Hey guys, I am sure this has been asked a million times, but I need to smog my car and was wondering if anybody knew anything about this stuff? ( denatured alcohol) any help would be great, thanks in advance.

-Chris

 

i smogged my mostly stock fd 6 months ago in southern california and she passed fine. i ran royal purple just to be safe, burns cleaner i think.

has the car had problems passing?

 

denatured alcohol may help ..also hooking the air pump to the cat..there is alot of info on this ..and you need to have a decent catalytic converter..suggest search on emissions..see your posting you are "new"..welcome to the forum..i could write 3 pages on this but others have already done so...search the info ..under emissions,cat converter.failed e-test..and so on..the alcohol gives the gas more oxygen..so less hydocarbons....you'll find out more ..the info that i just typed came from the postings..good luck to ya

 

I am not sure about denatured alcohol, but what I found that worked (and I think I found it on the forum here), was using one of the additives that is made to help you pass smog (I think it had a Mitsubishi 3000 on the label). Anyway, I ran a bottle of that through a full tank of gas, and then also added a full bottle of additive to a 1/4 tank of gas when I went back to get tested (at a test only station, where I had failed the first time). I passed pretty easily when I had done this and went back (I also am in Socal). Let me know if you have any questions about this.

 

My emissions page:
http://www.zeroglabs.com/rx7/emissions.htm

The "short version" is:

For the test ---

1 - Install your main cat
2 - Run your tank down to 1/4 full then put in one gallon of denatured alcohol
3 - If possible, have either your stock air pump and air control valves installed OR you can install a Corvette electric air pump and rig it up to run for the test only. Hook it directly to the main cat air pipe.
4 - If possible, tune your car using a wideband to run about 15:1 AFR under vacuum and under about 4000 RPM. Don't even THINK about doing this unless you know what you're doing. ONLY use the special map when you get to the test site, on the test rollers, and for testing to set this up. Don't drive it around like this too much.
5 - Do not run any premix for the test. Premix is oil... and oil doesn't burn 100%... so that will increase your HC values.
6 - Make sure the car is fully warmed up before the test.

If your car is basically still stock with only a few mods, most of the instructions above can be ignored, but the you can still use the alcohol to help you pass and don't run premix. That alcohol is magic... contains a lot of oxygen, which will help reduce CO quite a bit and help with HC. If HC is too high, re-tuning your ecu actually might have more of an effect than the alcohol will.

 

I have used denatured alcohol twice, and it's worked both times.

The first time, I tested and my HCs were just over the limit. I drove the car until it had about 2 gallons in it, and put a gallon of DA, and the HCs dropped to zero. The tester was like "damn, what did you do to it?"

The second time, I drove it down to about 2 gallons, I put a gallon in. It didn't drop enough, so I put another in, and it passed. The reason it didn't pass the first time - I forgot to hook the airpump back up.

Good luck.

 

My FD is pretty much stock as well, Greddy cat back is the only part i have after market, the car just runs really rich it seems. so i am a bit worried. It was registered in Florida before, (no emissions) and i am from Michigan so i am really have never dealt with emissions. but i think i might just go ahead and tune it up before i go and smog it, and add some of the alcohol. where do you guys get it at btw? thanks for all of your guys's help and advice. I will post what my car does on the sniffer.

-Chris