You might be able to fix it in place, before it gets bad enough to require removing it...

While changing the oil today, I noticed that several of the rivets that hold the 2 halves of the air pump body together were in the process of disintegrating.



The heads had separated from the rivet body, probably from vibration when the pump runs, allowing the halves of the air pump to begin to separate. Three were shot. Here's a closeup



I pushed the rivets out of the housing by inserting a sheet metal screw from the broken side and pushing a bit... the rivets emerged from the other side enabling me to pry them out. The rivets are the same diameter as #8 screws. I found 1.5" stainless steel replacements at Home Desperate; they fit perfectly.



I was able to replace the 2 lower rivets... using a bit of Loc-tite. There's still a broken one but it's too hard to reach. Hopefully this will keep the pump body together, reducing stress on the other rivets. Here's a pic, once repaired.



Stupid cost-cutting measure... the screw & nut option would only cost a few cents more than the rivets during manufacture, but if the rivets fail, it costs like $400-600 in labor and parts to replace the air pump.

Anyway, take a peek next time you're poking around down there. Save the money for mods. ;)

~john