You have to cap the air pump solenoid.

 

Thanks, I figured as much. Couldn't imagine anything good coming from it remaining open.

 

if you don't have a gutted cat or midpipe will it hurt to go ahead and delete it anyway?cleaning my ssv and apparently the previous owner stripped a bolt on the piece on top of the pipe. I can fix it but if I don't need it I'll make a block off plate and call it a day.as far as I know its a factory cat.no cel on for a gutted cat. Don't want a cel but the extra space would work great for my catch can I ordered.

 

yes it will hurt. The purpose of the air pump is to feed fresh air into the rich mixture of the cold engine so that it doesn't damage the catalyst material.

 

Is there a do it yourself video or picture tutorial on replacing the smog pump? I saw the pic about the removing of box, but is there a step by step link. I want to make sure I do it the right way since I'm knew on DIY stuff.

 

Maybe a dumb question, but will you pass the MOT without air pump and with CAT (only for MOT), also is there a possibility that CAT might be damaged without it?

 

^You should be ok if the car is fully warmed. The air pump for rx8s works only when the car is cold. Maybe some with more experience on emission testing could give you a definite answer. The states I have lived while being in the US do not require a sniff test.

As far as your CAT question if you warm up the car while driving and not letting it to warm up while idling the CAT should be ok. There are other more important factors than a failing air pump that could cause CAT issues.

 

The purpose is to feed oxygen into the rich exhaust stream which lights off and heats the cat converter faster bringing it up to emissions efficiency sooner

 

Im sure it's already been answered, but what should I do with the vacuum line? Cap it on the end of the line? or trace it back and cap it there? Does it honestly matter as long as it gets capped?

 

as long as it gets capped. I removed the line and capped at the source

 

Can anyone tell me the dimensions for the block off plate , I would like to make my own

 

+1 On that. Could always take off the pump and measure myself, but that seems like a lot of work

 

You can make one easily out of 6mm steel plate or similar. It needs to be roughly this shape:




The stud holes are exactly 50mm between centres. Mine looks like this:





Hope that helps


Phil

 

The Racing Beat one only cost like $10.00.

 

Over here in 'rip-off Britain' they are equivalent to 25 of your dollars. Still fairly cheap but it's nice to make things. I popped in to the machine shop in work for a scrap of plate and the guy wouldn't let me leave until he had made it for me, for free.

 

when you unbolt the air valve tube from the exhaust manifold the metal gasket makes a perfect template for laying out your own cover plate.

 

I'm in the process of putting the air pump back on to go get my emissions tested this month. I put the air pump back in about a week ago, but didn't connect it to the air solonoid. I also did not install the pipe that runs to the header because I am lazy and have an OBX header that doesn't have the port for the secondary air injection. So far Secondary Air still registers as "Not Ready". Today I am going to take the UIM off and connect the air pump to the air solonoid. Should this be enough to make the air pump ready for emissions or will I need to connect it to the header also?

Note: I live in IL and they only do OBDII check and not a sniffer test. I also have the air pump code blocked using my Cobb.

 

You can fail one test. Check with an obd reader and software such as torque.

Connecting the solenoid and electrical connectors will certainly cause it to pass.

 

I can fail one test, but my EVAP won't pass either. I'm not sure why that one. It may just be the fuel cap, but since it's not throwing a code for evap I'm lost there.

I've heard the air pump running, so I know that's good at least. It's just been too warm here for the car to need it often unfortunately. It might just be that it hasn't gone through enough warm up cycles since I put it on (even with a 700 mile road trip this weekend).

 

Hijacking this thread because I can't make a new one:

Does anyone happen to know what bolt size/pitch/length this is? I'm reassembling this car so it can pass CA Smog... any help would be much appreciated.

 

Hi
I was wondering if anyone has removed the secondary air pump and still running the cat? My air pump has failed (again) so I was thinking of removing it but still running a cat.

Has anyone tried this? What were your experiences?

Thanks

Antony

 

i dont think thats a good idea

 

I have just the pump I'll let go cheap if you want it.

 

The Rx8 doesn't need an idler pulley after removal does it ?

 

Nope, lol. It's electrical