Anyone have any 512BB Emission Levels?

Good day All,

I was curious if any of you have tested your 512BB tailpipe emission levels? I ask, as I would like to compare my cars' output levels to others? My car has been running rich for a while now and would like to try and dial in the carbs as best as I can and so the tail pipe levels (CO, HC, CO2, O2, Lamda) would help in doing this. Since the 512BB was never destined for the North American market there are no official or target emission numbers available... at least as best as I could find. I did find some old posts on a few other sites that had some numbers or targets listed as:

2.5% CO and 250-300 ppm HC

Consequently, I figured I would ask the BB group if they have tested their cars and if they would share the numbers.

Thanks in advance!

Cheers,

Sam

 

Good day Steve,

Thank you for your response!

Indeed, I should have clarified my question better. Since the 512BB was never destined for the NA Market it never came with Cats or air injection and mine is no exception other than some carb mods (my car has 365 Carbs on it for some reason) and a non factory exhaust. I was looking for any levels quite frankly... tailpipe to individual cylinder (taken from the sniff tubes) just to get an idea of what the baseline measurements would be.

The numbers I found were posted around 2005 and I believed the poster has since passed on .

I did check the owner's and workshop manuals and I was unable to find any of this info and hence my call out to see if anyone had any numbers. I reached out to Paul, but I have not yet heard back (it is a long weekend here in Canada and so he is probably relaxing away .

Cheers,

Sam

 

Good day Brian,

Thanks for the response and the information!

In my case I was looking for static measurements. I did a preliminary (tailpipe) scan and found relatively high CO (confirmed by watering and tearing eyes) and low O2:

O2: 0.7%
CO: 6.44%
HC 111 ppm
CO2: 15%

The gas analyzer was recently calibrated by SnapOn (I have a portable 4 gas unit) and so I would think the values are accurate. To be fair I was not overly methodical during my testing (3-4 minutes per pipe outlet), as I wanted to do a quick scan while I could (weather was reasonable and I had a bit of spare time available). I really need to double check everything and spend a day on the car, as it has been sitting for about 2 years now. With that said I figured I would ask to see if anyone has some numbers so that I can compare, etc the next time I have some time on my car.

Thanks again for the guidance.

Cheers,

Sam

 

Good day Steve,

I cannot comment what the Canadian importation requirements were in 1977, but in the 90's and onward the rules were pretty limited if the vehicles were 15 years and older... Which, I believe, has not changed even now. My car was in Europe (Swiss) until late 2005 when it was brought in and so the 15 year rule was more than satisfied. Some Canadian Provinces can exceed the Federal requirements, but here in Alberta there were no additional requirements other than general safety ones (not a rust bucket, not a write off, brakes, lights, etc all within spec, etc).

My car is indeed an oddity, as it was marketed as being an original car and from a cursory view this was the case. Secondly, the car was sold by the Swiss Ferrari dealer at the time and so I had no reason to doubt this. However, once I got the car I found some things that simply made no sense. The first is that the carbs are from a 365 which are the same weber type, but have some internal (progression hole quantity and sizes are different, venturi sizes are different) and external differences (no external electric solenoid fuel enrichment). Jetting and emulsion tubes are also different. In addition to the usual complexities with Weber carbs, I have also had to deal with having the wrong carb set on my car... as if one did not have enough variables to deal with Overall the car ran quite well given the oddities, but now with different fuel formulations, engine age, etc the car is not running as well as it once did. So... I wanted to take more methodical approach to improve things. It is certainly an interesting experience and if anything it has forced me to review, analyze, and (try to) understand the complexity of the car and its carbs... fun times

In retrospect I wish I would have sourced some 512BB carbs when I first discovered that my carbs were 365 BB carbs. Sadly, even then the carbs were scarce, as the Weber stopped making them. Apparently the original molds were lost in a factory fire and so Weber did not recreate a new mold set presumably because of the limit market for the carbs.

Cheers,

Sam

 

Good day Brian,

Thank you for the info and guidance, as both are most helpful!

Cheers,

Sam

 

Good day Brian,

This is correct and I believe still is applicable even today. I know of several people who immigrated with their cars in tow and they were granted "vehicle immunity" In fact I heard that some would use this loophole to have a family member or trusted friend bring in a car for them that they would later "buy back" sometime later. In order to address this the Gov put minimum ownership time limits, but still people found work arounds. There was one car where it was rumoured that the Feds (RCMP) were about the impound the car, but it was promptly sold to a unknowing 3rd party and the original owners fled out of the Country. Thankfully the unknowing 3rd party was able to keep the car without further issues.

Although Canada has very similar emission requirements to California, we do have age limits for older cars and so eventually it is not an issue to import cars that were once forbidden. There are exceptions to this rule, but these usually deal with salvage cars, etc. For cars that are within 15 years of age a Gov appointed agency is responsible for ensuring import compliance (there is a published list of vehicles that can be imported). The sad part some of the larger Car manufacturers lobbied the Gov to ensure that some cars cannot be imported (other than via immigration) in order to protect their Canadian dealers. In cases where these cars are not wholly prohibited, the importer must take the car to the dealer for "Canadian Certification" and can charge whatever they like for this service. Ferrari, MB, BMW, etc all do this and the costs can be silly. This is one of the reasons why a newer specialty Canadian registered car commands a price premium as compared to the same car in the US and other markets.

Cheers,

Sam

 

Good day Don,

Careful... you will have the Enviro extremists here with Pitch forks and looking to crush all of our cars ... after all it would appear that that to this group that disposing (crushing, landfill, etc) of all of these environmentally "inferior" cars carries no environmental impact, not to mention the waste of materials and the energy that went into making the various parts and the car itself.

As for my motivations in seeking he emission levels... my goal was to have a baseline in order assist with my in investigation of my car, but also to have the car running as best as it could and maximum engine/fuel efficiency. The result would be a win-win... better driveability and better for the air we all breathe.

Cheers,

Sam