I had a vacuum advance/retard distributor on my 1970 TR6, retarding the
ignition helps pass smog especially at idle. My old Lotus Elan pegged the
meters it polluted so bad, but a quick run up a hill to blow carbon and get
the engine nice and hot helped me pass. Italian tune-up is the proper term
for this method :)
Fred Talmadge
I need to get that old Elan running again ... elan.96trees.com
At 07:25 PM 2/5/2001 +0000, Neil Sherry wrote:
>Doesn't sound like a dramatic failure to me. New dizzy should help. If the
>auto-choke has not been working the carbs may be set a little rich to help
>starting - so the should be the scope to lean it down, as long as you can
>still start it. The warm afternoon will help.
>Check the regulations. Here in the UK when emission testing became part of
>the MoT test, after lots of late MGB's in fine condition were failing there
>was a concession to test at a faster idle speed, which allows everything to
>work slightly better.
>
>Best of luck
>Neil
>----- Original Message -----
>From: <Eganb@aol.com>
>To: <Triumphs@autox.team.net>; <british-cars@autox.team.net>;
><tr8@mercury.lcs.mit.edu>
>Sent: Monday, February 05, 2001 3:41 PM
>Subject: TR7 BFH#52 - Failed emissions test
>
>
> > Well, the good news is my newly-reassembled TR7 passed the safety
>inspection
> > today. The bad news is that it flunked the emissions test.
> >
> > I need a 2% CO reading, and mine was 3.14%.
> >
> > So, now I need to strategize on how to fix this. Here are my thoughts, so
> > chime in with your comments:
> >
> > 1. They do the emission test at idle. I'm missing the vacuum retard unit
>on
> > my dizzy, so the timing was probably at 10degrees BTDC, but with the
>vacuum
> > unit it would be less. I have a new dizzy and vacuum unit showing up
> > shortly. Think that will help?
> >
> > 2. I can try leaning out the Stromberg-Zenith carb mixtures.
> >
> > 3. I have the water-temp controlled automatic choke on my carbs. The
> > electrical wires that go into the choke are broken off, so whatever they
>were
> > suppose to do, ain't happening. Maybe the solution here is to go for the
> > test in the afternoon when it is warmer?
> >
> > 4. I'm pretty sure the air pump doesn't do much of anything anymore. I
>have
> > another one, but am not sure what condition it is in. Would that make
>much
> > of a difference?
> >
> > 5. Finally, I'm going to double check the North Carolina emission
>standards
> > just to make sure a car this old has to pass that level of CO.
> >
> > Any other ideas, as always, much appreciated.
> >
> > later!
> >
> > Bruce
> > 1980 Inca Yellow TR7 Convertible
> > Chapel Hill, NC
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