What's the chart from? I'm pretty handy with a wideband tuner and a set of jet reams (don't know about this newfangled fuel injection majiks yet, but I'll get there).

 

just google co vs nox, or hc vs co, comes up with tonnes of them. most of the others have AFR at the bottom, and that doesn't work for us, as the air injection changes the target numbers.

i got a B in my bonnet, and smogged my 1980 MGB today, look how clean it is, and i think i could richen it up a tad and nox would come down. it was 1/8 turn lean of its happy spot

 

who stole the edit button? notice CA uses a different measurement than CO, so its all apples and pears.

 

Thank god Texas stops smogging the tail pipe after 24yrs. They just check that you have windshield wipers and seatbelts. They call it a "safety" inspection.

Granted, my RX7 passed the ASM test without a hitch, it was just a total bitch bolting up the cat just to get it tested and taking it back out after. The NA 13b really likes a cat not being there.

 

And lights... But only if the car came with them from the factory or they've been installed.

 

That too.

I used to be a state inspector and the funny thing is, you have to have windshield wipers legally but you don't have to have an actual windshield.

 

outs is just a really **** smog for ever car 1975 model year or newer, no safety at all though. you can literally run the car into a wall, smog it, and its legal.

 

That makes no damn sense.

 

Where did the edit button go!

Anyway, it sounds like cancerfornia and the state of taxes has **** backward.

 

although, apparently neither need a windshield

 

I've concluded that the emissions test- as applied to older vehicles- is more a Darwinian experiment on the owners than an attempt to clean the environment.

When a relative simpleton such as I can fudge an obviously non-compliant car through the test, the test protocols are clearly faulty and/or misapplied.

Two minor things I noticed:

At the end of the test, they collect the money before they'll tell you the results.
I jokingly mentioned this to the guy and he confirmed this as policy. Apparently- and probably quite correctly- they fear that people may resist paying for a fail score.
I can see it.

If one does fail, you get one free retry within a certain time period (not sure what exactly) and I asked if I could return after passing and test again, see how some tuning affected things.
He wasn't sure about a second "free pass" but said that any time the car goes through the test it is logged and reported to the DMV. If I just randomly submit to the testing and fail, my registration can be revoked till I pass again.

So I decided this would be a bad idea.

The silver lining of this dread experience is that, coupled with recently meeting spectre, I've kinda gotten back into my car again. No offense, but seeing his car made me realize how far mine had come and the work involved to get here.
And how well she's holding up.
The brake fluid was clean and bubble free, pads looked new(ish).
After two years, both the TPS and timing were right on the money.
Nothing has fallen off.

Now I need a new battery (this redtop Optima approaches 7 years old), a new windshield (typical CO sandblast victim), new tires and an alignment.

Yikes! Where's Santa when you need him?

 

You should be happy with your car clokker. Its been you that has driven me to be as **** with mine.

 

Yes, I'm happy I've driven you to ****.

Advancing the Gay Agenda has always been the underlying reason for this thread and apparently, my work here is done.

 

i once took my friends FD for a smog. the first guy didn't like the shiny downpipe, and refused to smog it at all, even though it passed the pretest. no charge, but i believe i offered to pay something, as i used to use this guy all the time.

the second place pulled the car in, and then a guy was looking at it, then two guys were looking at it, then 3. then after 45 minutes they say they can't find the EGR valve, that will be $50. i told them it would set a code if it was bad, and they could take a long walk from a short thing.

the third place skipped the nonsense and just smogged it.

 

Sounds like typical California snog station nonsense.

Luckily here in the seven or so Ohio counties that still require the emissions testing, they simply look under the car with mirrors on the end of poles for the presences of cat(s) (or what was once a cat and is now just a hollowed out, sort of resonator) in the exhaust system, pressure test the gas cap, put the OBD I cars on the rollers to sniff the exhaust or just plug into the OBD II port equipped vehicles computers and look for codes.

They really don't seem to care HOW you got your now +20 year old OBD I vehicle to pass the emissions test, just as long as it passes. That seems a hell of a lot more logical to me, rather then dealing with EO numbers from the "Air ***** in El Monte and someone's arbitrary interpretation of a picture of what your under hood should look like from the factory.

Plus they stopped charging the $20 fee here several years ago https://www.rx7club.com/images/icons/icon14.gif

 

Kind of makes me wish there was some place I could probe the exhaust on my Tii just for the humor in the results. NC doesn't have emissions for pre OBD-ii cars and OBD-ii is just plugging into the computer to check CEL and readiness codes.

 

Just like the debate over Common Core in schools, the emissions regime encourages passing the test rather than having a decent runner.
The guys on the ground at Envirotest (the techs actually administering the test) are not dummies, they know how we cheat- two years ago, after my test the tech asked me how much alcohol I'd used and when I told him, he said "Yup, sounds about right".

At this point I could probably get my car to pass when in limp mode.

Most aggravating of all is that this entire program is so obviously political rather than scientific. The Denver metro area ( "the front range") is the only part of the state that requires testing. We've been under EPA restrictions ever since I can remember because geography and the atmosphere combine to funnel pollutants into the area and hold them there.

Recent studies have suggested that a great deal of our pollution is actually flowing down from the NE corner of the state, where fracking runs rampant. Naturally, energy companies fight this tooth and nail...they not only resist cleaning up the wellhead emissions, they refuse to even be monitored.

Essentially, there is no real proof that testing cars has, or will in the future, reduce our pollution levels. It was an easy/fast solution that was required by the EPA to maintain federal funding and probably benefits some political donors but has done little to nothing about cleaning our air.

It was (semi) jokingly asserted at the little meet I had with spectre last weekend that the perfect project car these days would be a Prius. Exempt from emissions requirements, you could gut your hybrid drivetrain and drop in the rastiest Hayabusa/V-8 engine imaginable and get away with it.

Hmmm.

Now that my car has been retuned to actually work, I'd like to test again also but cannot do so penalty-free.
I suppose that in two years, when I must test again I could just do the normal tuneup drill but omit the alcohol and timing tweak, see what happens. If she failed I'd just have to hope I could pass with the free retest.

I could do that but probably won't.

 

Well, after a pleasant day watching Jason struggle with his new ratrod, I've become somewhat motivated to play with Sprocket for a while.
Two projects come to mind, neither pressing but both necessary.

My temporarily affixed (if two years can be considered temporary) Volvo front lip took some serious abuse this last winter and needs to be remounted. Normally, I'd consider this a low priority aesthetic detail but I've become convinced that this lip has a significantly beneficial effect on cooling and fuel consumption and is worth keeping.
Shouldn't be too difficult to re-engineer.

The second (and probably most pressing) job is to make the initial set coupler functional again.
When I reloomed the engine bay harness I (semi) inadvertently buried the orange coupler wire in the loom and having realized it, decided to deal with it differently so as not to redo what I'd just wrapped.
And then I forgot about it.

Now she needs some tuning work and the coupler would be handy, so it's time to follow through.
The original- and still current- plan involves getting into the passenger footwell and intercepting the orange wire right at the ECU connector, then running it to a switch that connects to ground.
Location and type of switch to be determined after a more comprehensive exam of the possibilities.

And, in the spirit of honesty, I must admit I'm not really sure what the coupler even does, so an official explanation would be nice.

My (probably fractured) understanding is that grounding this pin prevents the ECU from trying to compensate for idle changes (presumably via the BAC?) during adjustment...but I really have no idea.
Anyone who'd care to enlighten me, please feel free.

 

"Ratod" = apt.

 

that is a good idea! the factory manuals, aren't really explicit about what the set coupler literally does. we think it fixes timing, and it sets the BAC to a set duty*, not sure what else it does, if anything.

*my friend had an SAFC, and a leaky BAC hose, and you can watch the ecu hunt for the correct idle speed, if you sit at a light long enough, it cycles, and the cycles get smaller and smaller.

 

It's so true. Here in STL they make us comply but refuse to consider all the interstate highways running together, then through STL because of the river bridge, and ignore all the through traffic on the highways like OTR trucks and other travelers.

Effing BS is what it is.

 

i'm a little surprised it doesn't just pass, i've always gotten the rotaries to pass pretty easily on their own.

we have a similar thing in CA, i have to pass the tighter than when it was new emissions test, but if i moved ~90 miles away i wouldn't have a test at all. i find that to be remarkably unfair at best. i don't know the science, but i would be willing to bet that my pollution isn't worse than someone else's...

 

If she's still intact in two years, I might just do a regular tuneup and forego all the tricky stuff and see what happens.

We got to 80° yesterday (good work everybody!) and I decided to remount the front lip.

Immediately ran into a problem, all of my hardware/widgets/stuff is still in Sigfrid's garage. Didn't feel like hiking across town (not to mention that gathering all my **** is going to be a BIG job if he moves...), so I moseyed up to Ace hardware where I was acquainted with the insane cost of hardware-by-the-piece in box stores.

Must have been sticker shock that deranged me to the extent that I decided that stainless, panhead Phillips screws- in 1/4 x 20 American sizing no less, were the way to go.
Normally, mixing non-metric hardware would appall me but the price difference is absurd and my normal junkyard source for loose hardware is still a morass from the recent snows.

This time I removed the threaded clip inserts from the bottom of the nose (that use the sheetmetal-type screws) and am placing fender washers on both sides with a nut.
I reused my original mounting holes in the Volvo lip and it makes a very secure install.

BUT...not thrilled with the fit.
I mean, it's not awful or anything but when I first did it I started at the ends and worked in and people seem to get better results doing the reverse. It's more difficult on the S5 nose because of the indent in the center.
Going to fiddle some more today and then maybe hit the yard (which should be drying out enough to be passable) and explore switch options for the initial set coupler.

 

i don't even do the tune up. i just make sure the ACV works, check the tps, and go. i do check the exhaust with my nose though, and by now i'm not that far off of the machine. if the car is right, it'll feel/smell like a house dryer vent.

 

The only thing I did that you might consider "preparation" is put gas in it and drive it around a little so it could get up to temperature since I can probably see the testing station from where I live.