I realize that most of you do not have to worry about exhost emissions but since I live in South Korea do. There are no exemptions here for age. I should add that my car is the only MGB in Korea. Well I have passed the emissions test for the last ten years but this year I failed as my Lambda value was too low (Carbs rich) with a value of .8 (Lambda value of 1.0 is for a air/fuel ratio of 14.7 to 1, the ideal). Also they lowered the bar on what is allowed for emissions. Luckily I have an airpump and all the parts that go with it as I am a stickler about originallity. I have done all the things such as adjusting the valves, timing, balancing the carbs (HIF)and adjusting the mixture. Now I have added the air injection manifold and air pump. Tomorrow I am having a catylitic converter installed in place of the front muffler. Usually this is done with a fuel injected engine and zirconia oxygen senser used to monitor oxygen and correct the mixture. These items to do this I do not have. I was wondering if anyone else has had experience with this situation? The emissions test here is a rolling road test and ideling test. I will keep you informed on what happens. If I do not pass the test I have no idea what I will do. The car has 57000 miles on it but the enging is a newly rebuilt unit with no leakage. I usually achieve 24 mpg.

For your information the car also has an overdrive transmission and wire wheels. I have owned the car for 20 years and traced the history back to 1978 via phone calls and mail. The car is listed as a year 2000 MGF for some reason that I never understood. It cost me $450 in customs fees to bring the car here. Everyone thinks the car is brand new and can not believe that is it 40 years old.

What failed? HC, CO, NOx, other? If it's HC, you can try a hotter thermostat, retarded timing. Also try setting valves a couple thou loose.

My last B that I had tested, albeit not on a rolling road, I put an aftermarket Cat in the place of the fwd muffler ( It was a late B that I had de-smogged and modified but had the air pump on for looks) and after the guy tested it he said, "This is the cleanest MGB that I have ever tested!" So hopefully that will help. Maybe you could pursue the proper year issue. They evedintely are using the newer MGF(?) as the emmisions criteria which with all it's electronicly controlled engine would run cleaner(?)
Good luck! Keep us advised.

FWIW, I have the BLMC Emissions book if you would like to have it, George. Since no one here seems to have any use for emissions gear or its set up, I haven't been able to give it away. But I would send it to you if you want it. I don't have any use for it either. I have copied the whole book and hope someday to make a PDF of it. Drop me a PM with a mailing address and off she'll go to Korea.

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And those who were seen dancing were thought to be insane by those who could not hear the music.
Nietzsche



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/20/2012 12:06AM by bobmunch.

Early catalyst equipped cars in the US had carburetors, so it can be done. You can install an O2 sensor in your car and a mixture gauge. That might be worth while given how strict your emissions requirements are.

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Endeavor to Persevere

Thank you for the note about the BL Emissions manual. Yes I am interested in this manual so maybe you could email me off forum at my email address (gfurst01568@netscape.net) and I will send you my address here in Korea and work out any other details. I much appreciate your offer. Meanwhile I did not take the car in as it was raining today. If it is not raining tomorrow I will take it over to have the cat installed. Sincerely, George Furst

Thank you for your information and it has given me some hope. This mixture guage sounds very interesting as the mechanic is telling me (through a translator) that he is dubious that only installing the Cat converter will solve the problem since I cannot adjust the mixture in the carbs to maintain the corect mixture (Lambda Value) needed for the Cat to maintain low emissions at different loads. This is critical since the rolling Road test does just that.

Relative to your answer, I do not understand how one could install a mixture guage in my car to solve this above problem. I will google this but until I understand this more, could you provide more information what this is, how it works and where can I source such an item?

Sadly I don't think it will solve your problem. Your mechanic is correct that the inability of the carburator to make constant adjustments to air/fuel mixture the way computer controlled fuel injection can will limit the effectiveness of the catalyst.

However, what the air/fuel guage can do is allow you to fine tune your carburator mixture to get the best possible average result.

It is very possible that you just will not be able to clean up the exhaust sufficiently to meet the new standards.

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Endeavor to Persevere

Hello,
I am curious to know if they are using the correct model year emission standards for your car. These post make it sound as if NO car with a carburetor would ever be able to pass the test. I can understand a 2000 MGF, which is fuel injected to be able to adjust like that, but not your earlier carb'd version. Their emission standard should reflect that.

George,

Perhaps a VIN verification and a letter from an official organization like a MG register or who knows? Nanjing MG can write a letter that verifies the VIN which validates the date for the car would work.

This situation happened to me when I imported my Vespa from Asia, the paperwork indicated 2004 Vespa when I knew all along it was a 1971 Classic. I ended up getting a picture of the VIN and writing a letter to Vespa of America and they replied back with a verification on official Vespa letterhead with contact info to Vespa of America. That document saved me lots of hassle at the DMV and Highway Patrol.

Gomapseumnida,


Tod

Have you tried or are you going to try a test with the new cat installed? I'm betting it will make a differance. Are you limited to the amount of tests to be done? Over here in Colorado if you fail the first (or second?) you can take it to a shop and spend X amount of $$$ and it will allow you to pass.
Some other tricks:
1. Do an oil change. ( execessive fuel[vapors] in the sump can hurt emissions)
2. A product like this http://www.amazon.com/CRC-05063-Guaranteed-Emissions-Formula/dp/B000CIPUR8.
3. Lean out those carbs as much as possible.
4. Those needles and jets may be worn enough now that they could be running rich now. Replace if in doubt.
5. New air filters.

First I wish to thank all of you for your suggestions. Let me give a little background on bringing a car into a foreign country. There are some things you can control but few. My 1973 MGB was registered as a 2003 MGF and had a new serial number carved in to the frame near the front tire. I did not know until recently that this was done because as a 1973 car it could not come into the country, it was just too old!!! It is ironical but MGs are now made in neighboring China and I have a dream of visiting the factory with an original MG someday.

Now how about the emissions test----I DID PASS---and without a catylitic converter. I will give you the numbers I had to meet and how the engine performed.

Requirement at Idle 40KM/hr on rolling road

CO % 1.2 .62 .50

HC ppm 220 110 69

Nx ppm 1110 1040 781

Lanmbda .8 - 1.2 1.02 1.18

How was this done, well it took 2 hours during which the car was tested in between other cars being tested. They let me take off the carb filters and I showed them the adjuster for eack carb, the little screw on the side that changes the mixture by moving the jet up, turn screw counterclockwise to lean and down, a clockwise turn to enrich. I also showed them that the jets had to be at a similar height and how with a lite they could see the jet move up and down. With this information they ran the engine and adjusted the carbs and watched the emission numbers on the computer. It was quite a show but they finally found what worked and when. At he end they allowed me to readjust the carbs as they were set at a really lean mixture, one that could cause engine damage. So I did that and put the filters back on and thankd them and drove home.

Now for the rest of the story. I live in Daejeon, the science capital of Korea, and one of the environmentally cleanest cities in Asia. The reason is that any car in this metropolitan area must meet strict emissions. I was told that if the car was registered in another area especially a rural area it would easily pass the emissions test as they are much more lenient. At one time they asked if I could register the car somewhere else in Korea. That is something to think about in the next two years as I must have another test in 2014.

Meanwhile I now have time to purchase a catalytic converter and see how the emissions land. they told me that I can come in and use their instrument to check the results anytime. Any ideas on a catylitic converter to purchase would be much appreciated. I plan to put it inplace of the front muffler as one tread suggested and be able to put it on and take it off (I have a stainless Falcon exhaust System). I was also told that without the air injection system I could never have passed. The lambda values before installation were in the .8 range (rich)and with the air injection they were in the proximity to 1.0 (ideal), a big improvement. This allowed them to concentrate on the other parameters. For now I plan to keep the air injection on as I rebuilt the airpump before coming to Korea and I do have an extra that I rebuilt at the same time. Again thank you all for your help. You had many very good suggestions and just knowing that I was not alone here was a great help and spurred me on. Thank you all very much!!!

Tha above table did not come out as I entered it, After each parameter are three numbers. The first is the requirement, the second is the value at idle, and the third is the value at 40Km on the rolling road. For the Lambda the range of the requirement is 0.8 - 1.2. I hope that this helps when reading the included table.

By anyone's standards that is one clean running engine!
I believe 3.5% is the CO standard in Europe.

When looking for a CAT, you will want a 3-way cat to address these three pollutants. You may want to redesign you exhaust system however, because they need to get hot fast. In my mind, you may want to move away from the Falcon header and go to one of those Cannon shorty headers. Install the CAT right there at the header flange and wrap all the pipes up to it.

Something else to consider, is these cats actually like a slightly 'richer' exhaust to operate most efficiently. With that in mind, keep in mind , they have differing needle profiles for your SU carbs, with differing needle tapers, which will give a leaner or richer run at speed.

After the CAT install, it will be imperative that unleaded fuel is used exclusively.