The Smog Rules!!

[REGAL CHUCK]

Dan and I have been shooting the breeze about emmission testing and some of the rules that apply in different areas. I would like some of the other user inputs just for general knowledge for other users and to settle some of my personal curiousities about the whole mess. You see my 85 is coming up for it's first e-test here in Ontario Canada. Our vehicles must pass this in order to renew your registration. The renewal lasts for a year but the test is only performed bi-annually. This means I don't have to renew mine until 2004. Our cut-off is any vehicle 19 years or older. My 85 turns 19 that year so I may squeak by with only having to do the one test. Our shops are much the same as Califrnia, some are strictly tests and others are test/repair facilities. There is a one time grace of $200 to repair your vehicle. After that the limit is raised to I think $600 now. This means if your car gets said amount of repairs at a Drive Clean Repair Shop and it still doesn't pass you get a conditional pass. Yep there I go talking too much again.

[Dr. Frankenbuick]

Chuck,

Here in PA it is county to county if emissions are tested. The counties with metro areas and large populations usually test for emissions. Visible smoke is the emission test in counties that do not test for emissions. The vehicle must be inspected before the previous registration runs out. Any problems found must be corrected before the inspection sticker for the new registration is issued. It is smart to have it in a month or so before the due date. New registrations are sent out at least a month in advance.

The whole PA inspection process is a racket. Cars are inspected yearly. Local shops are licensed to inspect. The shops tell you what is wrong and add that for X $s they can have you out in an hour with your nice new inspection sticker. I have taken the car home to fix what is wrong only to find there is nothing wrong more then once. Most people would not know the difference or even how to challenge the shop. There are a lot of unnecessary parts sold in PA.

In NJ, there are state inspection stations run by state employees spread through out the state. Emissions are tested for all cars in the state. There is nothing at stake for them during the inspection, and that usually makes for a fair inspection. Inspections are due by the first of the month when they run out. This means really long lines and a one to two hour wait at the end of the month. You have a month to clear up any problems found during the inspection, and a fail sticker is put on to that effect. There is also the dreaded red sticker giving you 24 hours to get the vehicle off the road.


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Steve B.
GSCA #2173 (1986)
67 GS 525 Stg IV
66 GS Convertible
65 GS HT
63 Riv

[REGAL CHUCK]

It sounds like there is room for some shady stuff in there if a shop chose? I work at a dealership that has one of the dynos that's how I know so much about the ins & outs of Ontario's emission testing. Here every single test is done "on-line". This means that the v.i.n. and info goes to a central computer/office. We have had random suprise inspections lots of times. Those are pretty shifty, they actually have cars and vans that are wired special. Hidden switches disconnect O2 sensors and all sorts of stuff. This way they can tell if our machine is right and if the garage will offer to repair the problem. Oh yeah they're undercover !! There is really only one way to cheat the system. But don't get caught or you have a $90,000 machine that you can't use no more. You pretty much gotta sell it and take your lumps because the fine is like $50,000 and shop licenses are cancelled.

[Dan]

same here in california as in canada, with the undercover cars and calling the state computer for info. the smog machine calls the state twice (once to verify vin/plate is on file and after the test but BEFORE the techs know the results). this is all in enhanced areas of the state (bigger cities or counties) the other only have to pass a non dyno test. for me personaly, i would rather have a whole day of cars that pass. the repair work can be a major pain in the back side and take way to long. the only problem is the bar (department of automotive repair) don't like all cars passing, they think your cheating. the last place i worked at (had 3 smog techs including me) the bar came down for a suprise inspection of paper work and test running. they said that we had too many pass vehicles and the tests were not taking long enough. each test should take at least 15 to 20 minutes and have a 20% fail rate (not sure how they could come up with a percentage for failures). moral of the story is stick to the laws given to you and live to smog another day.....

[REGAL CHUCK]

Wow! I thought we had some pretty wierd rules but I guess it goes all the way up and down this continent of ours. (excluding Mexico) One of the neat things that we have is the Modified/Hot Rod category. If a vehicle is of a testable year, i.e. 1985 and is not powered by the original engine it is then designated to this classification. These vehicles must pass the industry smog standard for 1980. It does not matter about any equipment you just have to make sure that your vehicle burns 1980 clean with or without EGR, Cat-Conv, Vacuum Can, etc. What quite a few guys have done is leaned it right out until it barely runs in order to pass. The kicker is that the guy in my shop has to be a licensed Drive Clean Repair Tech in order to turn the screwdriver! Incedently are the tests that your state(s) run done on rollers under load? Or are they just a throttle rev in park? This stuff's pretty wild huh?

[Dan]

ours for hot rods/customs are stopped at 1973 and older (for now, until they overturn it and it goes back to 1966). if you have a 1974 car and put a 1995 motor (complete with fuel injection) you now have to got to the referee for them to look at. also you have to comply to the 1995 standards. the smog standards go according to the engine, but you can't go older then the vehicle (no 1996 with a '74 carb. motor). kit cars go with year or construction and/ or motor (i'm not to sure on this one).

[REGAL CHUCK]

i guess with those standards you really don't see alot of handywork vehicles then, do you? If you know what I mean. Don't shoot me for my next comment but... My wife/girlfriend's boss took years to rebuild his 67 A.C. Cobra 427, but because he used a fiberglass kit body not the original he had to equip it to pass 2001 standards. The car was appraised at somewhere around $68,000 Cdn. and a factory body is just not economically available and the registration goes with the body not the frame & engine etc. So when she asked me for advice on his behalf and I consulted the manuals etc. I was blown away with the results I had to give him. See if he would have built a 455 Stage 1 G.S. or G.S.X. he would have been much better off. Hey if you ever want to see the ride that I keep rambling about go to the show & shine page. I'm MR. BUICK, the 85 at the bottom. That's the car that I have to make pass by my birthday in December of this year. I'm gonna let it lapse I think and make it pass for spring 2003. That way I can fiddle with it over the winter in my shop and the machine and gas analyzer are right there too.

[Dale]

You had to bring up a topic that really gets me goin, Emissions testing. Here in Minnesota, I should say in the Mpls./ St. Paul Metro area we had emissions testing for vehicles 1976 and newer.We recently got rid of it because the only good that came from it was the state of MN got richer from the $8.00 fee. What a joke it was! Here are some of the cars that passed the test even though they shouldn't have.
'83 Olds Toronado, originaly had a 307 in it,and I put in a 403 out of a '77 (403 wasn't available in '83) and the only emissions equipment I left on was the Catalytic converter and pcv valve, no computer or anything.PASSED!
'80 Pontiac wagon, Kept it a Buick 350, but emptied the catalytic converter and again only a pcv valve. PASSED!
'87 Ford Escort, This thing burned a quart of oil every 300 miles, a real mosquito fogger. PASSED!
My friends '77 Buick Regal, It didn't pass when we first ran it through, pulled out of the bay and popped the hood, turned the idle mixture screws in till it ran rough. PASSED!We then pulled out and set the screws back where they were before, right outside of the testing building.
Emmissions testing... bunch of B.S.brought to you by the environmentalist lobby.
Cars burn so clean these days you could nearly breathe the exhaust without harm to yourself. States would do much better to have safety inspections!

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1970 Riviera
1996 LeSabre
And many Buicks in the past.

[Dan]

i've seen the good that has come from smog checking, here in orange county the smog has always been real low. when i went to los angeles in the past you could see the smoggy air, now it's a lot cleaner. but, the epa needs to realize that some vehicles are not going to pass (like older vehicles) strict guidelines because either they have no smog equipment or very little. it's unfair to say that older vehicles are polluters and need to be scrapped. they hardly get used and most people take care of their vehicles. YES, california needs safety inpections, there are some piles driving (limping) around. it's ok to drive a unsafe vehicle and run the risk of killing people but you can't re-register your car if it puts out 1ppm more hc's the allowable, it's a joke. the only time you HAVE to get you car inpected is if it has been totalled by your insurance company and the test guidelines the state gives you is really sad (barely a test at all, i know because i do the tests). what WE (old car owners and new) as a whole is pay attention and act on new laws before they get passed. http://www.enjoythedrive.com/content/?id=8250

[REGAL CHUCK]

You know what else is really wierd is the fact that our governments have put such strict guidlines on our two wheel drive gas vehicles. If you drive an all wheel drive vehicle (i.e. minivan) they can't put it on a dynamometer so it's just a two speed idle test. Diesels are a whole different ballgame. They can puff out all that black crud but if my Regal did that They would yank my plates off so fast. It makes me kinda wonder if there are many of the 4.3 litre diesel Regals out there that were available in the eighties.???