This is topic anyone else certified as a "gross polluter" :D in forum Tech Talk at Northern California Ford Owners  .


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Posted by shade-tree (Member # 298) on :
 
I've spent 2 weekends now since my CHP ticket trying to smog, and I fucked up on this last one.
went in with a 650 rpm idle, and 3 BTDC timing. failed the sniffer (but passed the visual for once) and now my car has a "gross polluter" flag in it's registration. Sweet.

anyone else in the same boat? what can I do?
 

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Posted by sic91sleeper (Member # 779) on :
 
Cant you retake the test and if you pass with flying colors wont they take that back off? Did you use the stock 4 cat h-pipe?
 

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Posted by 1sic91blackgt (Member # 868) on :
 
hahah nates old car now owned by chicostang took like 6 times to pass smog lol
 

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Posted by Blown Mystic (Member # 476) on :
 
i have the same shit. i might not register my car.
 

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Posted by st5150 (Member # 51) on :
 
3 BTDC???? Why would you do such a thing? Was the car back firing on the way there?
 

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Posted by shade-tree (Member # 298) on :
 
all smog equipment (including cats) installed. To the untrained eye, my car looks 100% stock. I'm sure 30# injectors aren't helping the cause, and probably I've mis-connected a vacuum line or two in the smog section of the car on the passenger side.
The motor is a 50k mile '94 cobra pullout, with an oh-so-stealthy fox HO intake
compression numbers are EXCELLENT and it runs like a raped ape. Ah well, smog tuning is a learning experience for me.

although I consider myself non-racist, I will *never* take my car to a vietnamese owned smog test station again. Period. ever.
I'm sure someone who can actually speak the language, and isn't so intent on reverse racism would have cut me a break and set me loose as soon as I failed the sniffer. (much as every other shop I tried did, I was pre-tested 4 times already and failed the visual every time, at one place I even passed tailpipe with flying colors, but it was a pre-test so it didn't count)

edit: I picked 3 BTDC because the front dress (oil cooler hard lines) blocks the distributor. Full lock on one tooth is 3 BTDC. next tooth, full lock the other way is 14 BTDC. I picked 3
car runs fine at 3, just slow

[ October 07, 2002, 11:08 AM: Message edited by: shade-tree ]
 

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Posted by ChicoStang w/ GF (Member # 801) on :
 
hey, yea my stanggot f*cked by a police officer in SJ. Wrote altered smog equipment on ticket, so i was sent to the State Referee, not just a smog guy. State referee hella stricter then just a regular smog guy. All though my problem was with my egr valvue and how much vacum it was pulling. But I finally passed on the 5th time What part exactly are u failing? My first test...i went in there, and only thing i had changed was my h pipe, to the stock one. Failed visual....adj fuel pressure regulator didnt help, open element K&N w/out CARB sticker didnt help, timing at 14 sucked, and was labeled a gross poluter. I think one of the best things you could do. To get your C02's down...is take your stock h pipe. And go have some Big catalytic converts welded to it, instead of the small Ford ones. My h pipe, we didnt change anything...took out one of the Ford Cats, and put one from a GM that he had lying around....it was new, just never used. He welded that to my pipe, and I dropped over 100 CO2's with just that one cat. So maybe replace all four of your cats, with some GM ones(even though we all hate to have to go that route) or any company where there catalytic converters are twice the size of 5.0's That will help a lot with those 30lb injectors. I have a stock TB and EGR spacer if u wanna borrow them. The stock TB has a seal on it...makes the diameter on the insede where the air goes through even smaller. It looks like a 40mm TB...LOL Any help I may be just ask

Josh
 

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Posted by ChicoStang w/ GF (Member # 801) on :
 
Oh yea, I dont think that I am labeled a gross poluter any more..with my C02's never above 5, at both idle and 2500!!!! And the thing about my Cats...they liked it when it was HOT! Would work best if u had the engine reved up....like most Cats do. Work better when really hot, and some times work better at 2500 then 1000, rpms. SO maybe bump ur idle to 900 or so.....to keep those cats hot when doing testing.
 

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Posted by shade-tree (Member # 298) on :
 
thanks, idle is currently set to 1000. I am considering bumping to 1100, I heard as high as 1200 is legal
 

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Posted by ChicoStang w/ GF (Member # 801) on :
 
yea 1200 is legal...but dont do that...cause if for any reason ur cars idle goes above 1200 u will have to redo that paticula test...which u dont wanna do. If your car keeps goin to 1201 and then to 1199 they will fail u cause car cant idle right. Just be carefull, 1000 is good. Dont go any more. Do the Cats thing...that will help u!!! What did u fail this last time? And is it just a smog test by any smog person, or is it like me with a state referee?
 

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Posted by shade-tree (Member # 298) on :
 
I have been referred to a "test only" station which I believe means :

a) I have to bring vaseline or my favorite version of lubricant

b) it is formerly state run, but now licensed to various smog tech's. See 'a' above

I passed the 2500 rpms stuff, but failed idle CO and HC miserably (50% too high)
 

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Posted by ChicoStang w/ GF (Member # 801) on :
 
well, i would change your cats.....easiest and most cost effective solution. 2500 u passed cause cats nice and hot, idle failed cats not hot enough...not doin there work. Just like buy 2 brand new Cats...for like your Ford F-350 u have...or so u tell them. Then take out 2 of the existing cats and weld the new ones in there place. I bet that will help u even more!
 

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Posted by shade-tree (Member # 298) on :
 
just passed. I thought I had set 10 BTDC, but the tech recorded 7 BTDC (reading the balancer). Whatever, perhaps it slipped, but I think I'm right on the 10 part.

also cranked the idle to 1000, but it fell to 833 during the idle test, and I reset my TPS to be below 1.00V at 1000 rpms (this could be a key tuning setting). I considered making it below 1.00 V at 2500 rpms, but I was justed trying to see how close/far I was on 8

Ran on 91 octane, all 8 cylinders (decided to re-plug in that 8th cylinder at the injector which I thought was helping. maybe not).

took off my fuel pressure gauge, but left my aeromotive AFPR there. he didn't notice/care

I also changed the oil, but not the plugs, and unplugged my oil cooler from the coolant lines so that I could swing the distributor to 10 (yes, it is that tight, and yes I did jump back and forth on a tooth on the distributor, but with 15 teeth, each tooth represents 24 degrees and my window was maybe 15 degrees max.

anyways: numbers

Stage 1: 2500 rpms
HC ppm 130 (max) Avg(12) me (10) woot!
CO % 1.00 (max) Avg(0.10) me (0.95) phew!

Stage 2: Idle (833 measured)
HC ppm 100 (max) Avg(17) me (35)
CO % 1.00(max) me (0.25)

pass! the guy (Timothy) at Greenslip in Santa Clara is really cool. I was going to fail on evap line on cannister (Cracked) but he let me trim the hose and re-attach.

also, why are my CO% still kinda high? cats old? or thermactor stuff wired wrong? (so smog pump doesn't reach cats?)
 

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Posted by Milesblown03 (Member # 27) on :
 

quote:

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Originally posted by shade-tree:
just passed. I thought I had set 10 BTDC, but the tech recorded 7 BTDC (reading the balancer). Whatever, perhaps it slipped, but I think I'm right on the 10 part.

also cranked the idle to 1000, but it fell to 833 during the idle test, and I reset my TPS to be below 1.00V at 1000 rpms (this could be a key tuning setting). I considered making it below 1.00 V at 2500 rpms, but I was justed trying to see how close/far I was on 8

Ran on 91 octane, all 8 cylinders (decided to re-plug in that 8th cylinder at the injector which I thought was helping. maybe not).

took off my fuel pressure gauge, but left my aeromotive AFPR there. he didn't notice/care

I also changed the oil, but not the plugs, and unplugged my oil cooler from the coolant lines so that I could swing the distributor to 10 (yes, it is that tight, and yes I did jump back and forth on a tooth on the distributor, but with 15 teeth, each tooth represents 24 degrees and my window was maybe 15 degrees max.

anyways: numbers

Stage 1: 2500 rpms
HC ppm 130 (max) Avg(12) me (10) woot!
CO % 1.00 (max) Avg(0.10) me (0.95) phew!

Stage 2: Idle (833 measured)
HC ppm 100 (max) Avg(17) me (35)
CO % 1.00(max) me (0.25)

pass! the guy (Timothy) at Greenslip in Santa Clara is really cool. I was going to fail on evap line on cannister (Cracked) but he let me trim the hose and re-attach.

also, why are my CO% still kinda high? cats old? or thermactor stuff wired wrong? (so smog pump doesn't reach cats?)

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