Those standards are tough. Your car would pass with flying colors in most other states. Here is what I recommend:
1) Your CO2 is very high and your O2 is very low. Normally this is fine, but on a car with an AIR pump that feeds air to the cat during warm part throttle and idle, I would expect the o2 to be higher, maybe 3.0 to 4.0 and the CO2 to be lower maybe 11 or so. Either your AIR pump is not working correctly, or your car in 1981 did not come equipped with an AIR pump designed to pump air to the cat. Do a visual inspection and look for the hose coming off the Air pump solenoid going to the exhaust. If you have that, then you need to see if the air is going to the cat. Not always easy. You can often disconnect the line at the pump and check it at idle, but also check the integrity of the air line all the way down to the cat. Check for vacuum leaks on any lines to the solenoid. I know a lot of people say that you don't need the AIR pump and in 49 states that may be true. But if are trying to make 71 then you need everything working 100%. If you have air being pumped into the cat you will lower HC.
2) Consider some sort of cleaning or decarbonizing treatment. Seafoam, Techron (at least a couple tank fulls), there are others. There are also products like Run Rite that have a system to feed fluid through a vacuum line that helps remove carbon. I haven't personally tried any of these, but they are inexpensive and may help you squeak by.
3) Consider replacing the O2 sensor. There are ways to test them, but a new one is like $18. If you are not sure how old it is I would replace it. They do go out of range over time and slowly start to drive the car rich. Yes, you car has good CO readings, but with a new O2 your CO might come down, which would also bring down your HC some.
4) Can you cheat a little on timing? Retarded timing definitely lowers HC. If you can get away with just 2 degrees it might help. The sheet says 16, but Autozone says 15. Check the underhood decal and confirm. I know this is crazy, but if the ring on the balancer was to slide out of place it would affect the reading. Also wondering how a ignition retard box could be used here. The tech would check base time which may not be affected by the retard box, but when reconnected the box would keep the actual reading retarded. You would need to test this. This is way out there too, but a custom burned PROM that changed actual timing from the ECM could help. Base time would be set, but when you connect up the timing the ECM would use less advance, effectively retarding the timing.
5) How old is your cat? A new cat can have a dramatic impact on emissions and will likely get you through. If you cat is more than a couple years old you should consider this as an option if nothing else pans out. I think you need to install a CA approved cat which are very expensive. I have read on some other boards that the CA approved cats are actually really good at pulling emissions down. Good odds that this would get you passed, but no guarantees. There are some online videos (one from Walker actually) that show how to test a cat with an infrared heat gun. You might look into that to see if you get a red flag. If you replace your cat, I would definitely throw in a new O2 as well to maximize lifespan of the cat.
That's all I have right now. I would start with the cheap and easy stuff and go from there.
1) Your CO2 is very high and your O2 is very low. Normally this is fine, but on a car with an AIR pump that feeds air to the cat during warm part throttle and idle, I would expect the o2 to be higher, maybe 3.0 to 4.0 and the CO2 to be lower maybe 11 or so. Either your AIR pump is not working correctly, or your car in 1981 did not come equipped with an AIR pump designed to pump air to the cat. Do a visual inspection and look for the hose coming off the Air pump solenoid going to the exhaust. If you have that, then you need to see if the air is going to the cat. Not always easy. You can often disconnect the line at the pump and check it at idle, but also check the integrity of the air line all the way down to the cat. Check for vacuum leaks on any lines to the solenoid. I know a lot of people say that you don't need the AIR pump and in 49 states that may be true. But if are trying to make 71 then you need everything working 100%. If you have air being pumped into the cat you will lower HC.
2) Consider some sort of cleaning or decarbonizing treatment. Seafoam, Techron (at least a couple tank fulls), there are others. There are also products like Run Rite that have a system to feed fluid through a vacuum line that helps remove carbon. I haven't personally tried any of these, but they are inexpensive and may help you squeak by.
3) Consider replacing the O2 sensor. There are ways to test them, but a new one is like $18. If you are not sure how old it is I would replace it. They do go out of range over time and slowly start to drive the car rich. Yes, you car has good CO readings, but with a new O2 your CO might come down, which would also bring down your HC some.
4) Can you cheat a little on timing? Retarded timing definitely lowers HC. If you can get away with just 2 degrees it might help. The sheet says 16, but Autozone says 15. Check the underhood decal and confirm. I know this is crazy, but if the ring on the balancer was to slide out of place it would affect the reading. Also wondering how a ignition retard box could be used here. The tech would check base time which may not be affected by the retard box, but when reconnected the box would keep the actual reading retarded. You would need to test this. This is way out there too, but a custom burned PROM that changed actual timing from the ECM could help. Base time would be set, but when you connect up the timing the ECM would use less advance, effectively retarding the timing.
5) How old is your cat? A new cat can have a dramatic impact on emissions and will likely get you through. If you cat is more than a couple years old you should consider this as an option if nothing else pans out. I think you need to install a CA approved cat which are very expensive. I have read on some other boards that the CA approved cats are actually really good at pulling emissions down. Good odds that this would get you passed, but no guarantees. There are some online videos (one from Walker actually) that show how to test a cat with an infrared heat gun. You might look into that to see if you get a red flag. If you replace your cat, I would definitely throw in a new O2 as well to maximize lifespan of the cat.
That's all I have right now. I would start with the cheap and easy stuff and go from there.
