My car is a 1980 Euro S model, and it was imported some time back with no O2 sensors or cats. I'm sure the car won't pass IL emissions, but I saw at one gas station something called "racing fuel" , which had an octane rating of 100. It said that it burns 10% cleaner. With a tank full of that, would I have a shot at passing emissions? What kind of gas do you guys use in your sharks? I assume it's gotta be 93.

 

First off, I'm surprised that your '80 gets sniff tested. '80 is so old that most states don't test them.

Secondly, it depends on the CO, HC, and NOx numbers you have to meet. The standards for '80 are probably pretty easy to get to.

I would bet that if your car idles on all 8 cylinders (doesn't miss at idle) and doesn't stink rich out the tailpipe, you'll probably pass. As in, if you stick your head down by the tailpipe when your car is idling and don't nearly lose consciousness from the rich exhaust fumes, you are in good shape.

The reason the 100 octane gas "burns cleaner" is that the octane additive displaces combustible fuel. Counter-intuitively, higher octane gas does not contain "more power". It actually contains less. So if you are in a situation where you can't lower your HC by enough without getting a misfire, the 100 octane might work. I'm not sure on this. But in general, your car will perform best on the lowest octane the engine will tolerate.

Anyhow, with your engine and FI system in good shape, you should be able to bring the mixture close enough to stoichiometric (adjustment is near the fuel distributor) that you would meet 1980 emissions levels. Don't forget, some NEW cars in 1980 didn't have cats. Some Bosch injected cars were clean enough to not need cats until slightly after 1980 if memory serves.

Bryan

 

Properly tuned, your car should pass smog sniff test. May not pass if your state has a visual test and requires cats.

Early US cars and Euro cars up to 83 had CIS injection, thus no O2 sensor. Use the correct octane fuel for your car, otherwise you are wasting your $$$. A tank of FRESH fuel is a good idea before any smog test. There should be a sticker on the car with the right octane number. You can search the archives for past posts regarding fuel.

Good luck, Rich.

 

Richard, incorrect.

IIRC, there were two cars the were sold in the US able to make the 1975 emissions w/o a car. A VW Beatle, with Bosch L-jet and a Honda Civic with a werid combustion chamber design.

By 1980, there were no cars able to meet the federal emissions requirements w/o a cat, IIRC. I belive it's because a visual inspection started to be required by federal law, or something weird like that.

In 1980, all US 928s shifted from the CIS K-jetronic to the L-jetronic system. I belive the US cars always had cats, just it's easyer to meet the requirements with the more accurate system.

So it's an open game as to weather or not a CIS system will be able to pass a specific state's emissions. It's possible that it can be tuned to pass, with a detrenemtal effect on power and fuel consumption...

 

I agree, all US 928's were sold with cats, but the early CIS cars did not have O2 sensors. The Euro cars should probably have had cats installed when imported, along with smog pump etc. But in Borys's case, perhaps they were removed after the car was federalized. In any case, it should pass the emissions part (tuned correctly) and fail a visual part of the test. 1980-84 US cars had Bosch L fuel injection, and also had O2 sensors. 84-86 Euro cars had LH fuel injection, when imported an O2 sensor was probably required...my 84 Euro S motor had a seperate computer box added to integrate an O2 sensor. LH fuel injection was standard on US cars by 1985. Sorry, got a little off track.

Of course, not every smog technician is familiar with 928's and might not even look for the smog pump, cat, etc.

Or, you could get the ONE guy that actually knows something about 928's, knows what he is looking at, and fail the cars visual test portion. That happened to me with my 1980 US car with the 84 Euro S motor installed. I failed the visual test (incorrect engine). So, I just went to the other smog shop in town, passed without a problem. (Yes, it does have a cat)

In California, you can do a pre-test at smog shops. You still have to pay for it, but they run the test without the machine hooked up to the state computers. If you are hooked up and fail, you are tagged as a "gross polluter"....not good. Most shops will run the pre-test, if all is good they run it again, this time hooked up. Maybe smog shops in Illinois do this, I don't know. Worth a try.

Good luck, Rich.

 

There is no visual check in Illinois. I know that '79 cars are only subject to the sniffer at idle test for HC and CO in Illinois. I'm not sure if it would be the same for your '80, but I'd guess it probably would be. The gas cap should also be checked to make sure it makes a good seal. I think they may have finally gotten adapters to be able to check 928 gas caps, but they didn't used to and would give you an automatic pass for that then.

 

Thanks a lot you guys. I passed by that gas station again today and it said the fuel contains 10% ethanol, and burns cleaner. I'm asking this question because the car has some receipts with it stating that service was performed to set up the car to run as best as possible due to a failed emissions test in wisconsin in 1999. This probably limited the power in the car significantly. I think I need to have it retuned after I fix the starting problem. Thanks again.