Air pumps

[Doug T.]

Hi again. I'm going thru the engine bay, 87 w250 360, and I see it has 2 air pumps along with all the associated plumbing. Can I just get rid of it all or will that mess up the computer, timing, electric carb etc? Thanks. :help:

[sherdep]

When I was younger, My father had a van that had the air pumps and he took them off and capped off the plumbing but he installed Headers and it didnt effect the computer ....the computer was the little blue or orange box on the firewall, I want to say it was a 88 but I am not 100% sure ....... If your state does smog check's you will not pass emissions without them though.

[Doug T.]

Thanks for the reply. I'm not really worried about inspection, I'm more concerned about getting the truck to run good. Being that it's almost 20 years old, getting it back to factory spec including all the emissions switches, valves and whatever. Just might be too much trouble. Plus it seems thats the stuff that always fails first anyways. I just don't want to tear it all off and then find out I'll need it to make it run. Any more thoughts?

[sherdep]

I will ask my father when I see him today and get back to you ;)

[vestpuzzle1]

I own an '87 D150 I took it all off. It has the electric carb. It didn't affect it at all....R.V. :smokin:

[mgoblue9798]

The only thing the air pumps do is inject fresh air directly into the exhaust ports of the manifolds for emmissions reasons. Ditch them and pick up the 5-10 hp and mileage they are costing you. If I remember right the 87 360, doesn't it still have the lean burn computer in the breather? If so, after removing the air pumps, do yourself a favor and get an electronic ignition conversion kit from MP, or the necc parts scavenged to convert your ignition from the local pull a part. Again, mileage, hp, and believe it or not emmsions will all be improved. Just my 2 cents....

[Doug T.]

Thanks for the info. Could you give me a little more detail on the lean burn computer/breather you speak of. How can I tell if I have it?. And what is mp? Thanks

[mgoblue9798]

if you have an air cleaner tin that has a wiring harness that plugs into it then you have the lean burn ignition. MP is mopar performance.

[Doug T.]

I checked and there is no wires going to the air cleaner shroud. I have the quadrajet carb and dual pick-up distributer. On the firewall is a small black box I think they call spark control. Knowing this, should I go ahead and rip and tear? Also how do you feel about my distributer now? Thanks