I drive a really cherry 74 swinger with 39K original miles as my daily driver. As far as I know, it has the complete emissions control package on it.

With all the environemental speak going around, I'm curious if anyone actually has stats on what kind of emissions our cars put out?

I have read that the Toyota Prius Hybrid, as a SULEV vehicle (SUper Low Emissions Vehicle), has emissions that are the equivalent of something like a cow burping, i.e., practically nothing.

Obviously, in comparison, our cars are no match for that, but I'm just curious if anyone else ever had reason to measure and what the outcome was?

Ironically enough, some of that emissions control package is reducing your car's efficiency significantly, without anywhere near a proportional reduction in actual tailpipe emissions, such that your car is polluting more on a per-mile basis than if those devices weren't there. Chief offender on your '74 is the OSAC valve — have you bypassed it yet? — and second on the list is the EGR system. See this old post.
Their exhaust is a little cleaner than many of their Ford and GM contemporaries, dirty compared to stock '81-'87 cars, very dirty compared to '88-'95, and extremely dirty compared to '96-up models. You'll doubtless get some responses to the effect of "My 1965 whatevermobile blew single-digit numbers on my state's emission test!". That's excellent, but it does not mean the vehicle is as clean as low numbers imply. The state tests are designed to catch broken cars, not so much to evaluate and compare the cleanliness or dirtiness of various vehicles.

The reason why properly-tuned old cars in good repair are not a significant threat to air quality is because there are very few such cars in operation. In terms of pollution, our high-emitting vehicles are "subsidized" by the much larger number of newer, much lower-emitting vehicles. This is also why those programs that offer fat cash rewards for the scrappage of any pre-'81 vehicle in any condition are a very inefficient way to clean up the air. They are, however, an inexpensive way for oil companies to make great PR with the ignorant public at large.

Auto hobbyists and conspiracy theorists who haven't given the matter much thought (or who aren't equipped to do so) often complain that the new-vehicle emission standards keep getting tighter and tighter and tighter, and call for there to be a stop to the tightening because "the job's been done and cars are clean". Problem is, there are more and more and ever more cars on the roads. If there are only one hundred cars on the roads, it makes no difference how dirty their exhaust is. When there are 1000, each car's exhaust has to be 10x cleaner or else the pollution problem gets 10x worse. When there are 10,000 or 100,000 or 1,000,000 or 10,000,000 cars on the roads, the same principle applies.

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一期一会
Too many people who were born on third base actually believe they've hit a triple.

Hey Dan-

Thanks for the info on this.

checked into the OSAC valve on my Swinger. If it had been connected in the past, it's not now. Port from the carb to the distributor is a hose that runs direct, so that should be fine.

What's now concerning me is the ECS. I was reading the old post to get the details. Popped my hood just now to check on the OSAC valve setup and while that looked kosher, I noticed abundant fine charcoal coating the valve cover head. Looked at the charcoal canister and noticed that though the main line from the carb to the cannister is secured, there is one valve opening on the canister that has been capped off.

That's not right...right?

Valve cover head...
Probably not, no. The three ports on your canister, what are they labelled? I'm guessing one is CARB or BOWL, one is TANK, and one is PURGE. Yes?

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一期一会
Too many people who were born on third base actually believe they've hit a triple.

Valve cover.

"CARB BOWL" on the cannister is capped off.

Also, now I'm not sure if the OSAC valve is bypassed. Even though I did follow the line from the distributor to the carb and it is solid with no observable detours, I looked on the other side of the air cleaner, and there is the OSAC valve. I could not see which hoses connect to the OSAC valve - nor where they come from. I will need to remove the air cleaner to check.

There's also the argument that most of the damage to the environment from a car is not the emissions due to the burning of fuel throughout its lifetime but rather the pollution sourced to the mining and manufacture of the vehicle.

Dudley
That may be true on a global scale, but it's the tailpipe emissions which directly affect air quality in the city.

There is that. Also, tailpipe emmissions are so low now that the other factors are more damaging. Dust kicked up by vehicles, rubber particles, petroleum residues from leaking drivetrains, etc. are some of the most difficult issues to reduce and remediate. In those areas, other than possibly leaks, new cars are just as bad as old.

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David Kight
'62 Valiant Signet, White
'98 Dodge Dakota
'06 Jeep Liberty

Growing older is unavoidable but growing up is strictly optional.

If you enjoy driving your 74, drive it guilt free. If you cant get over your cars emissions, then buy a new "clean" car.

Hybrids are the leading cause of SMUG, a problem much worse then SMOG.

Of course you could always donate the car to my collection of "gross polluters" where it would be gladly accepted.

Seriously just enjoy your car and don't worry about what other people say!


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