August 20, 201015 yr Can you imagine the level of brain damage from sitting in traffic jams back then and breathing all those non-pollution-controlled exhaust fooms?
August 20, 201015 yr ^ True, but I read a piece once- a automotive shop class teacher, in the process of teaching about emissions, had access to a friend's 1917 Buick, a real nice original, so they hooked it up to the sniffer. Lecture was immediately throw off the rails when the Buick ran far cleaner -admirably so- than anyone had predicted.
August 20, 201015 yr ^ True, but I read a piece once- a automotive shop class teacher, in the process of teaching about emissions, had access to a friend's 1917 Buick, a real nice original, so they hooked it up to the sniffer. Lecture was immediately throw off the rails when the Buick ran far cleaner -admirably so- than anyone had predicted. A 1917 probably only produced 25hp, though? Couldn't have been much emissions from that..try something from the 60s that made over 300 for comparison.
August 20, 201015 yr A 1917 probably only produced 25hp, though? Couldn't have been much emissions from that..try something from the 60s that made over 300 for comparison. My sister's '69 Firebird with lots of miles aced the emissions requirements for 1992 cars. Pollution controls have reined in exhaust emissions, but nowhere near what people like to think. Meanwhile the big corporations avoid cleaning their stacks even one bit if possible. Of course, keeping that particular car in that state of tune was another story... alot of screws and components were loose and it would, uh, self-adjust.
August 21, 201015 yr There's a Pontiac guy who ran a '67-68 RA II Firebird, totally factory spec, drag raced it (it was very quick- should've had in the neighborhood of 450 HP via times), and he was passing 1998 emissions standards IIRC. Combustion efficiency has to have as much or MORE significance to emissions than power level. What the efficiency of a 170 CI engine putting out 18 HP ????
August 21, 201015 yr Just because a car passes an emissions test doesn't mean its in the same league as say, a ULEV vehicle's emissions.
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