air injection system : "upgrades" ???
 

New owner here ('76 2.0 L). My car has the air injection system : a belt driven pump and hard tubes going to all 4 cylinder heads. I was considering upgrading this system by putting it in a cardboard box in my basement. My main beef with it is that it clutters up an already cluttered area, and I'm probably going to add an aftermarket EFI system w/ an O2 sensor (currently in a cardboard box in my basement).

Does running the engine without the air pump have any adverse effects on the engine ? (It seems like it shouldn't, but I don't want to count on this without asking around.)

What is the best way to cap off the air injectors ? (c.f. Haynes book p. 59.) It looks like they are threaded and could just take a screw-on cap : anybody know what size ?

As an alternative, can the injectors themselves be removed ? How are they fastened to the engine ?

as long as you don't need the stuff for Smog checks, a cardboard box is a place for it :)

the injectors screw into the heads, remove one and find a bolt that'll match the threads (10mm-1.0 I think???)

No adverse effects of removing the smog stuff....

what kind of aftermarket EFI? I used to run a megasquirt, now I have a Link ECU.

I don't think there will be any problem with removing the air injection pump (except for passing the smog test - if applicable).

The purpose of the air pump is to inject a shot of relatively cold air behind the exhaust valve. This in turn, causes a secondary explosion of unburned fuel and reduces final emissions out the tail pipe.

Mike,
The EFI is From Simple Digital Systems (SDS). I bought it years ago for another project. That project was never finished, so it's been sitting in a box. Don't think I'll do it right away (plenty of other little fixes to take care of...)

Jeff

Okay, got the octopus off my head(s). I left the injectors in place and plugged them w/ #10 stainless screws; don't know if they bit into metal or carbon buildup, but they seem to make a pretty firm seal.
Don't know exactly how much difference this made, 'cause I did several tweaks at once. But altogether, the car's definitely got more pep.