I'm thinking of registering my 914 in Colorado, cars been running better than I ever remember, but I failed my e-check today. Visual inspection was fine, needless to say they couldn't fine anything on the car, but that also means they didn't see I have no smog pump or catalytic converter. I even passed on CO2.
But my HCs were 1825 at 2500rpms and 1047 at idle, 600 is the limit.
And my COs were 11.7 at 2500rpms and 8.19 at idle, 3.5 is the limit.
About the car. It's a 2056 running D-jet. I turned up the fuel pressure to compensate for the extra displacement, but I think that's how I shot myself in the foot. I'm also using SirAndy's old MPS. It's a 1.7 that he tweeked to run his old 1.8. My car loves it though. My car ran like shit with the 2L MPS, and it held vacuum and everything.
I think that covers it. I'm thinking of turning down the Fuel pressure, leaning out the idle on the ECU and crossing my fingers. Any other ideas? Do those numbers seem way to far off to be cause by fuel pressure?
Thanks guys.
Samson

Put a cat on it if needed.

Once you do get it to pass, make sure you get the classic car plates so you don't have to go through this again.

Back when El Paso county was still in the e-testing program there was just no way I could get mine to pass (carbs, cam, headers ... my HCs read out at 10,000 ... but that's as high as the machine goes) So I sold the car to my brother in Kansas (where there is no emissions testing), then we got out of the e-testing program and so I bought the car back.

as a rule v/wporcshe air cooled's run high h.c (unburnt/incomplete burnt fuel or misfire)., it's just part of this engine design. being that your c.o. (fuel/richness) is high, normally you lean down the mix and it'll bring h.c. down with it. normally a good running air cooled you can do this before throwing the h.c. back up. problem is your MPS is probably fat (rich), which is great for this engines driveability but hell on emmisions.



i would lean out the fuel pressure to 29 lb.s, set the lean ecu screw back (if it's been fully fattened). this will most likely drive h.c.'s way up but bring c,o. to limits. then retarding timing from stock setting (allowed in ca. testing), this will reduce h.c.'s... if it's still not within spec.s but fairly close a cat will definately clean the rest up. the cars going to run like shit but like i said these motors where NOT designed to run well with in these spec.'s... definately reset it all after the smog test!



i've heard these injectors dont atomaize well over 30 psi, that could be a huge contributing factor of not only to rich but globs of unburnt fuel

do you have a sniffer avalible for use will you tweak these settings?

mike

Adjusting the timing to anything other than dead nuts on spec is NOT allowed in CA. Confirming the timing is but one of the mandatory steps in a smog check (along with visual, tail pipe, and evap tests).

Now, on to the problem car. First you have to get the CO right. Sounds like a bad MPS or REALLY out-of-whack vacuum. Is the cam stock? Not "stockish", STOCK. A non stock cam significantly changes the vacuum and throws everything out the window. (However, Jake assures me his profile works as well as stock.) Once the vacuum is assured, then the fuel pressure. If those don't do it, you need to verify the operating voltage. Too high or too low will affect the CO. If you still need lower CO, you may have to make the air injection, the EGR, and the catalyst work, although the cat is mostly for HCs. Setting the valves to .016" does wonders for high HCs, but only after the CO is fixed. Run the lowest grade fuel you can find, as that will promote more complete combustion, further lowering the HCs. I suggest you avoid ethanol mixtures, but I'm not that familiar how they work.

The Cap'n

If you plan on dialing in your CO%, get your hands on one of these: http://www.gunson.co.uk/item.aspx?cat=698&item=1835

I got one cheap off the internet and it works like a charm.

Samson, you're 914 will easily pass Colorado emissions for the year of manufacture if you re-adjust your fuel pressure to stock and do a full tune up on the car to include stock timing settings, a valve adjustment and oil change. Trust me... BTDT. Let me know if you need any help.

That's what I'm hoping Mike. I'm going to pick-up a fuel pressure gauge from Harbor Frieght today and put back on the original 2L MPS. The plugs are fairly new as well as valve adjustment.

Captin, I did forget the mention the cam. It is stockish. The short block is 40k mile old GEX rebuild, so it should be a reground stock 2L cam. I have a vacuum gauge, how would I check the engines vacuum, and what numbers should I be looking for? would I just attach it to the plenum and rev the engine a bit?

Timing should be nuts, but they didn't check that, if I retarded it a couple degrees would that help, or just send other reading through the roof?

Colorado isn't quite as anal as CA... yet. They don't check timing here. They only check the CO and HC with a tail pipe sniff test (standing, no dyno). They don't even do as thorough an inspection for smog equipment as they do in CA. They're supposed to though, so beware.

And generally speaking, retarded a few degrees will help a little in an idle sniff test, but stock should be more than adequate.

It's not exactly *good* news, but Colorado has a cap on how much you are required to pay in attempting to meet emissions requirements. After that, you can get a waiver:

http://www.aircarecolorado.com/vfails.htm

$715 goes a long way tords a subbie swap, megasquirts, or SDS. all things I would rather do than bring down the HCs on a car I drive 2000 miles a year. If it doesn't pass or is not close this next time I'm just going to re-register it again in Ohio. No e-check out there. I'll have to wait a couple weeks to do that though.

If you just want to pass, run the gas down till the light comes on, add in a quart of denatured alcohol. Denatured alcohol is what is used in marine stoves as it has no CO emissions when burnt.

The downside is that the alcohol can mess with the seals and hoses if left in for any amount of time, so drive it home, drian the tank, fill it up and and go for a 30-40 min drive.

I've never done this, but I've been told it works

fuel pressure is now set to 29 psi. I was off on the fuel pressure by about 4 psi. Would that give me those numbers?
I tried the original 2L MPS but the car runs like absolute with it. I'm not sure what to do about that.

I took my '76 to a combination emission test and smoke shop on East Colfax that still does the older cars that don't have to be done on the dyno rather than one of the state places. The guy did look in the engine compartment but didn't notice that the air pump was gone.