My road to hopfully passing Emissions

[CobraRed_96_GT]

Before i even installed any aftermarket exhaust on my car i had it smogged so i could wait two years before changing it again. That time will be comming soon and i want to take steps to ensure i don't take it up the end from Cali's emissions regulations. Now when tested stock my car didn't pass the hydo-crabon ppm ( i got this fixed by cutting corners cuz i knew the guy), all other areas it was well under. Now i know a lil about HC emissions and the prime root of this is (besides your car being cold-never bring ur car in cold to a smog test!) a car's tendency to run lean/rich when adjusting the fuel mixture either going through the revs or even at idle (at idle i was fine). HC are pretty much unburnt fuel particles that get exhausted and this can be traced (not including serious electronical adjusting) back to obviously your ignition.
So im planning on buying new SPW's since i don't really know why i still have stock ones and because this can help ignition. Before smogging im also replacing the Spark Plugs. I'm basically looking for suggestions for those two items- brands (Jacobs, JBA, MSD, Taylor) and types.

P.S. I always suggest buying a Fuel enzyme called Soltron before smogging- especially for S02-sulfer emmsions and all around emissions at that-my 2 cents

 

[bdcardinal]

dude, unless you have a power stroke diesel in your car you dont have to worry about sulfer emissions.

CA only checks for HC, CO, Co2, O2 and NOx on a test, adn they only test for NOx on the ASM wher the car is run on a dyno. high HC emissions are caused by either too rich or too lean. actually lean misfires are very common, mostly caused by too low of a fuel pressure from a leak, or someone that hasnt changed a fuel filter in forever. there is a graph that displays the A/F ratio and the expeted emissions. generally you only see high HC on the lean and rich ends of the spectrum. you will see higher CO (carbon monoxide) levels if the mixture is too rich and you will see elevated O2 levels if the mixture is too lean(garbage in garbage out).

honestly a spark plug wire is a spark plug wire on a mostly stock car. the MSD ones are good for the bling factor. spark plug wires do not have to carry an EO number and are therefore not a part of the visual inspection in either the basic or the enhanced areas. what type of test are you running? is the car just getting the basic TSI(2 speed idle) test or the enhanced test where the car is run loaded on a dyno? its actually easier to pass the dyno tst because it represents a more real world driving situation. how often do you run your car at 2500rpm for 30 seconds when at a stoplight? also how many miles are on your car? my stang has about 119k miles on it it and literally blows 0s for HC, CO and NOx when i run it. and this is with stock coil packs and wires.

 

[CobraRed_96_GT]

98k miles, dyno load test. Most of my Co NOx numbers from previous tests are less than half of average. Only concerned w/ HC

 

[bdcardinal]

well if you are only concerned with HC, then you have to be concerned with O2 and CO since that will tell you if you are having a lean or rich problem. it sounds as if your problem is too lean if your CO numbers are kosher.

 

[CobraRed_96_GT]

hmm, didn't think of it that way; makes sence

 

[sjrtx]

Get the tank almost empty, and put the lowest octane gas you can in it. Around here its 87. Just drive around part throttle and dont put much load on it if your worried about detonation. Lower octane gas burns more efficiently. That should help, some. But if you find a surefire way to make it pass without cats, let me know. I have to bribe the inspector and bring a friends car. The last couple guys did it for 20 bucks, but its a pain in the ass to find someone willing to do it.

 

[bdcardinal]

hes in a diff boat than you are. in CA its harder to find people that illegally hot smog because of the threat of losing their smog licenses.

 

[CobraRed_96_GT]

hes in a diff boat than you are. in CA its harder to find people that illegally hot smog because of the threat of losing their smog licenses.

well put, i was just going to say that. Plus all smog info goes direct to Sacramento after each test so using a diff car would have to be the only way to do it which is a bit obvious. I even know the guy who will smog my car and the best he can do is just pass me on inspection.

 

[sjrtx]

Well, they do emissions testing in my county too, and they can also lose their license for doing it illegally. Not sure about CA, but around here they dont have to dyno(smog) anything 98+, they just plug the computer into it.

But since I have longtubes, i have a "slow response from O2" codes (even though the CEL is turned off). It will fail just from that. The other way, is to not plug in the reader, let it fail to read, and it will tell the guy to run the dyno test. But since I dont have cats , Im screwed on that one too lol. So the other option is, find someone to bribe, and send a buddy up there with your insurance and VIN. Guy puts in your info, runs dyno on their car, and leaves the sticker in the console. So yeah, im pretty much in the same boat. Atleast my particular situation is, even though the rules are much stricter in CA.

Next time though, I think I will just have my parents register my car in their county (non emissions), that way I can skip all that, and pay $12.50 for a safety inspection instead of $40.00 for emissions inspection.

 

[bdcardinal]

whats funny is that in CA we have hte most stringent emissions regulations in the world, however we have no safety inspection. the only time they require and checking of that is if you are registering a salvage title vehicle, you have to have your brakes and lights checked. however the CHP or any county or city police can cite you for having an unsafe vehicle.