Well, I saved this red 83 from the crusher, banged out dents, bondoed, replaced rotten seats, retimed and tuned, etc., now I gotta clear out the CA Gross Polluter rap, so I'm going to the local Smog Chek station tomorrow to get a preliminary before driving this illegal car 10 miles to the Big Smog Check that clears the GP.

How should I prepare for the smog check? I know I gotta get it hot and rev it out a few times. What else? Any additive? Methanol?

B

 

I hear that running on propane will pass, but then you halve to figure out how to get the propane into the carb.

 

Why can't the first smog check station clear you for smog?(assuming you car will pass).

Jeff

 

Just find someone who'll pass it. They still have "don't pass, don't pay's" around, don't they? When I lived in SoCal, those joints ALWAYS passed my RX's. I even had one of the tech's put one of the readers in another car's tail pipe...

 

Apparently changing the oil befor the test helps also.

I took mine changed the oil the two days befor I took it for the test, drove it like I stole it for an hour and passed with flying colours

Mind you this is Ontario Canada. I don't know how the rules compare to CA

Here they sell this fuel treatment that garentees your money back for the product if you do not pass smog. I can't tell you what it is called, but I can tell you that Canadian tire sells it. if that helps...

Good Luck

anthrax

 

what do you mean you cant teell us the name of it, dont hold back on us..i plan on moving to cali soon and i have no emmistions on my car...be a pal

 

That stuffs called "Guaranteed to pass" and all they offer is double your money for the product if you fail. It's $8. Bet it don't work. Even I could scam that. I suppose it's just methanol.

Changeing the oil sounds good: get rid of fumes. I've been burning 16 oz MMO in the one tank I've used.

There are two types of smog statoins in CA: an ordinary, and one for GPs.

B

 

run your fuel close to empty, then before you fill up, put about a gallon of rubbing alcohol in there (then fill up). Cruise down to the e-check while keeping your revs up, and you should pass.

 

Sory I could not tell the name because I did not know it

But thanks to bliffle for filling in the blanks

 

Make sure your car is tuned up. New plugs and wires if they are old and a good oil change can help.

I was always told to drive it around the freeway for a good 10-20 minutes to warm up the cats as well.

 

Well, I just got back and it failed again. Everything off the scale. He thinks maybe a carb tuneup will do it, but I'm getting tired of messing with this car.

B

 

Just another $0.02: My car passed after I replaced both cats with one high flow cat.

 

Wow that is too bad man.

Don't give up on it yet there must be something you can do.

Do cars in california ever become immissions exempt? In Ontario it is 20 Years and then the car is exempt from having to pass an emissions test. You still need a cat tho.

Any way good luck

anthrax

 

Does your car have the original cats? You mentioned in your past posts that you have a bonez high flow cat. Why not try to hook that up and see what happens?

Jeff

 

I put the Bonerz on another car, but I saved the old cat since it only has 50k on it. But I'm tired of messing with this car.

Anybody in the Bay area want this car? It's got 120k, noisy trans bearing, oil leak, shocks are dead and it needs a smog check. Body is repaired but paint has to be sanded and rubbed out. PM me if you're interested.

B

 

Aha! Offer withdrawn!

I reviewed the history of this car with the previous owner and realized his previous carb tuneup was done with the engine timing 20 degrees off (how the heck it ran I don't know). Since I retimed it after painting the timing notches, it should tune right up at the carb now.

Hehehe.

B

 

Jeez.

I can tell you that mine ran with the timing off by 45 degrees, all four plugs firing at the same time, and one igniter bad.

Let us know if it passes.

 

ahhhh.calgary alberta...land of no emissions testing whatsoever......

my emissions crap is sitting in a pile on my garage floor along with the cats and every other bit of junk

 

Nice. Idaho has one county that does smog checks. So all you have to do is register in another county and your okay.

 

I had the carb tuned and it still fails on the "HC" test. Here's how the pre-tune and post-tune readings line up:

Looks Like he set the idle too high. He says it needs a cat, but I don't believe it because the numbers are good above idle. I think maybe it needs some idle adjustment or maybe vacuum line repairs.

I do have an extra cat with 49k from the 85 (I put in a Bonerz but it doesn't seem to change the power), but I don't know if it'll fit, or even if it willl make a difference.

Anyone have experience with this CA smog stuff?

B

 

dude my car sucked *** on the hc's

i took it to some little po dunk mechanic shop, the guy all but guaranteed he could get it to pass legally.

he put some kind of solution in the carb(via some big machine) ran it for about 10 mins with this crap flowing through, then let it sit for a half hour.

he said once he started it back up and let it warm, he ran it up hard and it puffed like a freight train. after a few of these hard revs, it just kinda cleared up.

with a smile on his face, he said, 20 years of carbon beat by 3 or 4 good revs, works every time.

he was right passed with flying colors

maybe something to check into.

 

I guess that you can restrict one of the hoses to the carb and it lowers HC.

What I need is an HC test I can do at home, so I can see what works.

B

 

On my 85 se, I had someone check the tailpipe before actually putting my info in the machine. I woulda been a Gross Polluter, HC's were like 2000, I put a new/used air control valve on and hc's dropped to like 120 I think and I passed no prob. I thought the acv might be bad because there was a slight missfire on decel.

 

pray.....and do a 50 dollar handshake with the person testing it.

 

I suppose I oughta change the ACV and run some methanol thru.

B