<VV> Combustion efficiency & exhaust emissions

[cfm]

I was told one time that dumping a couple of bottles of rubbing alcohol in the gas tank and running the operating temp up before arriving at the inspection site did the trick. I used to do this a lot when I owned cars that were usually susceptible to emission failure. You remember the kind of disposable cars one had in college? Mine were Aries, K-cars, and Omni's. I don't know if this trick ever worked in its entirety; but the theory seemed just. Alcohol makes the car run hotter, thereby, cleaner emissions? I don't know.
-chris mann

--- On Fri, 11/21/08, FrankCB <frankcb at aol.com> wrote:
From: FrankCB <frankcb at aol.com>
Subject: Re: <VV> Combustion efficiency & exhaust emissions
To: "Daniel Monasterio" <dmonasterio at megared.net.mx>, "virtualvairs" <virtualvairs at corvair.org>
Date: Friday, November 21, 2008, 3:53 PM

Daniel,
     Years ago when I was driving my 1965 140 Corsa (before Jim
"inherited" it) regularly to work, I had to pass NJ yearly emission
inspection, done, fortunately, only at idle speed.  At lunchtime I would get out
my timing light and retard the timing back to around zero at idle and lean out
the primary carbs as much as possible to still retain a smooth idle.  Of course
that much reduced advance would require the carb idle speed screws to be
advanced to bring up the idle speed to around 800 rpm.  But that, in turn would
"bring in" the vacuum advance on the distributor, thereby advancing
the base timing.  I had to defeat the vacuum advance by disconnecting the hose
on the distributor and plugging it.  This all gave me a very sluggish running
car and felt like I had lost about 100 hp.  But I drove it to the nearby
inspection station just a few miles away and it passed quite easily.  Then I
drove the car back to the company parking lot and restored all the settings back
to normal
  thereby restoring the full power, at least for the next 364.9
days.<GGGG> 
     The point is to lean out the mixture in the carbs (reducing CO) but still
keeping smooth idle, raise the idle speed a bit, and retard the basic timing to
raise the combustion temperature thereby reducing the HC emissions.
     Good luck!
     Frank "try it, you'll like it" Burkhard 



In a message dated 11/18/08 17:13:43 Eastern Standard Time,
dmonasterio at megared.net.mx writes:
  Here, in Guadalajara, Mexico, the maximum exhaust emissions allowed for my
vairs are: HC - 300 ppm and CO - 3.00 %, verified once a year for cars and twice
a year for pickups (Rampside). Next year will be twice a year for all pre 1993
vehicles without allowing driving them on peak hours. 
  Is there a way to modify Corvair engines to make them meet say, 1994 or
newer, emissions tests ?... I've been driving Corvairs most of the time
since 1968 and wouldn't like to change my driving habits. Don't like
driving other cars but Vairs only !! 

Thanks in advance for any tip 

Daniel Monasterio 
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