Perhaps the removal of emissions equipment was a regional thing. Or perhaps it was just the circles one traveled in. Everyone I knew was too busy with life to bother, and just lived with the problems.
But I still maintain that state emissions inspections are about revenue, and that it was the mandates to the manufacturers that made the difference and not the state emissions inspections. In the many states that never had inspections the air cleared up just as well as in the states that did.
And now there are the EVAP problems. IMHO the evaporative emissions standards have gone beyond common sense, and it’s costing drivers money and aggravation to no benefit.
Yup, I removed the leaded gas filler neck baffle, beat the catalyst out, and disabled the EGR of a 1977 Volare. The car simply would not run acceptably otherwise. The crazy thing was that my then wife (without telling me) took it to the inspection lane and it passed! We lived outside the city limits and weren’t required to get the sticker at that time.
Joe, I have to agree with Db on his point. He and I disagree on the issue, and likely always will, but it’s important to respect the poster while debating the issue. None of this is personal.
Insightful, I’ve heard of people beating the catalyst out, but just out of honest curiosity why did you disable the EGR system? It would seem logical to me that the EGR system would, by preventing preignition (a common problem back when manufacturers first tried to run carburetors lean to reduce emissions), allow the engine to run better at WOT. Is there a logic to that that I’m missing?
Disabling the EGR gave me more power and better throttle response; let it drive “normally” (to me anyway). The leaded gas I could then use eliminated the knocking. I rarely run at WOT and can’t recall if there was an issue with that. I concluded the EGR system just hadn’t been figured out on that engine (225 slant 6).
Interesting. Thanks for the explanation.
It did take the manufacturers a few years to figure out how to design for reduced emissions. When they initially leaned out the fuel and increased operating temps, dieseling was very common. The hot cylinders would keep firing the fuel, the crank would keep turning, and the pistons would keep drawing fuel from the float bowl. Some engines wanted to keep running until the float bowl went dry. Designers solved this by putting the idle stop on a solenoid that allowed the throttle plate to close completely when the key wen to OFF, choking the engine, but for a few years dieseling was a real problem. On some cars you could remove the key, walk away from the car, and it would just keep dieseling, just keep running.
On my 74 Cutlass with the 350, 4V, it had a solenoid on the throttle at the carb. When you turned the key off, the solenoid would deactivate and allow the throttle to close further, thus stopping the dieseling. Turn the key on and the solenoid would activate and push the throttle open to normal idle position. Kinda simple really and didn’t have a run on problem like other cars of that era.
California’s budget problems came about because we required a 2/3 majority in the legislature to adopt a budget. Whichever party was in the minority would hold the budget hostage until they got major concessions. Every few years we wouldn’t even have a budget by the mandated date and would be reduced to issuing IOUs. A few years ago we changed it to simple majority and all that nonsense disappeared overnight. It was a foolish system that caused decades of foolish budgeting. The minority party never had any incentive to really balance the budget (except a law that required it), so they would demand all sorts of extras as the clock ticked. They got all the pork they wanted but were never held responsible.
California’s budget difficulties have nothing to with their smog rediction programs, which have worked very well and been emulated around the world. Some parts of the state, including the LA Basin, still have pollution problems, but that’s caused by geography, where an inversion layer of deaert air traps the polluted air under it. Still, it is dramarically better than 40 years ago. With half as many people the air looked like mud. Coming down from the mountains you could easily see the top of the brown inversion layer as you dropped into it and you suddenly couldn’t even see the mountains you had just been in. Now the only parts of the state with brown air are agricultural regions where conservative lawmakers have fought even simple pollution standards for agricultural equipment. We’re finally starting to get somewhere as the cities in that region grow and fewer voters depend directly on farming. The air in Fresno and Bakersfield reminds me a lot of what we had in LA in the sixties. It will be harder to solve since only a minority is emissions. The rest is from spraying and spreading of agricultural chemicals and the dust kicked into the air by working the fields. Still, got to start somewhere. Qq
There was a bill introduced to have lawnmowers go through emission testing, failed but transportation is estimated at 30% of the problem, should not we be focusing on the other 70%?
Well if you take a look at any small engine from the past 5 years, they all have emissions references on them. I don’t know what the requirements are at this point but they sure are being regulated. That’s all those series of numbers on the information plate. The Briggs engine for my snowblower bought last year does not even have a carb adjustment anymore. Its just one jet period, leaned out to the hilt. Your government at work.
@bing that does meet with my experience. I had an old lawnmower with throttle control, most of the time I left it on low, and it did fine, now my sears lawnmower with a honda engine has no option but to run full out, gas savings and emmisions controls they said, but 3x times gas to cut my lawn!
edited from does not to does, edit agin, crap I must be getting Wisconsin, I see does and it is a female deer,
Yes, I’m ashamed of my spelling sometimes and my use of the wrong “to”, “there”, etc. whilst I complain about others quietly. Don’t know why your head thinks one way and the fingers go another way.
Speaking of lawnmowers, spied a '78 F-engine Lawnboy at the curb today. Mag deck, self-propel, very good-looking. I remember it as the model mower my dad had when I first mowed the lawn (at a shockingly young age, to think about it.)
It had good compression when I tried it. Think I’ll try to get it to run on ether tomorrow…should I squirt PB Blaster down the carb throat first?