Passing Emissions

[Clone TIE Pilot]

That makes no sense at all.

Buy a sub-$100 converter, and buy a complete take out stock turd of an engine. Most people doing engine swaps on formerly running stock gbodies can hardly give the factory engines away, and usually give them up for scrap.

Unlike a modern car the entire emissions system is basically on the engine. Worst, absolute worst, case scenario is you buy a take out engine for almost nothing and pay a few hundred to ship it. Instant complete emissions system.

If your harness was cut just unplug it from the firewall and replace with a used one.

No need to do something ridiculous and drastic like sell a known car, repay tax/title fees on a replacement.

In my part of the woods, G bodies no longer grow on trees yet alone complete powertrain take outs. My swap was a take out but it took me over a year to find it and a couple of dead ends, and that was over a decade ago. Moreover, the takeout must be the same year or newer than your car, as emission setups changed from year to year. Then there is still the risk of the used emission system still requiring repairs, replacing missing parts, testing with a Mityvac, repair wiring, etc. Another factor is how wildly modified the OP's car is. Really wild engines will be hard and expensive to revert back to being compliant, if possible.

TBI is not a bad way to go, especially with a 9C1 setup. But even that does not have the flow or performance the ccc Q jet offers. With the slow stock powertrain issues, I forgot to list low performance auto transmission tuning. Most G bodies had poor trans shift programing, only the MCSSs, 442s, and Turbo Regals had decent shift programing which has a big effect on performance.

Going back to emissions, basically all low emission engines from the 70s to now are built and certified as a package that was tested and known to run clean. Alter the package, and nobody knows if engine is still clean running without extensive retesting to recertify it. Aftermarket parts must be submited by the manufacturers to certify that they do not alter the package to be labeled legal like the old TES headers were. These tests are beyond what most of us can afford. So to be legal, you need a complete factory package that is government certified.

 

[TomDisab]

Most states if the car is 25 years old you are exempt. If not yet passed this could be a good time to attend your county legislature meeting and voice your opinion.

Bought an '87 Monte Aerocoupe with less than 1000 miles on it and it wouldn't pass emissions here in Delaware so the 25 year rule don't hold here. Do what I did, take it down to less than a quarter tank, load it up with rubbing alcohol and you're done. It actually reduced my emissions by 90%.

 

[black_aerocoupe]

The Bernalillo County standards were a standing (no dyno) low and high rpm sniff test, on a mid 80s car back in the early 2000s. Check and see what they do now. It may be a dyno like Phoenix now? A proper functioning gas cap is needed.

An EGR Edelbrock intake or ZZ4 intake are an easy change. The truly 50 state legal Hooker and Edelbrock headers are discontinued, so you may want to get questions answered by the state on exceptions for "parts not available" situations.

The bits and pieces to add the diverter valve and air pump and vacuum lines aren't tough to add. The distributor and wiring are some effort.

If you can pick up a car to part out that has the parts you need, (87 would work) that's quite possibly the best way to not spend tons of time to chase the bits and pieces.

Don't take this the wrong way, but the cars in Maricopa County AZ that won't pass are worth less than the ones that will pass. Rio Rancho has gotten away without testing a long time, considering the growth there.

 

[Clone TIE Pilot]

Besides a well tuned and healthy engine with a complete and intact emission system, here are a few other items that can help. Fully warm the engine up before the test, perform a tune up, change the oil, and use fresh gas.

 

[84 El Camino 231]

I often wonder how many g-bodies are running around with disabled emissions that perform poorly b/c the distributor is the original ecm advance curve. I guess the cat converter cannot survive this way.

Personally, I couldn't stand the stinky exhaust when my cat was melted internally, replaced it for this reason alone. I didn't care it's not 52 state legal, it took care of the stinky exhaust.

 

[CaliWagon83]

Yeah. Get it super hot before you get it tested. Make sure the cat is fully warmed up. Never heard of the rubbing alcohol trick. 70% or 90%? 🤔

 

[Cajun83HO]

Not sure if my low milage original 83 H/O could pass an emissions test. Never needed to because in Louisiana with an antique plate and insurance, your not required. A police officer tried to ticket me for this one time, until I showed him a copy of the law. He still gave me the speeding ticket though.

 

[Wageslave]

Bought an '87 Monte Aerocoupe with less than 1000 miles on it and it wouldn't pass emissions here in Delaware so the 25 year rule don't hold here. Do what I did, take it down to less than a quarter tank, load it up with rubbing alcohol and you're done. It actually reduced my emissions by 90%.

Wouldn't running a little E85 do the same thing? Running that much alcohol would mask an overly rich condition, but it would have to be runnng pretty pig rich beforehand to pass a sniffer like that. It almost sounds like the E4ME was running at full rich when that happened.

 

[85Elky]

Just wanted to thank everyone for their help and direction. It has been confirmed that in Sandoval County only cars 35 years of age or newer require emissions testing. This is a flat rate year that rolls every year. So currently in 2020 anything 1985 and newer requires emissions. However, next year in 2021 1985 will be exempt and anything 1986 and newer will require testing.

In the current stage of my build it is very unlikely that I will have my car on the road in the next year so it should be no issue at all.

Thanks again for the help! I am sure I will have more questions as my build continues.

 

[DocG G-edi Master]

Hey there pagrunt has the answer.I was able to avoid all emmission testing in Arizona by Insuring my 84 Calais as a classic with Haggerty. [No annual driving limits on my policy] . I had to show the Proof of Classic Insurance when registering it in 2019. I would be that NM has a similar law. Then you can use a pre EST Distributor [ I bought an 1980 Delco Re-man from Rock Auto for $100.00], any Carb Intake combo, [Ditch the Feedback Carb!! ] and true duals with headers and no Cat required.
I can assure you that if you can register it as I suggest you will Save a lot of $$$, Time, and frustration trying to performance tune an 85 CCC controlled engine. Not to mention the Fun of trying your own combos of performance Parts .
Good Luck: Doc