BetterPartofValor

Alright, i've been lurking around this board for a while and I guess it's time to start asking questions.

1) Is there any hope at all of passing emissions without a rat's nest. Reason being, after I pass now with it on, I will have to pass one more time in two years. After that, I hope to have the car registered in VA where there arn't any emissions tests after the car is 25 years old. (at least thats what I understand, so please correct me if i'm wrong). I figure the sooner I get it off the better. It isn't even the complete rats nest right now and I passed. I think i've finally pluged all the vacuum leaks.

2) How exactly is the tachometer wired to the ignition. Like, which harnesses does the wire go through. I know there are supposed to be 3 wires coming of the trailing(?) ignition coil, but both of my coils only have two wires. Which is funny, because when I bought the car, the tach worked. It stopped working after I swapped carb's. I just checked the other day and I know I havn't messed with the ignition stuff at all.

The car is an '84 GSL. The carb on it is a Nikki off off of a '79 for what it's worth.
Thanks for helping a newbie out!

BetterPartofValor

anyone?

DJAngelicon

No, you will need the rat's nest and a good cat but then again I had my air pump go straight to the cat instead and it suppost to help you pass if you have a good cat and the inspection is not a visial one. However I failed both ways so I got around the system.

About the Tachometer not sure on that one. Someone will post it.

Anthrax Mike

Well they use a two speed idle tail pipe test, one is checked at whatever idle is and the other at 2500 rpm. An rpm probe is used to tell the tester what its pulling, so I don't think it's necessary. Alot of cars don't have tachs, so I can't see why a malfuntioning one would make a difference, I used to not even look at the cars tach when I performed the test.

j9fd3s

iTrader: (3)

well you dont actually need the rats nest, you do need 2 vacuum lines to the acv so that it always dumps air pump air to the exhaust ports. the solenoids actually turn this off, so without the solenoids its always on. in ca we have to bypass the solenoids to pass smog anyways, cause the test is too high in the rpms.

the tach is run off of the trailing ignition, id have to look to see exactly where/what wire it is, usually the trailing ignitor fails, and the symptom is a dead tach, oh but not on an 84, cause its got a fuel pump relay thats what, tach driven. on the 84-85's ive seen a couple of bad tachometers, does it work when its hot? and not when its cold?

BetterPartofValor

So as far as rats nest removal goes, how easy is it to put the air pump back on after it is taken off. or is it easier just to leave it on and take off the other stuff ?

Presently, the tachometer does not work at all. It stays right at 2,700 all the time, even when the car is not running and has no keys in it. I reached my hand back up under there and it feels like everthing is connected right. The rest of the gauges work and all the lights on the dash do to.

Is there a way to test for a bad ignitor? Im don't completly understand how the whole ignition system works.

Thanks so far!