Electric air pump, Emissions problems Options

[shelby/914]

I was tellin one of my emissions failure stories to a local mechanic (while BS ing over coffee), about the problems with the air pump on my "76. He suggested using an electric one off a late model Camaro. Said that he had seen it done but couldn"t remember what year car it was off of. Anyone ever try this solution?

[lapuwali]

The original smog pump isn't actually required in CA. They allow for replacement. One can replace the catalytic convertor, after all. You can't get OEM 70s tech cats anymore, only better units, but they're still legal.

The CA test only states that the car HAS a smog pump, so the car has to have one when you smog it, and it has to APPEAR to work. The list the tech looks at doesn't say boo about what kind of smog pump, or how it's driven. I'd be willing to bet even a referee station would pass you if you had an electric smog pump hooked up, so long as it worked. For example, I know someone who got through a referee test using a smog pump from a different model of car mounted in a completely different place that the OEM unit (which was dead and irreplacable, this wasn't a 914). The pump ran and pumped air into the exhaust manifold, just like the OEM unit, so it passed.

The most interesting smog pump I've seen wasn't belt-driven OR electric, but powered by manifold vacuum. It was used on the mid-80s Yamaha RZ350, one of the first motorcycles to be equipped with catalytic convertors (had two).