LAC Pollution Musings, was Massachusetts 4KTQ owner question

[Mark L. Chang]

On Tue, Dec 17, 2002 at 03:16:21PM -0500 or thereabouts, auditude at cox.net wrote:

> I disagree with that and similar laws that do not base their rules on
> the actual facts.  For example, what would be wrong with putting an
> '86 MC-1 motor in an '88 90q?  Let's say if the '86 and '88 MC-1
> motors are the same, why should the actual year of the donor car make
> the earlier motors illegal to install?

That fits your one-size-fits-all argument exactly. Making a law that
disallows 86 mc-1 into 88 90q vs 88 mc-1 into 88 90q is just making it
easier to enforce, IMHO. A small consideration I was making in the
original post. I agree, it would be nice to have real, conscious laws.

> Better yet, it should be based on the actual allowable limits for the
> year of the chassis.  If you could get a old Hemi to put out less
> emissions of a stock 4kq, then what would be wrong with that?  It
> wouldn't be up to the state to make it happen, that challenge would be
> on the consumer that wanted the motor in the car.

Again, just a concession on what I thought might be implementable. If
you can get your Hemi into an 91 90q and pass emissions at the 91 90q
level, you are more than welcome to drive on my street.

> I'll concede that it should maybe be the stricter of either the engine
> or chassis, but it should be based on the tailpipe emissions put out,
> not what year it was produced.

Right on.

> This is in the same ballpark as one-size-fits-all,
> lowest-common-denominator laws such as speed limits.  HOWEVER, since
> cars need to be smogged anyhow, it would not have the same enforcement
> problems as speed laws based on conditions/skill/performance/etc.  The
> allowable emissions limits for a given car are in black and white, not
> the judgement of law enforcement or even a judge.

I'm all for laws that give us a cleaner environment, but I was just
trying to think in terms of what could really get done in terms of
legislation. Agree on most points.

Mark

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