Does this correlate? (Air/fuel/smog ?...)

[area53 at validpath.com (Jeff Toomasson)]

Thanks for the input, Dan - I'm sure it's possible. But since this car is, for 
now, pretty much a smog whore, I would like to spend as little time and money 
on it as possible!  :)  The K/S while necessary because of our crappy gas and 
the 3A block, would be mostly a band-aid right anyway...

Believe me though - the thought has crossed my mind several times - mostly 
every time I look at the engine bay and fuse box!  :-/

Maybe I'll just have to take it to my mechanic again and pay him. (although I'm 
looking at a $2k-ish service bill on the M5 from him in a couple months....)

Thanks again - Jeff

> The KS "shouldn't" do anything for your idle at all if the current ignition
> is in decent condition. You might check and make sure the timing doesn't
> change if you disconnect vacuum advance from the current distributor. If it
> doesn't change then the ignition advance should be pretty steady at idle.
> The KS ignition disregards vacuum advance at idle (TB closed throttle
> switch), so it is very steady, but overall, I'd think there would be little
> to choose between them as far as emissions.
> 
> If the AFR is oscillating around stoichiometric during all conditions that
> the engine would encounter during the test, again, I'd think you should be
> good to go. Is it possible to remove the potentiometer and replace it with
> the factory parts and wiring? I can't imagine it's doing anything positive
> for the performance, economy or emissions of the engine. Dan