Failed Smog !

[1 Wild R/T]

VV was Motorcraft, wasn't it? I never had a car with one of those.

Yup, Motorcraft.... You didn't miss anything... Then again all of the carbs in that time frame were pretty terrible... Actually the carbs weren't so much bad as being asked to do something beyond the ability of a carburetor....

 

[1 Wild R/T]

Good luck with making a '76 pass a smog test to todays standards. Need to find a shop that'll fudge it for you...

Honestly, no shop in their right mind is gonna fudge things these days... The fines are insane... Shops trying to do things right get fined why would they risk getting shut down to smog an old car?

I know of at least four occasions when local shops got fined & temporarily shut down for BS reasons... Here are a couple...

One a dealership I was working at was busted for writing a smog cert on a Honda... The tech did all the proper testing, the car failed due to a bad EGR, the cute girl who owned the car literally was bawling in the service drive.. The tech being a nice guy (and a horn dog) called a local parts store, had the part set on the counter, she went & picked it up, he swapped it on his lunch break & wrote the smog.... Without preforming a complete second smog..... Busted.... Tech fined $5,000... Dealership fined $10,000 and shut down for 10 days...

Another dealership that I wasn't working at in about 1984 had a 70 F100 truck come in for a smog... Had a 302 & a 4 spd.. It didn't have a California Emissions Label... Or a 49 state emissions label... It did have a manual choke... With a OE Choke cable in the dash that matched the style of the knobs on the headlights & wipers.. It was correct for a 1970 49 state truck.... But not a 1970 California truck... What would you do? BTW there wasn't any Ford Oasis system at that time & even if there were it didn't address trivial stuff like this... So, what would you do? Tech wrote the smog.... Busted.... Fined $1000 Dealership shut down for five days....

Is this about Emissions? Or Power? And justifying an agency that has to much power & no accountability?

 

[eldubb440]

I've had both. What I meant to say was that both are Ford carbs; prior to 1972 they manufactured them under the Autolite name, after that they switched to Motorcraft. For example, this Autolite 4300 looks similar to the Motorcraft 4300. (1970 version for 429 shown). My 460 (1974 cop car with Interceptor engine) had the 4300 on it. 260 net hp. and 380 torque wasn't bad for 1974. I hadn't seen a 460 with a Carter on it.
View attachment 1642282

my Rebel Machine had a Motorcraft carb on it...... of course some idiot **** canned it for a Holley

 

[Under Pressure]

Not sure what standards were here in Michigan in the mid 1980’s to mid 1990’s but neither my 70 GTO or my 74 Trans Am would pass unless I did what the testing station told me to do and that was go out on the “nearby” X way and do some WOT runs, I would push the snot out of it and immediately come back for the test, not sure why, but back then it worked each time for a lot of people.
If I remember it was a $25 fee and that was a lot back then for me.
I agree with many here that it was a money grab by the state and thankfully they canceled the program here.

 

[Bighouse]

Gotta have everything HOT I think

 

[PurpleBeeper]

I live in So Cal and I have to pass my smog in order to get my registration. I failed CO% on my smog test for the second time . I have a 76 Cordoba with the lean burn taken out . It passed smog somehow in 2016. Does anyone know what I can do to fix it ? Maybe carburator adjustment ? My carb was rebuilt and pretty much new . I'm really thinking about getting a South Dakota registration so I don't have to deal with this anymore. Any ideas what I can do before I pay a smog tech to find out the issue ?

View attachment 1642227

I just read an emissions tip that said high CO means it’s running rich. Is your California test at idle? On a treadmill? The article mentions a dirty air filter & another poster’s idea about leaning out the idle mixture screws (more air, less fuel) would help

 

[real0803]

I just read an emissions tip that said high CO means it’s running rich. Is your California test at idle? On a treadmill? The article mentions a dirty air filter & another poster’s idea about leaning out the idle mixture screws (more air, less fuel) would help

I have a squeaky clean air filter , the idle mixture screw is the gold flat head right ? How far counter clockwise should I turn it ? Do products like these even really work ?

 

[Billccm]

Guaranteed to Pass is similar to Seafoam and other strong cleaners. The idea is it cleans your valves for better compression and cleaner ignition, etc.

As I recall the people's republic smog test is at idle, correct?

Google retard timing to pass smog and read about what that impacts. I think there is a sweet spot in timing where the burn is somewhat longer and the CO is reduced.

 

[Billccm]

From an old Mercedes forum


this is just to get past the emissions testing, I'd go for it. I wouldn't leave it that way all the time, unless you want poorer fuel economy. I've had to do this for years with my old Jeep to get past the "smog nazis". I retard the timing about 4-6 degrees, lean out the idle mixture (it's carbureted...won't work with F.I. unless you can control idle mixture) and put a BB in the vacuum line going to the vacuum advance on the distributor, and readjust the idle speed. You can also create a temporary small, non visible (to the smog tech.) vacuum leak to further reduce CO and HC emissions. If your state checks for NOX emissions, this won't work very well, as the NOX will increase. Some Benzes don't have vacuum advance (like mine), just vacuum retard. Others have both advance and retard. If yours just has retard, you don't have to plug the line. So far, I haven't had to do anything to my old Benz to pass, knock on wood.

 

[Billccm]

I forgot about creating a small vacuum leak. Worked on my friends El Camino when he lived in the people's republic.

 

[roadrunnerh]

Wow, reading through this made me feel really fortunate!
Is your Cordoba registered as a classic or antique? Shouldn't she be exempt?!
Here in Pennsylvania, my cars have "Antique/Historic car" plates - actually I registered original old '68 and '75 PA plates, which really excites me
No PA state inspection, no emissions testing, and a 225 to 383 swap in my 1975 Scamp is no problem.

 

[j-c-c-62]

You guys know your ruling system pejorative references (thread #52, #51,#50, #36, #31) here represent opposite ends of the spectrum, and they are rabidly opposed to the other, so which side are you on exactly?

 

[diesel_lv]

In California you aren't allowed to run an aftermarket carb on emissions controlled vehicles.. Or aftermarket ignitions....

Actually, any carb, ignition, exhaust that has a "C.A.R.B." certification can be run. "California Air Research Board".

 

[RemCharger]

Actually, any carb, ignition, exhaust that has a "C.A.R.B." certification can be run. "California Air Research Board".

That's what I thought as well. Otherwise what's the point of having CARB certification?

 

[1 Wild R/T]

Actually, any carb, ignition, exhaust that has a "C.A.R.B." certification can be run. "California Air Research Board".

Actually not quite, That means they can sell it in California for use mostly on exempt vehicles, but if it's running a carb with electronically controlled mixture like a VV or a Lean Burn then the replacement needs to also have the ability for computer controller mixture... As an example the Holley the CARB approved to replace a VV has a place to screw in the mixture solenoid.. If you put a carb without that it's not gonna pass...

Basically anything built after 75 till EFI was used is a PITA to keep legally smogged & registered in California...

 

[real0803]

Guaranteed to Pass is similar to Seafoam and other strong cleaners. The idea is it cleans your valves for better compression and cleaner ignition, etc.

As I recall the people's republic smog test is at idle, correct?

Google retard timing to pass smog and read about what that impacts. I think there is a sweet spot in timing where the burn is somewhat longer and the CO is reduced.

I've Google it and it's good information, I will try it. What do you think of using shopline jt501in my gas tank ? I've heard of people using that to pass emissions .

 

[Sinitro]

Looks like some guys don't read the fine print..
The car failed due to high nitrogen/oxide not CO..
High nitrogen/oxide readings are due to the increase in timing/acceleration, recommend U recheck the basic timing specs and vacumm advance operation..

Just my $0.02...

 

[azblackhemi]

Looks like some guys don't read the fine print..
The car failed due to high nitrogen/oxide not CO..
High nitrogen/oxide readings are due to the increase in timing/acceleration, recommend U recheck the basic timing specs and vacumm advance operation..

Just my $0.02...

This is the second sentence in the original post. "I failed CO% on my smog test for the second time "

 

[Kern Dog]

Looks like some guys don't read the fine print..
The car failed due to high nitrogen/oxide not CO..
High nitrogen/oxide readings are due to the increase in timing/acceleration, recommend U recheck the basic timing specs and vacumm advance operation..

Just my $0.02...

Looks like YOU didn't read the sheet....

CO% at 15 mph had a max of 1.21 with 2.17 recorded. CO% at 25 mph had a max of 1.01 with 2.02 measured. NOX was well below the limits.
It is one thing to be wrong. It is another to insult others when YOU are the one that is wrong.

 

[Photon440]

Actually, any carb, ignition, exhaust that has a "C.A.R.B." certification can be run. "California Air Research Board".

Their website claims it stands for "California Air Resources Board".