74 TC Orange county Ca

[Grumblebuns]

On Craigslist this morning, looks to very clean and pristine. Not much details in the ad however.

http://orangecounty.craigslist.org/cto/5511051761.html

[BDA]

It looks very nice! I'm always amazed at the number of cars that still have their cross over pipes! The distributor that sold me my car took them off for me without being asked!

[3929R]

Beautiful car. It has California plates. I think, technically the original smog equipment needed to be on the car for it to pass an emissions inspection for registration. Not sure if an inspector would know what original smog equipment was included on Europas but the mounting flange on the exhaust manifold might raise a red flag. This is speculation on my part, I left Orange County over 20 years ago and my car was taken off the road when and partially because emissions inspections started.

Just for kicks, I put cross-over pipes back on mine. They are installed on top of the blanking plate and don't do a thing other than cover the holes on the exhaust manifold and thus prevent people form asking, "What used to be there on the exhaust manifold?"

Ain't they purtty?

[BDA]

Living in Louisiana, emissions wasn't as big a deal back then (I don't think it was even tested back in the '70s) and even now, here in North Carolina, my car is grandfathered and doesn't even have to be inspected! So I admit to not fully appreciating the rigorousness of the CA emissions inspections.

It wouldn't surprise me that an inspector might get suspicious about a blanked off part on the intake and exhaust manifold. I guess there's not a car with a low enough production for California to worry about, is there?

Maybe you could chrome yours! 

[3929R]

Here in Utah mine is registered as a vintage vehicle, no inspections but can not be "used for general daily transportation."

[Grumblebuns]

Mark,

While living in OC during the 80s, one of the Lotus specialty shops removed the secondary butterflies and the cross over pipes for me because that was the thing to do back then. The holes on the intake manifold were sealed by a big glob of aluminum weld material but the holes on the exhaust were left open. If I can find my old cross over tubes, I'll re-install them when I get the TCS back on the road. Those open holes on the exhaust always bothered me.

Back in the 80s there was a visual inspection for the required smog equipment. Even with all of my smog equipment removed, I still passed the visual. Tells you how just knowledgeable the techs were on Lotus cars at the time, not very.