I've not seen this question asked before, and it might be pointless, but here goes!

I'm planning to remove the Secondary Air System from the engine (Air pump, N112 valve, combination valve on head etc.). Engine in question is the AUQ 1.8 20vT 180bhp (VVT & electronic throttle). Now I know you can remove the error codes for removing these things, so the car will not kick up a warning light or error code. But....

Correct me if I'm wrong, the air pump is only half of the cat fast warm-up system, the other half being the VVT going into massive overlap mode, which as far as I know chucks unburnt fuel down the exhaust, and that combined with the air pump causes post-combustion in the cat, warming it up rapidly to meet cold start emissions (which are not tested at MOT).

When you remove the air pump, does the VVT automatically know not to run, or will it need to be de-activated separately? Could you edit out the whole system for me basically, so I'm just running a 'traditional' system?

I'm just worried about damaging the cat by soaking it with fuel on cold starts, if the pump isn't there to help the post-combustion.

Cheers

Interesting question.

My dp and cat are in the garage so I'm not too concerned