Dealing with the State's Emissions Engineer was pretty worthless. They have the attitude that if the car came with certain Emission Controls, then they still need to be on the car. That includes having a newesr engine that has better emission controls built in. No lee-way at all here.

But I think my issues may be cured. Looking under the hood and at the Emission Label, it looked too clean compared the rest of the firewall. It didn't take any effort at all to pull it off and this is what was underneath it:



So I guess the place that painted it got some Emission Labels that were for a '79 Vette, just not for this '79 Vette. Since this looks like the original label, all I need is to have a person with emission equiptment to lean out the idle circuit, then I can pass the Emission Tests.

Note: I have a friend with a '77 El Camino with an early LSx swap. Since he didn't use the entire computer from the donor car but went with a custom harness, the brainiacs won't pass him. Despite the fact the vehicle passed every Emission Test, the "fact" that the vehicle isn't "as it was" fails it. That in no way is protecting the enviroment but letting certain ***** (probably small people with control issues) tell other people what is "approved behavior", etc.

 

LOL, welcome to my world,7 decibles over the legal limit
Usually they just pull me over for a licence check and have a look,
Then they ask me is this a stingray, what year is it? My answer, It's a pace car, It's written on the door


I hope you get it sorted without too much expense

 

I did something I hate doing: I took the car to an automobile repair shop that specialized in emissions testing. The ZZ4 engine has an Edelbrock carburetor that I knew was running rich. I usually like spinning my own wrenches but time and health issues were at hand, so I hired a professional. It also works that the county will do a free recheck if a reciept and note from an AUTHORIZED repair station state an attempt to repair the offending part of the failed emissions was tendered. I have to say, the guy really tuned the carb well, and in less than an hour. I swallowed hard when I wrote the check for $89.00, but the guy did adjust the idle speed and adjusted the electric choke to release sooner.

So off to the Emissions Testing Station I went. It passed! Then I really lucked out - a guy who is familiar with Corvettes was testing my car. He looked at the previous test, came to me and apologized for the previous inspector, saying that the guy gets hung up on hardware and not the numbers. I had all the info down from this forum (Thanks, guys!) and from GM that the 1979 L-48 engine did not have an AIR Pump unless it was a California car or a High Altitude car. Since the sticker on the firewall plainly does not have "AIR Pump" on the emissions part, he was passing it.

The bad news he gave me was that the cats weren't getting hot so that may fail me next year. I wouldn't be surprised if the former owner gutted the cats. At least I have a year to plan for that if it does rear its ugly head.

Thanks guys, for all the advice and even the guy who was offering to sell me the parts I needed if I had to place an AIR Pump on the car. (I think that somebody else is looking for emission equiptment for his 1980 Corvette, so it should sell soon.)

Onward and Forward. Here's hoping my 1995 LT1 Corvette passes this fall.

 

Actually, 7 dB is a lot. That is equivelent to 5 times the allowable noise energy. Alternatively, it's like five Vettes added together all at the allowable limit.

 

Yea a lot of cars pass at the pipe! But these tests are not about clean Emissions!!! Control, money, and just F--K with us comes to mind

 

I got Antique plates for mine one year, hoping to avoid smog but here in California I was still required to do it.

 

Get thel48 high altitude emissions sticker and put under the hood.they probably won't know the difference.

 

+1 on space coast. years ago in Virginia i was in the same boat, well there is an alternative. fuel exception so i doubled the jet sizes adjusted the timing put in 10 gallons of race alcohol. went in and got my exemption. never had to go thru it again. make sure to change the oil after. lot of work. but I'd do that before I'd. park it

 

Just read about the emissions crap you faced, A-R. Glad you passed. Both Larimer and Weld counties are affected (most of north CO).

I live in the same county as you but I'm exempt because I have Collector Car plates. The car only has to be tested once to qualify for those. As long as I remain the registered owner and it passed once, then no more testing required, regardless the motor I slide in it. The clock resets if I ever sell (I won't).

For you and anyone else in Colorado who has a 1976 or newer car, you can't even qualify anymore to get collector tags, as you discovered. That blows. Used to be, cars only had to be 25 years or older before applying to get cc tags assigned.

Several years back, a$$-hat politicos figured out how to ruin that by making '75 the cutoff year. Same idiots reinstated the emissions, which had been dead in our county's for 3-4 years. !!

Next year, this issue won't be a surprise for you. Let's hope the local commissioners can get this "tax increase" repealed; they already tried once and failed and said they would submit another repeal next go round.

With a state legislature populated heavily with al-gore-wanna-be's, it won't be easy. Remember to vote for those who see this law for what is is: a ripoff to the general tax paying Joes, like you and I.

Good Luck.

 

One of my prime considerations when moving to FLORIDA some 14 years ago, was the emissions bull crap....there IS none,

common sense prevails here.....

another consideration is this is a conservative state for the most part, and so don't have to deal with the overflow of Kalifornia idiots into other states out west....

They leave Kalifornia to escape the craziness and taxes they voted for, but then bring the same stupid attitudes with them to pollute the rest of the region....

 

Hey, I live in weld county colorado right next to you in larimer. I have a 1980 Rally sport camaro with a 305 5.0 liter v8 engine. I went in for emissions and I failed because no air injection system aswell. So im just wondering is that all i need is a repro emissions sticker with 910L4 in the top left corner? I found this diagram

http://www.nastyz28.com/tech/emdiag2.jpg

The Federal passenger is the only one that doesnt have an air pump..

So if all i need is the emissions sticker do i just place it in the center of my radiator support or where would the correct placement be?

Any help would be appreciated... really dont want to waste money on an air injection system... kind of a pain to find all of the parts too...

 

They must be doing a visual inspection, as the air pump is only intended to reduce NO2. EGR helps with this too. While not helping with a visual inspection, if not already, may want to try installing modern cats, especially since the engine isn't stock. Some guy's actually cheat, putting on a propane carb, and a fork lift tank in the back. Just some ideas I've heard.

 

Yes they do visual inspection. I know people have said that they dont actually check if the system is working properly.. so if I do need to put an air pump back on could someone tell me what parts i need to pass the visual? Just air pump and left and right air tubes?

I drive my car on sundays only pretty much and i really dont want to spend over 600 for parts alone on a whole system... I am still wondering if that emissions sticker would work though?

 

Same Boat as you guys. Up in Wellington, the good news is my 72 has collector plates but my 77 GMC stepside doesn't and can't get them. I didn't even register it this year I'm not interested in some minimum wage drone asking me where my 35 year old pollution crap went. I was driving it <100 miles a year anyway. I'll tear it down and work on it until they fix this silliness. Keep an eye on Colorado HB 1103, contact your rep and urge them to do away with this silliness.

http://www.leg.state.co.us/Clics/CLI...e?OpenFrameSet

 

i agree one of the benefits of the space coast

 

Hey Guys, I live in rural Weld county, and per my address all of my vehicles must pass the emmissions tests (if my house were on the other side of the street it would be exempt...). So I took my '80 Vette in, it passed with flying colors, but like you it did not have the AIR pump so they failed it. I tried to talk to the state engineer too, but got nowhere. It would have cost me amost $1000 to buy an AIR pump and get it installed
It was easier and a lot cheaper to just go get a PO Box in the town accross the street and register the car to that PO Box. I'm glad you got it taken care of with by just peeling off an incorrect sticker.

 

Not saying I'm argeeing on emission testing for 30 year old collector cars, but actually a good idea for neglected daily cars. We used to have half baked emission testing in the Detroit area, but 10 year old cars were exempt. Not to mention, if your newer car didn't pass, you were only required to do a $100 low emission tune up. Testing was dropped, as was labeled as descriminatory against low income drivers. Last time I checked, we all breathe the same air. We've got some real stink bombs on the roads around here.

 

I put 273 miles on my 34 year old car last year! LOL

 

most all these laws have exceptions built in and you need to find them and use it.

 

I didnt think it was possible to register a vehicle to a PO box.. I thought it had to be a pshyical adress. Anyways I took my camaro into a muffler shop just to see how much it would cost me to get it to pass emissions.. the guy told me 2,000 bucks lol.. IT has no catalyic converters.. I need two because i have dual exhaust one on each side. Then I also need the entire air system including bracket for it.. I have headers on so I would have to replace my headers for stock manifolds..