I have a 1978, 998 cc (Austrailian) Clubman. I registered it as a regular car, not an antique.

I have been called in for my Illinois Emissions test.

According to the Illinois web site my options for a car made between 1968 and 1981 are: 1) Pass the test, 2) Register it as an antique (which severely restricts the use of the car) or 3) move out of the "testing zone".

I need to pass a Gas cap pressure test and an idle test for CO and Particulates. No Dyno test will be required.

I got the gas cap handled, I found a cap would fit, and had a vent I could plug. The tank has a vent so this will not be a problem driving.

What about the Idle test, does any one have any experience?

I am thinking I should make sure it has a 190 or hotter thermostat in it, and then properly tune the (SU) carb. It smokes blue just a little and that will certainly be my main source of particulates.

If anyone has dealt with this before I would love to hear about it.

Thanks
John
McHenry County Illinois.

 

about all you can do is lean out the carb as much as possible using the adjusting screw.

 

Another thing to do is loosen up the pipe from the exhaust. We had a header on ours and just cracked about three full turns out of each of the flange bolts/nuts. Let some of that noxious stuff out before the tail pipe.....

 

I have a friend who runs a small shop. He has an exhaust gas analyzer. We used it to achieve passing numbers.

I'm in Denver and was working on a 72 850 Mini...bone stock...that I had imported.

I had to go to the weakest needle - GG if I recall correctly - to get a passing result. Weakening the stock UK needle did not do enough.

Once passed, I found that richening it a bit .. but leaving the GG needle in place resulted in a very good running motor. But that's here at altitude..you're almost at sea level. Still..you might need to swap the needle.

I'd take a walk down the hall and visit the Classic forum at MiniMania. There you'll find all the help you need and then some.

Peter..in Denver

 

I also heard (have not tested this myself) that certain fuel additives effect the exhaust gas numbers. Something like Octane Boost 108.

I live in California which has some of the strictest Emissions standards around. Had a friend with a Jaguar E-Type 6 Cylinder and another friend with an MG. This was a while back, when the cars still had to be tested. Both cars failed the tests the first time around, but were pretty close to passing. After additing Octane Boost 108 (The friend with the Jaguar added 2 bottles) They both passed.

I dont know how try this is... But it does make sense if the additives actually burn the fuel more efficiently.

Its worth a try for 5 or 10 bucks.

Paul

 

Well I took the 998 in and it was given an "idle only" test which it failed rather badly.

I went home and found that as I suspected some one had removed the thermostat, then just set the engine so rich that it would run regardless of the engine temperature.

I put in a 195 degree thermostat (local store, 1972 MG Midget) , and the temperature gauge settled nicely just below the mid line of the gauge. I adjusted the carb by "ear" and got the jet over a turn toward lean.

I then took the car to a shop with an exhaust gass analyzer. They further tweaked the carb, and adjusted the timing by gas analyzer not by timing marks.

Since this car also has a bad case of blow by, they disconnected the crank case breather from the engine intake, and let it vent near the fan where the smoke was dispersed with out being noticed, or drawn back into the engine. They told me this was to reduce the hydrocarbon numbers.

The car EASILY passed the emmisions test, with about 1/2 the allowable carbon monoxide and about 3/4 the allowable hydrocarbons.

As a side bennefit, the car now runs and idles better.

The other thing that was needed to pass the emmisions test, was a NON Venting Gas cap. I had purchased a venting gas cap from Mini Mania, but that would not do. I bought a cap (MG Midget again) which had a restricted but not sealed vent. I filled the vent with Silicone. The car had a vent line to the charcoal canister under the hood so the tank gets vented. The testers were happy with the gas cap.

In this state (illinois) they don't inspect under the hood any more. They just ask your 1998 or later computer how you are doing, or do a idle sniff for cars 1968 to 1981, or a dyno sniff for cars from 82 to 97.

So I am all set to use the car as a daily driver for the next two years.

John
Illinois

 

where are you in illinois? im in st. louis and have a great mechanic that may be able to help.

 

I am in a far suburb of Chicago. The shop did just great getting it through emmisions testing.

What I will need this summer is a machine shop that does engine work, (cylinder boring, crank and valve grinding) as it looks like I will be tearing the engine down, and doing the rings, plus whatever else it needs.

It is getting tough to find shops like that, as on all the "new" cars they just replace that stuff or exchange the entire engine for a rebuild. The last time I needed this kind of work done, I had to get it done at a "speed" shop.

John