[s-cars] Speaking of Emissions

[Bob Rossato]

> --- Rob Pecsar <rpecsar at pacbell.net> wrote:
> > A GOOD DAY: Just passed the California smog inspection, but the idle
> > hydrocarbon # was higher than the California avg car (max=120, avg=24,
> > measured=84). The 2200 rpm test passed with less than 1/2 HC of the avg
> > car. The mechanic said it was probably due to valve timing overlap, i.e.
> > tuned for higher rpm...so, the "mod" question is:
> >
> > Has any lister passed the California smog emission test the RS2 cams?
>
> don't have an answer to your last question, but my car blew
> similar numbers
> to yours.  i was thinking the car needed new plugs, but maybe they're
> all like that.
>
> -teddy
> '92 S4

Well just today I had my car tested.  Mine is bone stock, at the moment, so
this won't answer the RS2 question, but at least it's a data point for the
stock guys...if anybody cares.  I'll find out how it does with the full RS2
package in 2 years when it's next test is due.

Anyway, in CT the test is done on the dynamometer and the car is brought to
25mph (obviously RPMs will vary depending on the car's gearing, and
presumably they do this in second gear for manual transmissions).  When I
went to get the car tested today I looked at the old test results from 2
years ago when I bought the car (it was from out of state so it had to get
tested when I registered it) and noticed I barely passed NOx by the skin of
my teeth.  So I wasn't too confident I would pass today.  Here are the
results.

               HC              CO         NOx
Spec:      108.0ppm     0.60%    751.0ppm
Actual:
6/21/00     56.5ppm     0.44%     738.0ppm
6/25/02       3.7ppm     0.02%     324.2ppm

Obviously I passed with flying colors.  Much better than 2 years ago.  I
attribute this to the fact that the car probably had been sitting for a
while when I bought it, and to my daily Italian tune-ups since then :-)  The
place I bought it from put a new set of plugs before they got it tested and
it's still on those plugs, 16k miles later.

Bob