[V8] Two More Years

[Buchholz, Steven]

... took #2 into the "Test Only" smog station yesterday ... came through
without too much fanfare ... needed a new gas cap ...  $13 on top of the $80
highway robbery we Kaleefohnia suckers pay for a smog test nowadays ... at
least I didn't have to endure the dyno, now that looks scary! ... I'll try
to stay away from my political angst ... well, there is one more thing ...
right now the legislature is working to eliminate the system that was set up
only a couple years ago where cars older than 30 years were exempted from
smog tests ... I hope all Kaleefohnian members of this list will contact
their elected leaders to express their displeasure at this flip-flop ...

... anyway ... a couple tidbits on what I came across ... first, catalytic
converter ... the units I got from Summit Racing were a bit shorter than the
factory units ... Catco number 6905R ... I think the standard 6905 may have
worked better.  Good thing we've got those sleeve pieces to attach the cat
to the rest of the exhaust!  We actually only finished one side ... the
other side has the flange attached directly to the nose of the cat ... not
sure how I'm going to make that work ... anyone know if it is possible to
get compatible flanges anywhere?

The other thing ... looks like I performed an ad hoc experiment of the
differences between the Bosch +4 Platinum plugs and the factory specified
plugs ... I've used the latter almost exclusively, but when I did the engine
swap I only had 4 of the proper plugs and four of the +4s, one type per
bank.  The plugs are still pretty new so you could tell the places where the
arcs were jumping across the insulator ... each type had a distinctly
different pattern.  The thing that appeared most disturbing to me was that
the center electrode on the +4s (a very small point in the middle of the
insulator) appeared to be eroding ... I'm going to take some pictures when I
have a chance.  

Steve B
San Jose, Kaleefohnia (USA)