[VintageLambo] Re: Now AZ Smog

In a message dated 2/28/03 6:33:49 AM Pacific Standard Time, jriddell@spawar.navy.mil writes: You are right about paying attention. My experience with trying to smog the 400 was exasperating, to put it mildly. I took the car out to Gary Bobileff"s and Gary could usually find a way to get it under the specs. This usually involved leaning out the carbs and retarding the timing, if memory serves me. I had to do that to my Islero. The S has the higher compression, and I think slightly different cam specs than the low compression 400, which may have made the job even harder. I also had to run a substantial amount of alcohol, and even then it was only close. I finally got it so that the idle spec was within the range, but the running spec still wasn"t. I waited until it was the winter season, when it is legal to use studded snow tires. They won"t let you on the rollers with these, and if you go in with them on the car, will just do an idle test. I contacted the head of the program, and told him that I was quite prepared to mount one studded snow and take the car back, but that as they already had a pass reading for the idle test, would they relieve me of the time, expense, and potential damage to a Campagnolo and just give me a pass. They did! I have always wondered where the California Air Resources Board gets the required numbers for these old cars; that is, the standards we must meet to pass the test. Anybody know? Up here they just choose some sort of average readings for cars in that year of manufacture. I pointed out that as far as I knew, the Lamborghinis were EPA exempt when new, and logically should continue to be so, but I couldn"t sell that one. Maybe if I had been able to come up with the actual test figures of the new ones back in the 60s/early 70s that were allowed into North America, I could have convinced them. My task was made even harder by the fact that my car had been in hibernation and hadn"t turned a wheel since the late 70s, and one cylinder was AWOL until I gave it quite a few miles. Even when it was once again up to snuff, the car still gives a puff or two of smoke on acceleration, which I am assured is exactly what they did from new. At least they don"t also leak it - some English bikes I"ve known I could have sworn ran a total loss oiling system - no need to change it, just top up as it leaked out. Bill