Removing the thermactor components resulted in a HP gain
- True
- False
0 voters
Enter your response.
I would say True.
I would say less weight and easier to work on !
I tried it at the Pure Stock Muscle Car Drags. It made zero difference in my ET or MPH by removing the belt from the smog pump. On the other hand, access to the spark plugs is easier with all of it removed. I am able to pull and replace the plugs with all of it in place. The smog system doubles the amount of time it takes to change plugs.
All that being said I have it installed and functional on both of my Cougars.
I doubt it has any real notable effect on hp but its sure in my way. I plan to get rid of mine one way or the other. Anyone have a line on the plugs they used when removing the pipes from the heads. IIRC from my research the plug size is 1/2"-20 and obliviously no one repros the delete plugs.
Royce kind of spilled it and I’ve heard it from other sources as well. Although many removed the components for a HP boost, that was actually myth or at least so negligible it isn’t worth mentioning. A few raise a good point about having less stuff in your way if you’re doing a lot of tuning/tinkering.
Mine had hex head bolts in the holes. I took those out and installed these Cylinder Head Smog Plugs - V8. They aren’t “correct” but at least don’t call attention to themselves.
Just wanted to report back that these worked perfect. Saved me a ton of time running to hardware stores searching for the right one. I was expecting a fight getting the old smog tubes out of the heads but they came out pretty easy. These plugs worked great and I’m stoked to have all that smog crap out of my way. Now I just need to find the correct non smog alternator bracket.
They may not cut your ET, but they sure did have a tendency to cause burnt exhaust valves.
-Keith
True, any belt driven accessory such as an air pump takes away horsepower.
In addition to that, introducing excess oxygen into the manifold can cause backfiring which could damage the exhaust system.
Removing it by itself will probably only get you a little bit of power, but not if you add headers as well.
I don’t see how that could work. The air pump puts more air in the exhaust manifolds. It does not have any effect on what the valves are doing. The air is injected downstream of the valves.
It does if you remove ALL the components. And that includes the air ejection bump in the heads. You could still hook back up just not with the air tube down in the exhaust port. Ford themselves did testing and found that some exhaust bumps in the port cut HP by as much as 30.
If the fresh oxygen causes backfiring over time, it could damage the valves just from essentially explosive energy.
Heck, if it’s that important to you, retrofit a high flow catalytic converter instead and route the smog pump into that.
A good heat shield is a must. In my opinion, it’s just another thing that can go wrong. The less extra stuff, the better.
If you have no idea what you are talking about it might be best to not comment. Then no one would know.
Bad manners hurts horsepower. As does talking from your rear end. Proven fact, I read it in a poorly translated owners manual from my 1977 Toyota Corolla.
Does anyone know if the same zero/minimal HP gain is true for AC/PS belts? I never removed the components but use to pull the belts on my 70 XR7 when stoplight racing back in the day. I always assumed any belts on the pulley were resistance that reduced HP at least a little and was looking for any I could find in that situation,
To some extent yes it makes a difference. Todays vehicles all disengage the a/c compressor automatically if at or close to a WOT acceleration event. This in turn frees up hp for that time. Even a belt driven fan can eat up HP. I forget the actual numbers not but on a ford diesel engine the fan operation at 100% duty cycle can actually rob 40-60 hp.