CO2 emissions

[pmpsantos]

HI!
I'm facing a huge problem!! I've bought a S4 Sprint on August of this year in England, and I'm still trying to change it to portuguese. The main problem is: the car is from 1973 and it has to pay taxes on importation and will pay a annual tax to go to the road.
The taxes in Portugal since July are calculated in two parcels, the capacity and the CO2 emissions. Well the capacity is about 1558 from factory, but LOTUS don?t have oficial numbers for emissions (on 1973). So the Portuguese rules (stupid rules): the car must measure the emissions on the MOT and the tax is calculates on that. My car as a 276 g/km CO2 emission, and with this I'll pay about 300? every year only to ride it... and 2000? to get the portuguese plate...
can anyone help me to decrease this CO2 emissions? How much g/Km your cars send???
Thank you all!

[1964 S1]

Don't panic, the guys on this page will save you some of those tax costs, (except that plate fee? you can't be serious, is it based on emissions?)
What type of carbs do you have?
Do they test your car at the exhaust pipe?
Lean lean lean.
Good luck,
Eric

[pmpsantos]

Hi!
My car uses WEBER's and yes, they test it on the exaust...
Thanks

[fjbm]

Hello (Ol?) pmpsantos

I'm also in Portugal and I also bought a S4 in England and I'm going to register it.

As it was bought in EC and as it is before 1979 you shouldn't need the emission values!

I'm sending you a PM with my contacts if you want to contact me.

thanks e abra?os

[pmpsantos]

Hi! I'll speak to you tomorrow, but it's not true you pay after 1970 not 1980...
Thanks!
I'm still waiting sugestions...

[garyeanderson]

In Massachusetts we used to have inspections twice a year. I forget if this was for high Hydrocarbons or carbon monoxide but the list used to be.

Fresh Tune up, Plugs , points, condensor, wires, etc. give yourself a chance by bringing into its best tune.

Warm the car up thouroughly, go out and drive it hard before you get to the testing station, run it until you go in for the test.

A can or two of Dry gas (alcohol), I think this was for hydrocarbons though.

Higher temp thermostat

Maybe some others that I don't remember.

Massachusetts finally got smart and stopped the emission testing and just does the safety inspection on pre 1984 cars. You still pay the same as those that get sniffed but don't have to hassle with this crap any more...

Gary

[denicholls2]

To Gary's excellent list I would add an oil change. I've been told it can significantly affect the CO number by more than one person who got a marginal car through CO by this and Gary's methods.

If CO2 itself is the problem then you have to reduce the total amount of combustion occurring, which means running excessively lean in combination with low idle RPM (hard to do) is the best answer. This is harder if the test measures output over a range of RPM.

Good luck dealing with a silly law.

[twincamman]

my friend and I passed a dunebuggy by using a 12 volt air pump [the kind used to blow up tires] we hooked the pump up to the ignition switch and pumped air into the header at the muffler and replacing the muffler with a cat converter should get you over the hump [ its louder ]----G.M. did the same thing but in a more sophisticated method in the 80s -- --ed

[terryp]

Hello
I had a similar problem in France as the car is a 1973(rather than a 1972!). The CO2 at the "Controle Technique" was reading over 6.5% (which is a fail It had to read below 4%) On the testers recommendation I took it to a local garage. the chap pulled out his 4 port manermeter balanced the carbs (dellortos) and with a CO2 analyser could not get it below 5%. Then he pulled of the ait filter duct and whoosh down to 3.5%. So the car was tested without the duct connected and passed OK.
It could be worth a try as it reduced it by 1.5%
All the best
Terry

[jmesh]

In Colorado, old cars need to pass a fairly stringent emissions process. Here are the stats for my '67 S3 with Webers. I run 110 jets for the high altitude (5300 ft). It was about 90 degrees Fahrenheit outside on the day of the test:

Hydrocarbons PPM:
At 2500 rpm: 467.1
At Idle: 453.3
State Limit: 1000

CO%:
At 2500 rpm: 1.84
At Idle: 3.43
State Limit: 5.5

CO2%
At 2500 rpm: 10.8173
At Idle: 11.6339
State Limit: NA

Good luck.

Jason

[rgh0]

CO2 emissions are a function of engine size/power output and car weight and are measured on a standard driving cycle. i presume for older cars that have not been tested on the standard cycle that the authorities use a standard calculation based on wieght and engine capacity to determine the CO2 emissions tax.

Tuning will not change this. Unless you can find some sort of exemption for old cars i think your stuck with it. Do you know how they calculated the Euro 300 payment

cheers
Rohan