Can it pass?
 

hello im trying to find a cheap car to get me around and i saw this on craigs list and was wondering if anyone knew how to fix this? i have experience with fcs but have not owned a fb

http://sacramento.craigslist.org/cto/1229002476.html

Well, first off, FC's are a bit more complicated, all of which being EFI, but the 83 in question has a Mikuni carbeurator that is fairly easy to tune if you know what you're doing.

On top of that, users here have had very good experience with a guy named 'Sterling' that rebuilds these quickly and effeciently and increases performance, fuel mileage, and function.

If you end up going with that car, definitely take the carb off and send it to him for a rebuild and tune-up. It's cheap insurance that it's running as best as possible.

Aside from that, I used my 84SE as a DD for years and highly recommend it as long as you keep up on the routine maintenance. Even though these cars are 25+years old, it doesn't mean they should be babied. Good luck,

so u believe the carb is what is not making it pass smog?

I'd bet it willl take quite a bit more than a carb rebuild to pass smog but thats a pretty damn clean car for 800$!

yeah i know but i just moved out and car got tottaled soo dont have to much to spend..

carb has nothing to do with it passing smog... the CA test tests these cars at a much higher rpm than the epa did in the 80's.

it will pass but the Air Control Valve needs to work, and the cat needs to be good

is that something that can easily be done for cheap?

um checking this stuff is free...

Well, you could be a cruel and loathesome bastard, buy the car, and then make the state force him to get it past smog... as he can't legally transfer it in Cali under normal title without valid smog.

But that would be a cruel and loathesome thing to do, so you shouldn't do it.

Of course, since HE says that "all it needs is a trailing timing adjust (which takes 10 minutes, a philips driver, and a timing light) to pass smog," then, IF he's telling the truth, it shouldn't upset him much to have to fix it first, right?

Or maybe he's being a cruel, loathesome, and lying bastard?

I am going to guess that someone asked what type of carburetor is on the engine at this time as it does not state anything in that link?

Getting back to the issue at hand.

If it does in fact have a Mikuni carburetor on it then it won't even get past the inspection stage in CA.

It has to have the original carburetor and all emissions in place before it goes past the inspection to the test phase in Ca.

There are some good threads that go over what to look for and what to do before you go in to have your car tested for emissions.

Search with the terms Smog test or emission test.