A.I.R. Pump CRAP

[DonFrost]

Can I remove this junk from my car and at the same time hollow out the catylitic converter? Do I just plug the holes in the manifold with some bolts and weld the spots on my exaust where the AIR feeds to the cat? Anyone who has done this all and knows what is going on with it all please help!

[jdorour]

Don,
You can remove the AIR and the cat from the car with no problem as long as your car is not OBD2.
As you did not say what year car or what engine I will give you generic info. If you live in an area that requires visual inspection you will not pass the SMOG test. If you live in an area that requires only a test You have a 50/50 shot at passing. That said...
You can remove the pump and tubes from the engine. you can get brass 3/8 (If I remember right) NPT plugs to plug the holes in the manifolds. You can gut the CAT. The beed type used by GM in the 70's and early 80's can be a pain but all you have to do is take it off cut the baffel out of each end and dump it out. The later honeycomb type can be broken up with a pry bar or something like that.

Keeping in mind that a good high flow cat will not hurt performance. I would replace the OEM CAT with a good modern high flow design. The air pump takes less horsepower to run than the alt takes. There is really no need to pull it off. The equipment is not crap. It was installed for a reason - to reduce the emmissions.