Emissions testing question for anyone with a 78/79 L20B powered car/truck

[Buzzbomb]

Just drove my new-to-me 79 King Cab home from SF - blue plate CA truck with no emissions stuff missing, last passed smog about 3 mos ago.

 

White (cheap repaint, but the jambs and engine compartment were not painted, 5 speed, 98% rust free - $1200.

 

Sounds like a deal :cool:

 

Always better to start with a known than an unknown..That seems particularly true when you are dealing with the CA emissions mafia as described in this thread :)

 

I'll bet you'll pull at least 30 mpg with that truck and a 5 speed.

[sr71sss]

barry,

 

why don't you get the family sale on the bill of sale so you don't have to smog it if its already been smogged now, family transfer = no smog for at least until the next time you smog it?

[bonvo]

emissions mafia try emissions nazis its rediculous my smog guy showed me a print out from a ka 240sx and compared it to mine it was running double the emmissions that my car was and it passed with flying colors its not about clean air its about getting the old cars off the road so everyone buys a new car then the dealers pad ther pockets the dmv pads there pockets the insurence companies pad there pockets meanwhile were all broke ready to rob a liqour store to pay for all this im not in the consperacy therory stuff but in this case thats exactly what it is

[zerow]

emissions mafia try emissions nazis its rediculous my smog guy showed me a print out from a ka 240sx and compared it to mine it was running double the emmissions that my car was and it passed with flying colors its not about clean air its about getting the old cars off the road so everyone buys a new car then the dealers pad ther pockets the dmv pads there pockets the insurence companies pad there pockets meanwhile were all broke ready to rob a liqour store to pay for all this im not in the consperacy therory stuff but in this case thats exactly what it is

 

Do the math: An older car is harder to keep on the road because of its lack of safety equipment. If we still ran around with cars built in the 70s, we would have to worry about exploding gas tanks (Pinto), cars stalling out after coming to an abrupt stop (Volare, Aspen), and high fuel consumption (Continental, Galaxie, etc). Now flash forward 30+ years. Here we are, once again, in a gas crisis. Manufacturers are trying their damndest to get you, the consumer to buy their product, which is new. Hyundai offers a guarantee for 10 years, won't see light of day except in a junkyard in 10 years. Chrysler offers a lifetime warranty on some of their vehicles. Do I want that? No.

Pound for pound, a Hummer H3 pollutes more than any of our Datsuns, except if the rings are bad. But the Hummer gets to stay on the road because Susie the soccer mom and her one ugly ass kid in the back are getting to the game safely. Ahhh, suburbia. Meanwhile we (and I mean that collectively) continue to drive our Datsuns that still get good gas mileage but because we have the safety equipment that Mother Datsun gave to us all those years ago, we are behind the eight ball. A small fender bender? Totalled. Total loss? "Well it was a classic car, and classic car insurance is for the car that is driven only occasionally. I agree, conspiracy, but, then again, they haven't moved up the year for smog exempt for the past 4 years either. Now thats forcing cars off the road.

[hogboy52]

I'm in the process of bringing to life a not running, $400 '77 620 KC, so I'll soon find out how easily it will DEQ here in Oregon. It also has the Weber 32/34 direct replacement with stock air cleaner.

These came with air pumps from '75 but no cat. can before '80, I think, except calif.

You could test it locally and if it fails it will cost nothing but you will get a readout of the numbers.

[racerx]

That's why in California, most junk yards will buy cars 1985 and up fro like $675, DMV is trying to get rid of all ol skool cars. The other thing that's weird is that how many ol skool cars do you see on the road as compared to SUVs, hummers who may run cleaner but yet eats up more gas. I mean if they are serious about smog, smog all vehicles or machines that emits pollution, buses, vehicles, lawn mawers, blowers, jets, planes, etc..etc...here's another thing all those cows in California and the rest of the world emits methane gas which is bad for the environment....

 

All they are doing is creating more jobs for DMV (which is bad, specially the latest news that state workers will get paid like $6.55 an hour) - per Arnie and temp. state workers will get the booth..

 

If they are trully serious about cleaning the air,s top making cars that emits emissions....

 

Its all hyprocracy that's all it is..

 

 

RacerX

[Buzzbomb]

emissions mafia try emissions nazis its rediculous my smog guy showed me a print out from a ka 240sx and compared it to mine it was running double the emmissions that my car was and it passed with flying colors its not about clean air its about getting the old cars off the road so everyone buys a new car then the dealers pad ther pockets the dmv pads there pockets the insurence companies pad there pockets meanwhile were all broke ready to rob a liqour store to pay for all this im not in the consperacy therory stuff but in this case thats exactly what it is

 

Ok, they're Nazis :).

 

You're exactly right..They (all states with testing) WANT us to quit driving our old stuff, regardless if it's a Datsun that gets 30+, which for whatever reason in today's world seems to be some sort of a mechanical miracle unless you drive a hybrid, OR also if you're driving American iron from the '60s to early '70s. This whole "it's a miracle! My Smart Car gets 30 miles per gallon" business is a dog and pony show. Our Datsuns get the same, and I'll tell you what..I'd rather be in one of our trucks or cars if they get hit than one of the little death trap Smart Cars, air bags or not.

 

Unfortunately, I took a real hard hit in my '80 720, BUT since the truck was built as well as it was, I was unhurt. The frame shop that checked my frame couldn't believe how sturdy the frame on my truck was, and it checked out fine, AND FWIW, the guy who fixed my radiator was shocked to see it had extra cores. That was 50,000 miles ago; I fixed my truck and have been driving it ever since.

 

Bottom LIne- all the emissions stuff is nothing but a cash cow states use, in collusion with the car makers/dealers/etc. to try to FORCE people to get rid of their old cars so they can start making car payments and start paying higher taxes on their cars. To them, I say :fu:

[BarryA]

reduce dependence on imported oil there's a pretty easy way to go about it:

1. Charge vehicle registration fees based on engine size and vehicle weight on a geometically increasing scale (the bigger the engine & greater the GVW, the higher the fees) and DON'T reduce fees as vehicles age.

2. Incorporate an "emissons charge" into registration fees based on grams-per-mile of emissions. For older vehicles, establish a rolling vehicle age window (say 25 years and older) and give owners of older vehicles two options: 1) Register the vehicle as an emissions exempt "collector" vehicle and limit the annual milage, or 2) pay the emissions fees.

 

Between the two, federal mileage standards could be eliminated, lots of older "beater" vehicles with no intrinsic collector value would probably get taken off the roads, and there'd be an incentive to keep smaller, high fuel milage / lower emissions vehicles in service.

 

To further improve the situation, change the whole process of emissions testing to straight tailpipe testing (with the elimination of visual inspections and the requirements for retention of ALL factory installed equipment) and there'd also be a major incentive for folks with older vehicles to retrofit more current technology to get cleaner running in conjuction with more power.

[banzai510(hainz)]

lots of older "beater" vehicles with no intrinsic collector value would probably get taken off the roads

 

To most people that still will be a Datsun

 

seen 3 620s from my Hood go to the dump. one was a 620 4x 4

[BarryA]

All the numbers are well under limits, thankfully - failed the first pass on the visual inspection, because the hose between the valve cover and the breather nipple on the air cleaner was partially kinked and the idle was a little too high.

 

Found a hose that's a perfect fit (it'll have to be replaced every couple of years, because it's a coolant hose and not oil resistant), got the idle speed and timing dialed in, and it sailed through on the 2nd try. It's off the smog hook for 18 months now, so I can concentrate on getting it running well, as opposed to passing the smog test.