Anyone live in Portland, OR have a shop they like? Need to pass emissions…

[dkraven]

Been working on my 77 Sierra Grande for a bit now. Rebuilt the carb, threw a bunch of parts at, got the timing decent, and it’s fun to drive now. But I’m worried I won’t be able to tune it to pass DEQ. SBC 350 with a Rochester Quadrajet on it, but this model doesn’t have an EGR valve standard on it, no Cat, and it’s still a rust bucket for sure.

Anyone know a shop in the Portland area that knows carbs and can help me get the truck through DEQ?

 

[Radiohead]

Can't run it through just for the readings?

I haven't had to register in the DEQ area in 20 years, so things might be different from what I remember. The dyno test was cool.

 

[dkraven]

Only ever had a more modern vehicle they just plug into, so this will be a new experience for me. I know the quadrajet is a fairly emissions friendly carb, and I've read that retarding the timing and upping the idle while leaning out the air fuel screws is the way to go. That and getting it good and hot by driving for an hour beforehand. But this truck also sat in a field for 15 years and she's only got so much to give.

 

[84-C20]

Only ever had a more modern vehicle they just plug into, so this will be a new experience for me. I know the quadrajet is a fairly emissions friendly carb, and I've read that retarding the timing and upping the idle while leaning out the air fuel screws is the way to go. That and getting it good and hot by driving for an hour beforehand. But this truck also sat in a field for 15 years and she's only got so much to give.

My advice would be get it good and hot run it though and see what happens. If it fails at least then you know where your at. Post your failure results here. Several of us maybe able to help you clean it up if it needs to be.

Straight off the DEQ website "In the Portland Area, the vehicle testing fee is $25. This fee is due only after your vehicle receives a passing test result, and is issued a Certificate of Compliance."

So you can run it though for free if it fails, but have some knowledge at that point.

 

[fast 99]

Before going in find out how they check the vehicle. When we tested here inspectors preformed an underhood check. All original emissions equipment needed to be on the vehicle and that even included the hot air tube to a stock air cleaner. There was a pamphlet with those requirements. If any parts were missing, they would not perform a tail pipe test, automatic fail.

I don't know how Oregon does their test just saying find out first. And yes, test then do any repairs if it fails.

 

[Slooptin]

Not sure if this helps (I’m in Denver so we go by whatever cali does) but we have to do a 2 speed idle test for anything 1990 and older. My advice from my experience:

1. Make sure your timing is set within the factory specs (too much advance will fail)
2. Make sure it’s not too lean (will increase nox and fail you)
3. I have never had a tech pop the hood or look under the truck for cats or emissions equipment. Not saying they don’t but I’ve never had it happen to me and I know there are guys here running aftermarket carbs/intakes/headers/etc. that pass all the time. Probably not a bad idea to at least have a cat under there just in case you get a tech who really wants to be a rule stickler.
4. If you fail, it’s usually not the end of the world. I think we get 10 days to fix it and come back and retest for free so you can often make changes and show up an hour later and try again.

Good luck!

 

[Catbox]

We pass in our truck usually.
Many changes have been made since it last went through.
It does need to go in for testing again as the tags are well past due.

They have not popped the hood to look under, but they do have a little mirror that they look under it with.
That checks to see if you have cats if your truck required them.
Ours does, so we have empty cats under the truck currently, for compliance.
It passes emissions just fine like that.
Just some tuning to be done...

 

[DoubleDingo]

Adjust it like others have stated, get it hot, and get it tested, you'll be fine

 

[DoubleDingo]

You have the no egr and no cat on your side. That alone makes it much easier to pass, and it being a 3/4 ton is a plus because the requirements are more lax. One reason I won't alter my c20 nor sell it. The guy that runs the smog shop I go to, tells me each time I take the c20 in there, "Don't sell it". I've only had one fail and it was dumping too much fuel. Retested with a rebuilt national carb, and it passed. I bought the rebuilt carb because I needed the truck to run so I could get the tags, code enforcement was breathing down my neck and the truck was closest to the road, so if they wanted to be pricks, they could have easily towed it off even though it's parked on my property.

 

[Fisherman166]

Bumping up an old thread. Where did you end up on this process? I've been looking at a 1979 C20 with a 454 lately that is original in the engine bay (stock carb, air inlet, EGR, etc) but has had its cats removed and swapped to dual exhaust. I'm assuming at the very least I'd need to add a cat to each exhaust to get it to pass, but anything beyond that should just be tuning correct?

In my 1991 Camaro I swapped in an L31-R 350 ten years ago that has a catalytic converter, A.I.R. pump and tubes, but no EGR and it passes, so that is my reference point. On my Camaro they use a mirror to check for a cat, then sniff the tailpipe for Hydrocarbons and CO. As far as I can tell they don't do anything about NOX or CO2 because those numbers are always above the "limit" but I still pass.

 

[Bextreme04]

Bumping up an old thread. Where did you end up on this process? I've been looking at a 1979 C20 with a 454 lately that is original in the engine bay (stock carb, air inlet, EGR, etc) but has had its cats removed and swapped to dual exhaust. I'm assuming at the very least I'd need to add a cat to each exhaust to get it to pass, but anything beyond that should just be tuning correct?

In my 1991 Camaro I swapped in an L31-R 350 ten years ago that has a catalytic converter, A.I.R. pump and tubes, but no EGR and it passes, so that is my reference point. On my Camaro they use a mirror to check for a cat, then sniff the tailpipe for Hydrocarbons and CO. As far as I can tell they don't do anything about NOX or CO2 because those numbers are always above the "limit" but I still pass.

@Catbox runs his through DEQ in Portland and has a 454. You should be fine with dual exhaust, but would need to add in the correct federal approved cats. If it is mechanically sound, you should have no issues passing with a properly tuned carb as long as the other components are all correct. I'm out of the DEQ zone, so I don't have to worry about that anyways.

I'm going to guess that since it has the EGR it was not an 8600GWR optioned truck? My 1980 is an 8600GVWR truck so it was still considered medium duty and didn't originally have cats or an EGR.

 

[Radiohead]

Mine being an ole Cali spec'd rig, it has all that stuff on it. Lucky me, I'm out of the zone. I'll leave as much intact as possible, just because I can.

Still putting cats on duals, mainly because I don't want to smell it and all those foolish years of coughin nails makes my lungs hyper critical of everything and rejection is their default setting. Hell, even the wood smoke sets them off now.

 

[Fisherman166]

@Catbox runs his through DEQ in Portland and has a 454. You should be fine with dual exhaust, but would need to add in the correct federal approved cats. If it is mechanically sound, you should have no issues passing with a properly tuned carb as long as the other components are all correct. I'm out of the DEQ zone, so I don't have to worry about that anyways.

I'm going to guess that since it has the EGR it was not an 8600GWR optioned truck? My 1980 is an 8600GVWR truck so it was still considered medium duty and didn't originally have cats or an EGR.

I'm not sure what its optioned for. I will need to check with the owner. What would the RPO code be for 8600GWR? I see what looks like AIR tubes running down the driver side exhaust from the engine bay pictures I've attached.

My assumption is that it had cats from the factory because there is an information blurb on the driver side sun visor talking about catalytic converters. It would be odd to include that detail and not have them, but maybe they did.

Mine being an ole Cali spec'd rig, it has all that stuff on it. Lucky me, I'm out of the zone. I'll leave as much intact as possible, just because I can.

Still putting cats on duals, mainly because I don't want to smell it and all those foolish years of coughin nails makes my lungs hyper critical of everything and rejection is their default setting. Hell, even the wood smoke sets them off now.

I'd prefer to have the OEM emissions equipment as well. I'm trying to determine how much I'll be into it price wise to get it passing to see what I should offer. The owner is asking $8000, and if I need to add some cats I'm probably at least $500 to get that fixed.

 

[Radiohead]

Is there an emissions decal on the radiator cover? That will give you what it came with.

$8000 seems a bit rich. But if everything works and it's in stellar shape, well....

 

[Fisherman166]

No stickers that I saw (or see in the pictures). The truck is in okay shape. It has some rust spots in the front fenders below the side markers and the front hood lip is pure rust. The guy has been daily driving it. The backstory is that it was originally an Arizona truck that was purchased by his dads friend. 15-20 years ago the friend sold it to his dad, who owned it up until a year or two ago, then gave it to his son (the seller). Most of its life it had a camper on it and was mostly used for camping. Originally it was painted yellow I think because the cowl has some yellow. No idea how old the current paint job is.

The seller has new carpet, new door panels, new weatherstripping, and a stock grill that comes with the truck. Even with all that I also feel $8000 is too high.