1973 Buick Regal Emissions Testing?

[Taylor Buick]

Hi all! I'm moving to Nevada with my 1973 Buick Regal and recently found out that it will need to pass a smog test now that the classic car registration rules have changed. I was wondering if anyone on here has successfully passed an emissions test with a vehicle of that era, and what you had to do (tuning, etc.) to get it within range. It doesn't smoke or have otherwise visible emissions from the tailpipe. 

Thanks in advance!

[rocketraider]

You'll have to have all the 1973 emissions control components in place. Then make sure they all work.

 

If you don't have a 1973 Buick factory Chassis Service Manual, it's a good investment. Covers all service procedures and will help you tune the engine to pass Nevada's ridiculous new emissions testing.

 

We're talking a 50 year old car, and anyone familiar with servicing it is probably retirement age. Anyone under 50 has probably never worked on a non-computer-controlled engine and is going to be lost as last year's Easter egg with this engine. 

 

That's the great fallacy of putting these cars back in smog testing. Though I wholeheartedly believe it's by design, and will be used to disqualify these cars with the ultimate goal of destroying them. Never, ever trust unelected bureaucrats to have your best interests at heart.

[TerryB]

14 hours ago, Taylor Buick said:

Hi all! I'm moving to Nevada with my 1973 Buick Regal and recently found out that it will need to pass a smog test now that the classic car registration rules have changed. I was wondering if anyone on here has successfully passed an emissions test with a vehicle of that era, and what you had to do (tuning, etc.) to get it within range. It doesn't smoke or have otherwise visible emissions from the tailpipe. 

Thanks in advance!

I think you need to read the requirements closer.  Is this car a daily driver and not registered as antique?   Antique cars with proper insurance and driven less than 5,000 miles a year do not need emissions inspection per Nevada dmv website information.

[Taylor Buick]

6 minutes ago, TerryB said:

I think you need to read the requirements closer.  Is this car a daily driver and not registered as antique?   Antique cars with proper insurance and driven less than 5,000 miles a year do not need emissions inspection per Nevada dmv website information.

In reference to the current law you are correct, however this is changing in a few months. It's my understanding that in 1/23, all cars (classic car plates or not) newer than 1967 will require a smog check.

 

Due to being out a car for some months, this will be considered my daily driver for a while. 

 

https://lasvegassun.com/news/2022/sep/23/for-classic-car-enthusiasts-change-in-nevada-law-l/

[TerryB]

Again check dmv, it says 2023 here

https://dmv.nv.gov/platesclassic.htm

[Taylor Buick]

1 hour ago, rocketraider said:

You'll have to have all the 1973 emissions control components in place. Then make sure they all work.

 

If you don't have a 1973 Buick factory Chassis Service Manual, it's a good investment. Covers all service procedures and will help you tune the engine to pass Nevada's ridiculous new emissions testing.

 

We're talking a 50 year old car, and anyone familiar with servicing it is probably retirement age. Anyone under 50 has probably never worked on a non-computer-controlled engine and is going to be lost as last year's Easter egg with this engine. 

 

That's the great fallacy of putting these cars back in smog testing. Though I wholeheartedly believe it's by design, and will be used to disqualify these cars with the ultimate goal of destroying them. Never, ever trust unelected bureaucrats to have your best interests at heart.

I don't know why I didn't think to check the Chassis Service Manual. Thank you for that! I'm just hoping that a well-tuned naturally aspirated engine of that age can still meet current emissions standards. I know I have good rings, plugs, and clean valves. 

[Taylor Buick]

4 minutes ago, TerryB said:

Again check dmv, it says 2023 here

https://dmv.nv.gov/platesclassic.htm

Terry, 

 

I stand corrected! However this unfortunately does not apply to my vehicle as it is my daily driver. 

 

 

[Rivguy]

I think the most important thing is to be sure that all the required equipment to be in place and working as was stated in an earlier reply. Back in the day components were often gutted and vacuum lines were blocked with ball bearings, so it looked like the parts were there, even if they didn't work. 

[joe_padavano]

49 minutes ago, Taylor Buick said:

I don't know why I didn't think to check the Chassis Service Manual. Thank you for that! I'm just hoping that a well-tuned naturally aspirated engine of that age can still meet current emissions standards. I know I have good rings, plugs, and clean valves. 

Why wouldn't it? There's no magic here. If the original equipment is connected and functioning properly (and there's precious little equipment on a 73), it will comply. State emissions testing limits account for wear and resulting increases in emissions levels - even Calif does that. Your car has EGR, various timing controls, and an evap cannister. There's no catalyst, should be no A.I.R. pump, and really nothing complicated. EGR only operates at part throttle under light loads. Ported vacuum for distributor vacuum advance controls NOx at idle. Lean idle mixtures control HC and CO levels. Is this an idle test or a dynomometer loaded test? Even the latter only tests idle and part throttle loaded conditions - this is a far cry from the rigorous testing that the manufacturers have to perform for EPA certification. And despite Glenn's tinfoil hat, this is really not a sinister plot. It's intended more to weed out cars that have had factory emissions controls tampered with or removed. When properly maintained, passing this test is a non-issue for a 1973 model.

[rocketraider]

7 hours ago, joe_padavano said:

... this is really not a sinister plot. It's intended more to weed out cars that have had factory emissions controls tampered with or removed. 

Which I would guess is a lot of them. De-smogging engines was big business in the 70s, whether or not it was legal. That was a big attraction on my 74 Hurst and 76 Ninety Eight- neither had ever been messed with.

 

As long as the monitoring agency doesn't move the goalpost and require these cars to meet later standards, they'll probably be ok.

 

Joe, I've had too many unannounced wee-hours visits by the EPA, demanding to inspect the past month's paperwork. All I could hope was that other Operators had filled the stuff out correctly, because I didn't like having to explain what they'd done.

[68LTD]

Not sure about new laws, my 1970 Impala ran great, but failed emissions test, this was back in 1990.  I did a complete tune-up (plugs , wires, points, cap, filter etc) and new timing chain.

Passed.  I wonder if the emission 'parts' look corect, and passes, do they care if the 'parts' are functioning. 

[JACK M]

On 10/2/2022 at 9:56 AM, Taylor Buick said:

unfortunately does not apply to my vehicle as it is my daily driver. 

I am not held hostage by emissions police, but I have YOM plates and a one-time registration on my DD.

I am prepared to tell the cop that I need to drive it because I am concerned that the brake work that I 'just did' is up to snuff.

 

[Bloo]

On 10/1/2022 at 7:14 PM, Taylor Buick said:

I was wondering if anyone on here has successfully passed an emissions test with a vehicle of that era, and what you had to do (tuning, etc.) to get it within range. It doesn't smoke or have otherwise visible emissions from the tailpipe. 

 

I was a driveability and smog tech in Washington State. A state certified mechanic would be another way of putting it to avoid confusion, as the official pass/fail testing was done in state facilities by someone else employed by the state (unlike some other states, notably California). A high percentage of the cars that left my bay would have passed a WA smog test for a brand new car at that time (80s-90s). I would also point out that there was no structural body rust issue here, so there were a LOT of older models still on the road as daily drivers. It is an absolute old wives tale that clean cars run bad and dirty ones run good. It is one of those old stories that has a tiny grain of truth in it that is swamped by complete BS. The story just refuses to die. If a car fails an emissions test, and the owner says it "runs fine" I need to know exactly what the test was and why the car failed it. If a pre-catalyst car failed a tailpipe test, and the reason was not NOx in a state where the allowable NOx limit is lower than what a healthy engine without emission controls emits, I'm calling BS. It can run better, probably a lot better, and the emissions will be lower when it does.

 

One exception here is hotrodded engines with lumpy cams, etc. It is not really an exception once you realize that these engines ARE running terrible at idle and part throttle cruise where they are being tested. They are not turning fast enough to burn efficiently.

 

Another thing: The engine and it's surrounding parts has to be sort of healthy. No amount of tuning can compensate for a burned valve or a sunk carburetor float. Oil smoke, on the other hand, is not a big deal unless the guy testing is required to fail the car if he sees smoke. That was never the case in WA. Unless it is at ridiculous levels it won't raise the hydrocarbon reading on the gas analyzer very much.

 

Our air quality officials here in WA correctly realized that these older models are a very tiny part of the problem, and slowly did away with testing them as the years rolled on. When we met our air quality goals they did away with the emission testing program entirely.

 

So, as others have said, make sure all the hoses are hooked up correctly and everything is in place and see what happens. For any advice beyond that, we need to know whether they are doing a physical inspection, exactly what emissions they are testing for, and what the limits are.

 

 

Edited October 3, 2022 by Bloo (see edit history)

[avgwarhawk]

Last I recall the 73 had a airpump/EGR and that was about it.  If it ain't blowing black smoke she should pass. 

Edited October 3, 2022 by avgwarhawk (see edit history)

[joe_padavano]

2 hours ago, JACK M said:

I am not held hostage by emissions police, but I have YOM plates and a one-time registration on my DD.

 

And THIS is why states are cracking down on abuse of antique registrations on daily drivers.

[Bloo]

There are places in the world where they think once a car gets past a certain age enough road tax has been paid on it and they stop charging it. I'd like to see that adopted here. Talk of "cheating" or "abuse" just annoys me. It winds up on the TV news every now and then. Of the national fleet, we antiques are a tiny minority. It is a lot of hand wringing over nothing.

 

I wonder how many people in here could be persuaded to believe that these enthusiast "abusers" are driving an antique as their only car? It was pretty common 40 years ago. Is anyone doing that now? I don't know anyone who does. If you sorted those guys out of the national fleet I'll bet you wouldn't even have 1/10th of a percent.

 

I daily drive my 36 Pontiac here in in good weather. There are no tag fees on antique or YOM plates here. On regular cars however, several years ago there was a vote limiting tag fees to $30. Twice actually, but it is ignored. I am single with no kids, and I have FOUR cars licensed with regular tags. They keep going up. All four were over $100 each this year, Two of the four were over $200 each. One of several extra charges that enables this is a "Transportation Benefit District". I pay it FOUR times for one driver. There is a charge for tonnage, even on the subcompact with 12 inch wheels. There is also a charge to charge for the tonnage. You can't make this up.

 

Am I an abuser? Should I be cracked down on? You might need to crack down on me. Three of the four are technically antiques, and have qualified for tag-free historic or YOM plates for several years now. I predict a bunch more YOM plates next year. Then I will pay the "Transportation Benefit District", and the tonnage, and all the other fees they tack on one time like everyone else.

 

 

Edited October 4, 2022 by Bloo (see edit history)

[JACK M]

20 hours ago, joe_padavano said:

 

And THIS is why states are cracking down on abuse of antique registrations on daily drivers.

It's basically my grocery getter. 

The other six vehicles registered the same get driven regularly as well.

Three newer vehicles that are not old enough to do this with. Believe me, the state gets its share, I can only drive one at a time.

And I am single and live alone as well.

[Jubilee]

  I have three carbureted vehicles with antique plates that have to be smogged every 5 years. I don’t consider these vehicles antiques. Here you can get antique plates  if the vehicle is 32 years old.

   The only way they will pass is if the vacuum advance is plugged, egr is plugged, timing is retarded as far as possible, and idle mixture is leaned to where vacuum drops a couple of points. Oh, and fresh gas.