Nope, the air pump is there to inject air in to the exhaust
stream to get fresh air to the catalytic converter and to
dilute the exhaust before it reachs the atmostphere.
It helps the converter get hot quicker and helps keep it hot
so it can do it's job. It could have an effect of the
running of the engine, because it's above the O2 sensor, but
generally, it doesn't affect it that much.



The intake side of the pump has a hose that goes down
to a noise muffler (about 1¢" in diameter) that clips to the
side of the air filter box. The outlet side of the pump
has a hose that goes directly over to the distribution tubes
that direct the air to the exhaust ports on the cylinder head.