Well, I thought that I had made a deal for my new 914. Was supposed to pick it up sometime this week.

I talked with the seller yesterday and he said that it did not pass an emissions test, so he is taking it to his mechanic to see if he can get it to pass.

He also tells me that he may be having second thoughts about selling the car and if his mechanic cannot get it to pass, he may (probably) choose not to sell it

Curious. With the CA smog rules changing to require 74 and later cars to pass emissions tests 'forever', it would seem he should really want to sell to an out of state buyer. Would be tougher to sell here. ??????

Want me to call Guido and Carmine? They'll make him an offer he can't refuse

The thing is that the car is in CO (I am pretty sure our emissions laws are somewhat less stringent than yours in CA) and is not really for sale. Not advertised, doesn't need to go, but the owner needs the room and said he would sell it if he found the right buyer (that was over one month, two round trips and one cashier's check ago).

I thought that I was the right buyer with the right $, now I am not so sure...

Did I miss something? Is it '74? I thought it was '76 (built in'75) and newer.


Andrew

It's in Colorado! What is this thing called smog?

In CO we need a passing emissions test to transfer title, so that may be part of the problem.

(At least that's what they told me about my project car, I'm supposed to just keep the bill of sale until I get it back together enough to test <_< )



Damn there's a lot of us Andys around here!

One more note about the car...

It is a 75 with a 74 2.0 motor (no smog equip.). It is badged as a 1.8 so does not need the smog pump to pass visual inspection.

Andy -- And they still try to tell us that our air quality is bad (I also heard that in some places air quality has actually gotten worse since Air Care Colorado was institued in 1981).

I had heard some rumblings about NO emissions tests whatsoever in El Paso, Larimer and Weld counties. Do you know anything about this? It was last year some time.

Did I miss something? Is it '74? I thought it was '76 (built in'75) and newer.

No, I did. Looking at earlier version of bill. 74 and 75 OK now, but final has not been passed. Keep good thoughts.

I even missed that the car was not in CA. Mea culpa.

Yea, the 74 and 75 cars have rolled off the books here in CA... gotta love that.

Not sure what the rules were in 75 for Colorado, but in CA you required a CAT+ EGR on the 75 914 and they looked for both on the visual. Aftermaket CAT was $100 if you can weld on yourself. On a 75, for the EGR I plumbed in fittings at the engine compartment wall and at the pipe and used a short flexible metal hose (that is normally used to connect a gas dryer to the gas line), for the EGR pipe. The hose section came off after passing smog. I capped off the fittings on either end, but the bung on the exauste pipe is fit for an O2 sensor if I ever want to install one later.

- Dave

In CO, the 75 1.8 cars had EGR, but no CAT or smog pump. The 2.0 cars had EGR and a smog pump but no CAT (I believe).

No smog in Denver - choke, cough, cough - I guess that brown air is from cattle flattulance in Kansas.

Mix 10% alcohol with the fuel - it will do wonders (EverClear works best, but.........). Oh, don't fill the tank - have just enough to get it there and back.

California cars are California, the rest were Federal - equipment may have varied. MikeZ the Nazi would know more.

Sure ther's smog in Denver, but it's only really noticable when there's an inversion

I've heard of that trick before. If push comes to shove...

Inversion........, does that occur shortly after smoking "Rocky Mountain High"

POSSIBLY...

this really doesn't help you, but FYI:
my 75 was a california car that had all of the smog equipment removed and it still passed CO emissions. kind of makes you wonder why all that extra equipment was ever necessary

Jon (the seller for those of you following along at home) is one of the finest people I know. You're probably mistaking a seller with a conscience for cold feet. If he doesn't end up selling the car it's because of morals. And perhaps some second thoughts.

Yes Gint, Jon is a real stand-up guy. No doubt about it.

It's just that we have made a deal and I am essentially awaiting delivery.

The emissions test is just a formality. I would be happy to do it myself. To tell you the truth, I expected that that responsibility would fall onto my shoulders.

I was glad when Jon offered to do the test, but that has seemed to conjure up some second thoughts.

I KNOW he loves his car, and doesn't want to just give it up. I just hope that I can convince him that there are few places that his car would be better off than with me.

I have just seen so many cars go to lead-footed kids who could care less about their car and will just drive it into the ground. I would never want to see that happen to Jon (or his car).

Maybe its because I am younger than most, but I guess the burden of proof falls on me.

In Colorado, the seller is legally responsible for providing emissions certification of the vehicle being sold. Even if the seller is a private party. I am 100% certain of that BTW. I'm sure that's why Jon is trying to get it certified before selling. Check for yourself, it's the law. Many times in a private sale the buyer is left to emission the vehicle. But in those cases the buyer would have recourse against the seller if the car did not pass. He may be having second thoughts as well, but let's wait until this is all said and done before you pass judgement on Jon.

Thank you for clarifying that for me Gint. I was not 100% certain where the law stood on that. Between dealers and private parties it kind of gets a little covoluted (at least in my mind; they don't make it too clear or go into much detail in the lit. I've read).

I understand Jon's uncertainty a little more now that you have explained that to me.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to pass judgement on Jon, truthfully, he is exactly the kind of person I would like to buy a car from. Straight up. Absolutley no half-truth bulls**t. Believe it or not, I have encountered some of that. It just seems like such a small thing to terminate a deal on.

In actuality, Jon has done EXACTLY what I would have done to the car. No flares, no carbs, no interior modifications, just enhanced the stock car -- one reason I like it so much and don't want to see it slip away. I have seen NOTHING like it in my search. All the other cars have had carbs, etc., etc. Certainly is discouraging (at least for me).

I don't want to sound/look/act like an a**hole. Sorry if I came across that way. I just get a little passionate about these things.

I hear ya. I can be the same way. Once I know you at least as well as I know Jon I would do the same for you. No worries. If Jon needs to sell it, it sounds like you'd be a great owner.

We need to put together another run. The numbers of local owners are growing. I haven't met half of them at this point.

After your clarification of our (somewhat muddy) CO laws, I understand much better where Jon is coming from. Why go throught the headache if you don't have to. I have gone through it and I had to.

Such a well taken care of car (I think) should pass with a minor bit of adjustment.

If this is the case, the teener should be on its way, and if so, we would be more than happy to go for a CO teener cruise

Thanks Gint