Drive a Spider --- Save the Planet

HoustonQuad · #1 (**permalink**) 07-01-2008, 01:54 PM

Just had the '88 Quad tested for Texas State emissions. Really remarkable results: HC(HydroCarbon/ppm) - TX[181], Quad[21], CO(percent) - TX[1.16],
Quad [0.03], NOx(ppm) - TX[1313], Quad[229]. The inspector suggested that "you could grow tomatoes in that tailpipe, it's so clean" - gotta love Texans. The engine has 48K miles on it and has never been apart. City driving is regularly 26mpg; Techron additive and Swepco Oil seem to be working well together. So not only is the Quad a blast to drive [and looking good all the while], it is also quite the "green-machine". Great engineering never goes out of sytle, and is always relevant.

**GuyC** · #2 (**permalink**) 07-01-2008, 06:28 PM

It's amazing how a 20 year old car can attain that clean a burn and yet automakers today cry whenever any tightening of emission standards is sugested. Buy I digress, It is a tribute to the engineering that went into these
cars. Think about it, besides the ability to run clean, the oil pan is fined to aide in oil cooling, the motor is all aluminium ( big weight savings ), the only
shortcoming IMHO is the transmission can be a little bit of a pain. Then again the Porshe transmission design from the same era was known to have even more problems.

**Tifosi** · #3 (**permalink**) 07-01-2008, 07:45 PM

All the more novel when one reads/hears/knows of how really 'dirty' hemispherical combustion chambers are compared to about any other shape out there.

**RandallM** · #4 (**permalink**) 07-01-2008, 09:19 PM

You know Darren, its kind of funny. When I lived in Houston and sent my Trooper, aluminum engine with hemispherical combustion chambers, through emissions, it would read so low the emissions testers would recalibrate their equipment and run it through a second time. This happened every year. There's got to be something about the efficiency of that type of engine.

**Tifosi** · #5 (**permalink**) 07-01-2008, 09:30 PM

That or the EFI system is really effective

**RandallM** · #6 (**permalink**) 07-02-2008, 04:58 AM

Most likely a combination with the results achieving complete combustion.

Hey! Houston Quad, put up a picture of the car.

Inner Circle · #7 (**permalink**) 07-02-2008, 06:50 AM

My '74 dual-carb 1.6 Junior passed the test on Monday. A guy here toned the carbs previously BY EAR (not even using the vacuum gauge) and the Spider produced emissions right in the middle of the factory value range - at the age of 34. She leaves no visible trail of exhaust at all. Sometimes I go to the tailpipe with the engine running and try to detect a trace of black, blue, white smoke or anything at all, 'coz an engine that old CANNOT be this clean. It simply isn't possible.
Okay, we had a bit of a problem when the brake master cylinder broke and all the brake fluid got into the servo from the rear brake circuit, and then the engine sucked it out through the vacuum pipe and injected it into itself, with predictable results (huge smoke, no brake and horrible noise - guess the brake fluid wasn't hi-octane...), but once I cleaned the mess away, the flawless engine running returned.
I owned or still own boxer-powered (1.7 16V) and V6 (2.5, 3.0) Alfas as well, but trust me: nothing compares to the good old Nord eninge. Look around, see all those four-in-a-rows? Most of them will outlast you, my friend, and me too... but it's a good thing. For our children :-)
(Here is a pic about "bleeding" the brake fluid, out of the servo unit, no less. Hey, there was about .5 litre in it and I didn't feel like carrying it around. I don't know how many pints that is :-) think of a bottle of beer, it sure is more fluid than supposed to be in the servo (which doesn't operate too well since then).)

Shaggnasty · #8 (**permalink**) 07-02-2008, 08:47 AM

That's amazing. You could smell the hydrocarbons coming off my '74 GTV from a half a block away. I'm pretty sure it went on to become an EPA superfund site.