Colorado emissions testing questions

[roger1]

If someone here lives in the area of Colorado where this is required and has some knowledge about it, I would appreciate in what you are able to share.

My wife and I currently live in San Angelo, TX and it looks like due to health and other reasons, it's going to be the best for us to move to Colorado in the front range area between Denver and Fort Collins. I've been looking at homes for sale in Weld County which I believe has the same emission testing rules as Denver does.
I have 2 classic cars. One is a '69 GTO that I'm in the last stages of completing my restomod on. It has the original engine and I installed an Edelbrock ProFlo on it.
The other car is a 1983 El Camino Choo Choo SS and the engine an LT1 (4L60e from a 1996 Impala SS running a '94 ODB1 ECM with 2 O2 sensors. I removed all the emission controls and discarded them. It has mid-length headers and 2 1/2" exhaust with an X-pipe and of course no catalytic converters.

From what I can find, the GTO will be exempt from emission testing but the El Camino will be required to get what they call an "I/M 240 dynamometer (treadmill) test".
My questions are whether there is a chance my El Camino would pass this test as is? What if it fails? Are there any easy modifications I could make to it to get it to pass or would they be involved or maybe not even practical to attempt?
I have no idea what I would be up against. I really want to keep the car and love it the way it is right now. I don't really want to sink the money it would take to by and install a crate E-Rod engine and exhaust. The LT1/4L60 has less than 30K miles on it and this car runs sweet as could be. Here's a few photos just so you can see how nice this car is and why I want to keep it.

 

[Supercharged111]

Emissions goes by county, are you able to tag in a county without emissions? I'm in El Paso County, no emissions here, but they're coming. CO also requires CA or OE cats FYI. I can't speak to swap rules. I am curious why in God's name you'd want to come here for health? My allergies are absolutely awful here and in the winter I can barely sleep through the night through my nose.

 

[roger1]

Emissions goes by county, are you able to tag in a county without emissions? I'm in El Paso County, no emissions here, but they're coming. CO also requires CA or OE cats FYI. I can't speak to swap rules. I am curious why in God's name you'd want to come here for health? My allergies are absolutely awful here and in the winter I can barely sleep through the night through my nose.

I'm surprised you have allergies in the winter. Nothing blooming and molds should be about non-existent.
We've got a condo in Boulder that we've had for over 4 years now. I don't have allergies at all when I'm there but I sure do here in Texas (mostly mold). My wife has some allergies up there but I think worse here. It's not so much about us though. We have other family in Ft Collins and they have health issues where it would be nice for us to be close in order to help out sometimes. This is what is driving it. The other thing is that the older my wife and I get, the more the summer heat affects us. As far as cold weather, I lived in Wyoming for a few years so I know what to expect. My wife not so much but she's gone up to our condo several times in the winter now so she has some idea.

I just found some stuff on the net about engine swaps. It says this for Colorado:

"For 1975 and newer vehicles in which the original engine has been replaced, if either the
vehicle body/chassis original engine, as per registration/title or replacement engine as
manufactured had a catalytic converter system, air injection reaction system, and/or
microprocessor based air/fuel control system, these emission control systems must be
present, intact and operational before a Certification of Emissions Control may be issued
by an emissions technical center licensed personnel or designee.
For those vehicles in which the original engine has been replaced, the emissions limits
and applicable emissions control equipment for the year and model of the vehicle
body/chassis, as per registration/title or replacement engine, whichever is newest, shall
apply."

I'd hate every minute of locating and trying to put all the original emissions stuff back on this engine. If I throw more money and time investment into this car, I would want to feel like I'm moving forward and not backwards. Putting original stuff on this LT1 would be a huge step back in looks and performance.
That leaves me with 2 options, sink over $10K into it and buy an E-Rod LS3 kit or sell the car to my brother. He already told me he would buy it from me. I'd sell it for less to him than I would anybody else just to keep it in the family. He said he'd sell it back to me at any time too. Who knows, maybe Colorado will change the requirements someday. I don't know why they have to be older than 1975 to be exempt. If they changed it to 1985, I'd be OK. Too bad they don't do what Texas does where anything over 25 years old is exempt.

 

[ck80]

I'm surprised you have allergies in the winter. Nothing blooming and molds should be about non-existent.
We've got a condo in Boulder that we've had for over 4 years now. I don't have allergies at all when I'm there but I sure do here in Texas (mostly mold). My wife has some allergies up there but I think worse here. It's not so much about us though. We have other family in Ft Collins and they have health issues where it would be nice for us to be close in order to help out sometimes. This is what is driving it. The other thing is that the older my wife and I get, the more the summer heat affects us. As far as cold weather, I lived in Wyoming for a few years so I know what to expect. My wife not so much but she's gone up to our condo several times in the winter now so she has some idea.

I just found some stuff on the net about engine swaps. It says this for Colorado:

"For 1975 and newer vehicles in which the original engine has been replaced, if either the
vehicle body/chassis original engine, as per registration/title or replacement engine as
manufactured had a catalytic converter system, air injection reaction system, and/or
microprocessor based air/fuel control system, these emission control systems must be
present, intact and operational before a Certification of Emissions Control may be issued
by an emissions technical center licensed personnel or designee.
For those vehicles in which the original engine has been replaced, the emissions limits
and applicable emissions control equipment for the year and model of the vehicle
body/chassis, as per registration/title or replacement engine, whichever is newest, shall
apply."

I'd hate every minute of locating and trying to put all the original emissions stuff back on this engine. If I throw more money and time investment into this car, I would want to feel like I'm moving forward and not backwards. Putting original stuff on this LT1 would be a huge step back in looks and performance.
That leaves me with 2 options, sink over $10K into it and buy an E-Rod LS3 kit or sell the car to my brother. He already told me he would buy it from me. I'd sell it for less to him than I would anybody else just to keep it in the family. He said he'd sell it back to me at any time too. Who knows, maybe Colorado will change the requirements someday. I don't know why they have to be older than 1975 to be exempt. If they changed it to 1985, I'd be OK. Too bad they don't do what Texas does where anything over 25 years old is exempt.

Everything you're reading off, including the 1975 cutoff, stinks to high heaven of California and their commie influences.

EPA allowed basically two sets of rules, the federal version and a more restrictive CA version under waivers to them. Sounds like they took the harsher route.

 

[Supercharged111]

It's not the allergies that get me in the winter, it gets so incredibly dry plus the altitude that I plug up and can't breathe. What's crazy is I spent 3 months in the Mojave Desert last year and dry with lower elevation was of no consequence. I figure it must be the altitude. I hear you on the summer heat, supposed to be 90 again this week. No that's not TX hot, but it's still too hot for my liking.

As for the emissions, I should have been more clear about my statement with the cats: CO has adopted CA standards for any county that has emissions testing. Another otherwise beautiful state ruined.

 

[roger1]

It's not the allergies that get me in the winter, it gets so incredibly dry plus the altitude that I plug up and can't breathe. What's crazy is I spent 3 months in the Mojave Desert last year and dry with lower elevation was of no consequence. I figure it must be the altitude. I hear you on the summer heat, supposed to be 90 again this week. No that's not TX hot, but it's still too hot for my liking.

As for the emissions, I should have been more clear about my statement with the cats: CO has adopted CA standards for any county that has emissions testing. Another otherwise beautiful state ruined.

I didn't have any trouble in those dry winters living in Wyoming but I was in my 20's then and now I'm 67. I haven't had any trouble on ski trips either but haven't done that for about 5 years now. One thing for sure though is plug up often here in Texas from the molds. I took allergy shots for 5 years and it did nothing and was a waste of time and effort.

So what if I considered a Colorado county without emission inspections. Would I still have to pass a visual inspection that would require all the emission components to be installed? Not sure if I want to consider another area anyway though. We are kind of targeting the areas close to Longmont, Loveland or Fort Collins which are all in Weld County I believe.

 

[Supercharged111]

Outside of where the emissions are tested, there's not so much as a visual. But there are front plates. My MI plates only go out back.

 

[86LK]

let us know how it works out Roger1. Colorado is one of the places the wife and I are considering retirement ourselves from Austin and I do have that '86 elkie. the one thing I remember from my trip up there 2-3 yrs ago during MemDay weekend was the hailstorms around the Denver area.

like you, I can't stand the dmn heat and the cedar pollen is a major PITA

 

[Supercharged111]

Hailstorms all across the state. It's a matter of when, not if you get a car destroyed. But the highs are lower and the lows are higher than at a lower elevation. There is a lot of good here, but the cat's out of the bag as folks have been coming in droves to the point we want out of here.

 

[86LK]

Hailstorms all across the state. It's a matter of when, not if you get a car destroyed. But the highs are lower and the lows are higher than at a lower elevation. There is a lot of good here, but the cat's out of the bag as folks have been coming in droves to the point we want out of here.

dad planned to retire in CS in '73, already had built the house, but then got called overseas again, then back to the states, and then decided to pick San Antonio to retire to 5 yrs later 😡 I often wonder how my life path would have changed