-pipe.

88 Cougar LS 5.0

Air Pump Tube - What To Do With It?

Reply #6 –
If you want to keep the air pump working for the swirl ports on the heads, but not working for the catalytic converters, just cut the lower hose from the diverter on the passenger side of the engine bay so only a few inches are coming out, find a nice bolt that fits inside, put a radiator clamp around the hose where the bolt is, and you're done. You would still have to remove the metal tube that used to go to the Y-pipe, if you haven't already done that.

Air Pump Tube - What To Do With It?

Reply #7 –
Quote from: EricCoolCats
If you want to keep the air pump working for the swirl ports on the heads, but not working for the catalytic converters, just cut the lower hose from the diverter on the passenger side of the engine bay so only a few inches are coming out, find a nice bolt that fits inside, put a radiator clamp around the hose where the bolt is, and you're done.


Wouldn't that cause the pump to push against a dead head and increase pump power?
 

Air Pump Tube - What To Do With It?

Reply #8 –
That's the beauty of it...since there's a hex head on the bolt, some air gets past it to relieve the pressure. If it was a totally round head then no air could escape and there'd be backpressure. Everything therefore continues to work normally. I've had that setup on several cars for many, many years with no air pump or diverter failures.