ApexRX

i have taken my car to emissions twice and failed both times. the first time my car was really rich and i put out 1299 HC when its only supposed to be at 220. i leaned it way out till it was running rough and took it back thinking it would fix the problem but it only cut it in half or so. i ended up with 770 HC. if anybody knows how to pass emissions on a stock 12a with absolutely zero modifications. im trying to avoid taking it to a shop and im a little dissapointed i could not solve the problem myself.

ddub

Sounds like your cat is dying!

I spent a good amount of time trying to pass emissions myself, and mostly ended up finding that my emissions components weren't really functioning properly. I ended up blocking off EVERYTHING, lowering my idle to about 500 rpms, leaned it out as much as I could while it still ran and drove, hooked my airpump up straight to the split air pipe/cat rather than through the ACV, and blamo I passed! Blew 73 HC's at idle, down from 300 the test before (where my equipment was supposedly functioning), 550 the time before that, and 1000+ a couple times before that.

Jeff20B

iTrader: (13)

Add a leading direct fire ignition system such as DLIDFIS, 2GCDFIS, MSD etc. The late firing leading spark, which occurs at BDC 180° after the stock spark at TDC, is capable of burning off some of the raw unburned fuel which would otherwise just pass into the exhaust system. It might be the quick fix you're looking for.

gambone

iTrader: (3)

It's my turn to sound off, keep in mind that I do this for a liven FIX EMISSION PROBLEMS.
"dDuB" is on the rite track, FIXS WHATS WRONG, step up and pay the money and stop trying to take short cuts that end up costing more money

partly mazda

What year is your car? some of the cleanest cars Iv'e seen are those 79 and 80 with a working thermal reactor and air pump. I think the theroy was to keep a fire going inside the reactor by running a llittle rich with the carb, and then if your car started burning to cleanly cut the trailing ignition to keep that flame going. If you remove the reactor the car can't pass because its too rich.

DJAngelicon

I have to also take my emission test and I got the hose to bipass it to the cat but don't know how to cover the one that was connected before to the cat. I can't find any nipple big enough to cover it. Any idea how I can cover that tube?

ApexRX

the car is an 85 and most of the exauhst was off of the same car. atleast all 3 cats where, ans so the story goes that some old lady owned it then sold it to cberensten(thanks again) and after a minor traffic infraction i recieved the engine and cats. so you are probably right, there has got to be a build up of stuff in the cat, when i find the time, ill throw the old one back on. it seems as if my car is going through even more gas than before, maybe because its been awhile since ive driven a rotary, but i was wondering if this emissions problem could also be caused in part by an excess of fuel being dumbped in by the carb? just a guess maybe its been so long that i just plain forgot that every 2-3 days i have to put 15-20 more bucks in. either way, the feedback is much appreciated

ddub

Just off the top of my head it sounds like your main cat is on its last legs, you're dumping too much fuel, or your emissions equipment is doing its job and routing air properly. It could be any of those or a combination, hard to say without seeing the car.

ApexRX

alright, i have an -se cat that i bought off the forum, so i will throw that on, i fear there is nothing i can do about the 2 pre cats, i banged out my two origal pre cats and i hope the ones on the car now are not clogged. i have another question as well, i had a tranny wine in my first 1st gen, and now i have it in this one. its seems like it prevails mostly decellerating in 1st and 2nd but i can here it most of the time fiantly, anyone know what it is and how i can fix it?

ddub

You should be able to pass fine with just the main cat, that's all I used for my emissions test. Try hooking the airpump straight to the split air pipe rather than through the ACV, this is just a short term fix if you need to pass ASAP, your ACV might not be routing the air properly, that was one of my, many, emissions problems when i was trying to get mine to pass.

ApexRX

the split air pipe comes off the back of the lower intake right? it has a flange with 2 bolts and i belive this is waht your talking about. when hooking this back up i noticed that i had a small block off plates that drastically reduced the opening. the split air pipe has about a dime sized hole and this plate made it so it was a little bigger then a pinhole. do you think this would help it i took it back off, instead of hooking it up to the airpump. if not i will still find a hose to hoook it up.

notveryhappyjack

iTrader: (4)

I know you said you didn't want to take it to a shop, FYI- I took 1985 gs to Carburator Connection in Kirkland I talked to alex and told him I didn't want to spend a whole lot of money on emissions and he told me he would take it right up to 150 so I could get the waiver if needed. Alex screwed around with the tuning of the carb and replaced my distributer cap and rotor and leaned the fuel and passed three of the four catogries no problem, the fourth one I missed just by a little. I got the waiver and my tabs. Alex is a great guy that won't feed you any BS I have delt with these guys for years and they have always had great results and service with them, the car also ran way better afterwards. I am not sure on how much a new cat cost but I wanted to tell you what I did and everything worked out just great 150 dollars later. Gotta love living in King Co.

ddub

Not exactly sure, sounds to me like the 12a is slightly different than the 13b n/a, yours sounds similar to the way my friends 13bt was set up. In any case, that blockoff plate is definitely not helping! The way the system works is that air from the airpump goes into the ACV where it can either be dumped into the engine, vented to the atmosphere through the ACV silencer, or into the split air pipe (in simple terms). So if there is a blockoff plate of some sort in the way, then that wont help much. What I did is bypassed the ACV completely and put some big hose from the airpump outlet straight to the split air pipe inlet that goes down to the main catalytic converter.

I don't know the 12a emissions system as well as the 13b since I've never seen the 12a system up close, so this is all assuming it is at least *similar* to the 13b setup.

Cgotto6

iTrader: (8)

Hey, Bryant, if you need some help with the car just let me know. **** man, i havent even seen your car runnin yet. Let me know if you need anything.