emissions testing

[Josh.Hignight@phoenix.edu (Josh Hignight)]

To add to the pre-test thing...
A lot of test shops here in Albuquerque (the ONLY city in NM that tests, not
even Santa Fe tests, and their the capital!) have a really cool deal going.
If you fail the first time, you can re-test for free.

Joshua Hignight
Student Services/Technical Services
New Mexico Campus
(505) 821-4800

-----Original Message-----
From: Ian Overholt [mailto:ioverholt@hotmail.com]
Sent: Tuesday, February 12, 2002 2:23 PM
To: scirocco-l@scirocco.org
Subject: Re: emissions testing

Others have piped in lots of good info, but there is one detail that you
have to be certain about.  When someone says "I have a blank engine in my
blank year car with no cat and I pass the test, no problem!", that info MAY
NOT apply to you.  Each state has different test methods and not all states
are even measuring the same exhaust gases or have the same limits for each
gas.  You have to know how they will test the car (you indicated it was on a
rolling dyno) and what gases they are measuring (CO and HC are the most
common, but some states also measure NOx).

The reason I bring this up, is because if you have to pass a test that
measures NOx and you don't have a cat, you cannot get the car to pass by
simply leaning out the mixture.  When you run lean, the NOx shoots way up
unless there's a 3-way cat there to get the NOx levels down.

Of course it does help a lot to know exactly what the emissions limits are
for your state.  If you have not tested this car/engine combo before and
there are a lot of stakes riding on this test (major scrutiny of engine swap
if you fail the test) I would HIGHLY recommend doing a pre-test where they
just run the test and give you the results without sending the results on to
the state.  I do not know if your state allows pre tests, but CA does and
it's a darn good thing!

If you do a pre test and you do not pass, you can then adjust the car
however it needs to be adjusted without them scrutinizing the legality of
your engine swap.  Pre tests cost $20 in CA.  That's my $0.02.

Ian Overholt
'88 16v

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