Smog test war stories and workarounds

[Raliegh Montebello]

Alright, big engine owners of Portland and Seattle metro areas, how do you pull it off? Do you hollow out your cat? Do you toe the line with all equipment intact?
Mine passed with a disconnected air pump, and half of the muffler casing rotted away. He waived the magic mirror under the wagon, and said I was the first person to recognize what that was for.
So, say you have a late seventies j-truck with a 401 in the DEQ area. How do you pass?
It's ok to plead the fifth on this one.
Doug

[AlsChopShop]

as long as there is nothing horribly wrong with it... operating temp has a huge impact on how clean it runs. even the cat has to be hot to work correctly. the last two trucks i deq'd (toyota and chevy in my sig) failed the first time around. they both run well so i just drive tualatin-sherwood road from tualatin to the sherwood deq test station in 2nd gear and at speed. they both passed with flying colors. if you are at the station and idling in line, keep the revs up above 2,000rpm, too. the best time is to go wednesday evenings (they are open late) so you can have a clear road to let the truck rev up and roll right into the station. :thumbsup::drivin:

Al

[Raliegh Montebello]

I thought Sherwood was out of Metros' radius. Driving from Kenton to the Ne 33rd station via marine dr. did the trick for the 86. Bought a 67 so I wouldn't have to bother with DEQ, but am now regretting it. I'm staying away from Kaisers from here on out. Do you drive a 401? I'm wondering how they get built, yet still pass.

[SNO*MAN]

Another," but more expensive route" is to put a modern cat converter on your rig that does not utilize the air pump. You would be surprised how much they can clean up the co2.

[Raliegh Montebello]

Definitely pricing those out. My timeline is rebuild within two years, along with a quality exhaust. I'll still be jealous of all the hot-rod wagons I see on here.

[REDONE]

Wow, you guys got it rough.:(

I just moved out from the mountains into the city and braced myself for the smog gestoppo. Turns out we have a rolling 25year cut off. As of new years here in a few days, the only FSJs that will need a smog test will be the last three years of G-wags.

[autoarcheologist]

Wow, you guys got it rough.:(

I just moved out from the mountains into the city and braced myself for the smog gestoppo. Turns out we have a rolling 25year cut off. As of new years here in a few days, the only FSJs that will need a smog test will be the last three years of G-wags.

As much of a tree hugger as I am, even I can't see the benefit of spending millions of $ to smog vehicles that mostly pass at this point. The few cars on the road that don't pass at this point are either enthusiast vehicles, or will soon be at Pick n Pull.

To answer the OP, I bought a '73 just to avoid the smog. But putting a removable cat on it for smog would be the expensive but easy way to get it to pass. Or just figure out how to tune it and hope for the best.

[WagonWheel]

lean out your carb, keeping doing that until you pass, odds are you will barley be running when you pull in, but everytime you go out, lean it out just a bit more and drive right back around and get back in line until you pass lol, then when you are done, pull up on the curb, re adjust it and drive it away...it pisses them off but is funny and they can't really do anything about it lol:drivin:

[Strode182]

Another," but more expensive route" is to put a modern cat converter on your rig that does not utilize the air pump. You would be surprised how much they can clean up the co2.

I'm not in the NorthWest, but face the same problems in the Denver metro area.

Tell me more about 'modern' cats that don't require a air pump. I'm going to be getting a new exhaust system and buying new cats.....what generic (not vehicle specific) cats are the new style? What if you keep the air pump and put a new style cat on it.....does that air infusion mess it up?
I'd have to keep my air pump just as a visual check for the emissions tester, but if there's a kind of cleaner cat to buy I'd like to look for one.

Thanks......

[Raliegh Montebello]

If you kept your pump for visual, I'd think they'd call you on anything disconnected.
The non-air cats are just internally different, apparently. I've not seen one in person yet.
If your pump has a belt and hoses still attached, might as well keep the cat hooked up. Some believe it will clog without.

[Strode182]

I plan on keeping the pump, I'm just wondering if I have to get a 1982 specific CC, or if a 'non-air' CC will work even better?

[Raliegh Montebello]

The cat didn't change year to year. Napa sells a variety that have the air tube. Whether one works better than the other is subject to opinion.

[Carnuck]

The modern cats are just stainless steel honeycomb internals to burn off the raw HCs. I just tune them up and roll through. Oil change right before going in knocks the output down a LOT! I had to get the Etest guy outside the gate ($50 to pass or tell you why) to dial in a BBD on my 282 for me because I set it too lean (23 mph highway but no power) and CO/NOx were off the charts. That's where I learned how much retarding timing even a couple degrees knocked down the NOx (as timing advances, NOx rises exponentially as the motor reaches the point of pinging)

[Brizio]

I change te cat in june, and after I pass the smog test with flying colors... :thumbsup:

[SNO*MAN]

I'm not in the NorthWest, but face the same problems in the Denver metro area.

Tell me more about 'modern' cats that don't require a air pump. I'm going to be getting a new exhaust system and buying new cats.....what generic (not vehicle specific) cats are the new style? What if you keep the air pump and put a new style cat on it.....does that air infusion mess it up?
I'd have to keep my air pump just as a visual check for the emissions tester, but if there's a kind of cleaner cat to buy I'd like to look for one.

Thanks......

Modern cats do not require an air pump. Many aftermarket companies make performance based cat-back systems that do not restrict the flow. You can google (cat back) and find Borla, magnaflow and others that make them.
If you go with a modern cat, they will be smaller and also better than anything stock that you would put on. The cool thing is that these will also accomplish what DEQ wants and not hinder any performance at all.
It is one of the first upgrades to modern mustangs/ corvettes as well as other performance based cars. Even the rice racers do it on their super duper turbo'd big wing fast and furios dub save gas for my jeep tank models.