Shag

It came off easier than I figured it would. Just two bolts, then the air line running from it. I decided to go with a Ford Racing idler pulley so that I could use a stock-length belt and not have to worry about a shorter belt rubbing somewhere like I've seen multiple people post about. I realize a shorter belt works fine for some of you. Anyway, after removing the pump and putting the idler puller in place of it I had two small vacuum lines to plug that I could see and for now I just plugged the air hose too. So I plugged both small vacuum lines and used a wood dowel and hose clamp to plug the air hose. The car started right up and the belt seems to ride just fine on the idler pulley. Weird thing though. The first time I started the car it started up with no problem but then immediately died. I restarted it with no trouble and it would rev right up but when I would let off on the gas it wouldn't idle. It would idle 3-4 seconds and then die. I figured I had a vacuum leak I'd overlooked so I turned the idle stop-screw a couple of times (to bump up the idle so I'd have enough time to start the car and run around to the front of it before it died) and restarted the car and ran around to where I could manually operate the throttle under the hood to keep it from dying out while I looked for a leak. I looked a few seconds but just didn't see where I'd missed anything. I quit blipping the throttle and let it idle down and it seemed to idle just fine, only a little high since I'd turned the idle stop-screw... so I turned the idle back down to where it was and it idled just fine. Hmm... So I took it for a short (2 mile long) test drive and it did just fine. No hesitation, plenty of power, I stopped completely a couple of times and it idled nice and smoothly. I wonder why I had to start and restart the car about 5-6 times before it decided it was going to idle ok again. Computer needed to adjust to the plugged air line or something? Any ideas? Anyway, I'm going to clean up under the hood a little more soon and will remove what's left of the air hose and get a brass cap to cap off the lines that are coming from the back of the heads for now until the motor is out of the car and I can completely plug the back of the heads. Plans for the weekend are to remove 100% of the exhaust system and put on some headers, h-pipe, and go from there. Wish me luck. If anyone has any feedback on the initial idle problem I had then I'd be interested to hear it. Thanks!

lxman1

Sounds like an unrelated issue like your IAC was sticking or something. No reason that plugging the vacuum lines or air hose would cause idle issues. You could have left the two vacuum lines hooked up to the valves until you remove all of the tubing. It wouldn't have hurt anything. All of mine is gone, never caused any issues, just makes the passenger side plugs easier to get to.