Do you have a catalytic converter in place? If so I'd leave the air pump on. Working in conjunction with the catalytic converter an air pump reduces hydrocarbons and carbon monoxide in your exhaust. Without a catalytic converter, an air pump would serve little purpose...

Despite opinions you'll hear in abundance, an air pump only consumes about 1 Hp. As an example to compare this against, common vintage air conditioner compressors might consume 8-15 Hp. Unfortunately my Dodge is in the 12-15 Hp crowd with my antiquated RV-2 v-twin compressor... modern 3hp rotary or scroll compressors like a Sanden are in my dreams!

People who claim magical improvements in performance by removing air pumps typically removed them and a bunch of other parts at the same time when they had far more serious problems and were casting about for solutions which they could do in a hurry and on the cheap, like removing things they didn't understand or couldn't test properly from the engine.

People who claim magical improvements in performance by removing air pumps typically removed them and a bunch of other parts at the same time when they had far more serious problems and were casting about for solutions which they could do in a hurry and on the cheap, like removing things they didn't understand or couldn't test properly from the engine.