Now I have To Pass Emissions??

[H8LUZN]

I traded my 68 ss Camaro to a friend for his 87GN. It has a T63, Champion ported heads, Speed Pro cam, Alky system,Tweak chip, 50lb.Delphi inj., Built tranny w/3500 stall,Scanmaster etc. It runs 10.98 1/4 on et/drag radials. Now I have to meet emissions. I've always built older cars.......never had to worry about it before. I've read several remedies on this board but to make sure were talking apples to apples I wanted to list my specs. I have installed high flow cats and new oil change and filters. Since I've installed these cats...it will barely stay running at idle. Performance is down. Any help is appreciated!

 

[TurboDave]

cats? as in plural?? Turbo Buicks only ever came with 1 cat.

BTW, where are you?

 

[bison]

The cat wont have an effect at idle. Must be something else going on there. Id get an emissions chip from turbo tweak

 

[H8LUZN]

We decided to install the 2 cats after the pipes split. The area where the single cat would have gone is where a dragstrip/side discharge bolt on plate is installed. He won't charge me for moving things around. I'm just looking for a solution. This car has a hooker exhaust system on it. This car ran like a raped ape until I installed the cats. My motto is by any means necessary. By the way I live in Conyers, Ga.

 

[TurboDave]

GA has smog? DANG!!! I wouldn't have suspected.

But the previous post is correct. Just adding cats wouldn't have caused this issue.... Unless you've run leaded race gas since their install. That will plug them in a flash!

 

[H8LUZN]

I haven't run any leaded fuel in the car. The car actually seems to be idleing better as we speak. These are the things I'm trying to sort out in my head. Need egr valve? Should I order an emissions chip from Turbo Tweak? Should I load the car up with denatured alcohol? Should I unplug a vaccum line prior to the test? Dial fuel psi down( it's about 40psi now).........The guy at the emissions booth doesn't care what I do, he's real cool about it. As long as he sees a cat he says whatever else I have to do is cool with him. I have made a connection with the idle problem.....I't seems it does it the most after the test for about a solid 30 minutes. I have failed the test twice now. The first time I went over there I had just installed the cats and only had about 5 miles on them. I was fairly close to passing the Nox so the guy said to drive the car for about 50 miles and bring it back........he was wrong. Car heats up to about 210 during the test. It doesnt like that test at all.........

 

[TurboDave]

I haven't run any leaded fuel in the car. The car actually seems to be idleing better as we speak. These are the things I'm trying to sort out in my head. Need egr valve? Should I order an emissions chip from Turbo Tweak? Should I load the car up with denatured alcohol? Should I unplug a vaccum line prior to the test? Dial fuel psi down( it's about 40psi now).........The guy at the emissions booth doesn't care what I do, he's real cool about it. As long as he sees a cat he says whatever else I have to do is cool with him. I have made a connection with the idle problem.....I't seems it does it the most after the test for about a solid 30 minutes. I have failed the test twice now. The first time I went over there I had just installed the cats and only had about 5 miles on them. I was fairly close to passing the Nox so the guy said to drive the car for about 50 miles and bring it back........he was wrong. Car heats up to about 210 during the test. It doesnt like that test at all.........

A good smog chip (with EGR control), a good cat (you have that covered), and an installed, working EGR will do more than anything else to get you through the check in good order.

Don't mess with fuel pressure!! Cant emphisise that enough. Any changes you make in fuel pressure will be negated by the ECM/chip. That's what BLM is for, keeping things on an even keel.
Don't remove a vacuum line, it only screws the ECM's ability keep a good A/F ratio. A little denatured alcohol wont hurt a thing.

 

[XLR8]

Your Champion heads do not allow the EGR to function and hence are not passing the NOx part of the test. I am guessing that the reason you are failing NOx is that you have a 2-way cat. You need a 3 way cat that reduced NOx. I have champion irons and use the original stock cat and pass a strice IM-240 test. And a little Heet in the gas tank wont hurt.

 

[TurboDave]

Your Champion heads do not allow the EGR to function and hence are not passing the NOx part of the test. I am guessing that the reason you are failing NOx is that you have a 2-way cat. You need a 3 way cat that reduced NOx. I have champion irons and use the original stock cat and pass a strice IM-240 test. And a little Heet in the gas tank wont hurt.

Good catch on the heads. I missed that.

 

[gofstbuick]

Georgia's smog check program mirrors California. Since the only visual inspection requirement is the catlytic converter, I suspect that the inspector will be looking for one catalytic converter in the proper location. If you're flooding that engine with fuel, you may be super heating the cat. If the turbotweak chip is open loop, then you may have to convert to an emissions chip as others have suggested. you really need to get the car tested, so you will know what is required visually and where the emissions are at. Then we can start providing a more educated solution.

 

[TLIMITED]

I haven't run any leaded fuel in the car. The car actually seems to be idleing better as we speak. These are the things I'm trying to sort out in my head. Need egr valve? Should I order an emissions chip from Turbo Tweak? Should I load the car up with denatured alcohol? Should I unplug a vaccum line prior to the test? Dial fuel psi down( it's about 40psi now).........The guy at the emissions booth doesn't care what I do, he's real cool about it. As long as he sees a cat he says whatever else I have to do is cool with him. I have made a connection with the idle problem.....I't seems it does it the most after the test for about a solid 30 minutes. I have failed the test twice now. The first time I went over there I had just installed the cats and only had about 5 miles on them. I was fairly close to passing the Nox so the guy said to drive the car for about 50 miles and bring it back........he was wrong. Car heats up to about 210 during the test. It doesnt like that test at all.........

I have always used about 12oz.'s of Laquer thinner to about a half tank of gas and they looked kind of puzzeled that the numbers were so low,also low numbers with no cat.once.

 

[gofstbuick]

Additionally, I won't comment on clean
piping or clean screening (of OBD II vehicles). Besides, posting about
clean piping on a public forum seems IMHO unwise (you just don't know who's
looking).

1986TR,
Actually, in this case I will. The part about you never know who's looking, I'm getting ready to affect someones license for the rest of his life. After we get though with him in court and him paying restitution, I guess he'll be in the construction business, because he won't ever be a smog check mechanic again!!!

 

[fast86gn]

I am currently trying to get my 86GN to pass emissions. I passed the CO's low and high speeds and failed the NOX. I even tried a brand new cat and had the same results. EGR is new. Running a turbotweak chip.

I went on to Turbotweaks website and under tuning it says that the EGR function is turned off on these chips? Aw ha! There was my problem I went back to a different street chip and passed.

I don't know about running those duel cats past the split? but you will need the EGR to work if they check for the NOX to pass.

 

[wagon]

As for having th ecats after the split into two. Cats work when they are hot. If they are too far back in the exhaust system, tehy won't be hot enough to work properly. Get the right cat, and put it right after the downpipe, and get a good emmissions chip.