Hot Rods Roadside Emissions check ups

This summer has been a wet, cool one for the record books. It's also been one for unusual activity of a discriminatory nature by the Ministry of Environment. The MOE has been busy in Brockville, Ontario, this summer flagging down cars to enter roadside inspection stations near Blockhouse Island. It appears they target older vehicles from the 1950s to mid 1970s for inspecting emission controls for compliance and installation. Closer to home, many Camaro Z28s and Pontiac Trans Ams are being pulled over by the MOE crew at roadside for inspection of emission control equipment. This isn't new, I've seen this happen back in 2004. In fact, my 1980 Turbo SE was pulled over one day. I'll tell you more about that event. It's interesting.
Fellow concerned car hobbyist, Don Caithness, made inquiries about this activity to his Member of Provincial Parliament, Bob Runciman. He asked if the inspectors had the legal right to pull over cars and inspect them at random. Barry Raison, Executive Assistant to Bob Runciman, graciously replied and assisted Caithness with a conclusive answer and some hopefully good news about the perceived harrassment nature of some of these inspections. Some of the larger car shows and modern tuner car shows in the Metropolitan Toronto area have been hampered by law enforcement near the events and runmors of MOE inspections. It appears none did show up at Prescott or Brockville's car shows which wer on the weekend.There could have been inspections on Friday however. This in turn, affected attendance for the subsequent events.Many of these shows are benefits for charities. I need not tell you decreased attendance equals a shortfall in funds for many useful charities.
Barry Raison said, "the Environmental Protection Act gives them ( MOE inspectors) carte blanche to stop you without a warrant and conduct any kind of search, test etc., as necessary to determine if the vehicle complies. It's very clear about this." In an earlier correspondence with Mr. Caithness, Raison also mentioned, "I talked to Bob about this and we're going to ask that the inspectors be more lenient in such situations. We're going to call and follow it up with a letter." The context isn't given in this letter, but I suspect from the date, Sept 25th 2009, and the location that the situation being referred to is Blockhouse Island's MOE test area and possibly the effect it had on the Brockville Car Show in downtown waterfront area during the summer as well as the nearby Prescott show.
The communication cleared up some things. The MOE inspectors are doing their job and have the legal right and responsibility to do inspections. Hopefully, some understanding about the negative effect on show attendance will reduce the heavy handed presence at same events. Since individual, random road side inspections are done, you can expect to encounter a team in the future.
My 1980 Turbo Trans Am was inspected by a two person team in the summer of 2004 near my hometown in a western Toronto suburb. They checked for emission compliance. They were polite and friendly at first until one inspector found what she believed was plugged PCV valve hole. It was actually the oil breather delete plug. It had a plug in it because only the Turbo 4.9 V8 Pontiac engine uses a special oil breather tube vented on the driver side, not passenger. The Edelbrock valve covers were made for regular V8 Pontiac engines so the other side was plugged. The PCV valve actually goes into the intake manifold area into the intake lifter valley. It was hooked up. I explained this deviation and offered to show them the Pontiac manual explaining this set up. They were satisfied. My catalytic converter, air pump, EGR valve, fuel return lines were all operational. This was a visual inspection.
Many older cars will have just a road draft tube or PCV valve for emissions control items. There were exceptions even then. By 1968, Air pumps were appearing in 49 state cars but Canada didn't use them on all models. The Canadian L79 Nova doesn't use one. A US Nova L79 does. Guess what many inspectors will use for charts confirming compliance? You got it, American manuals. The evolution of emission controls was rapid and jumpy. Unless the inspectors are well versed in what was compliant that year and in what Province, mistakes will be made.
The post 1975 Fords and GM cars are diabolical for deviations from basic emission control procedures. I have a manual 12 inches thick covering the configuration for diagnosis. that's just GM.
Here is my random roadside MOE inspection survival guide
1. Don't cop an attitude. They are doing their job. Being hostile or evasive isn't going to help you.
2. Know your car's system well and be sure it is working.
3. If you have a production oddity and is documented ie a shop manual or factory service instructions detailing the equipment or lack of, keep it handy for proof.
4. Record your conversation with the MOE inspectors if you fear discrimination or feel incompetance or lack of knowledge is affecting the inspection. You shouldn't cop an attitude and the same goes for the inspectors. You have no way of knowing who might cause a problem, but it appears the cars that are visually modified are the most strongly targeted ones. Pack a cam with microphone and be prepared.
If you've been to the drags and tuned it for maximum performance, take the extra time to return your distributor, spark plugs and carburetion to normal levels before hitting the road home. It's common sense and don't run slicks on the street.
5. If you have a kit car and it's improperly registered as a "homebuilt" or "HOM" on your ownership card, be aware you'll be subject to roadside inspection for emissions compliance AS WELL as Drive Clean testing. There are no exceptions to that rule. Your kit car should've been registered properly. Usually this happens because the owner fails to fill out his affidavit with the MTO correctly, describing it as a homemade on the affidavit.Homemade vehicles are constructed without using manufactured main components, eg body and chassis made from scratch. There is no VIN number as a result.The model year would be the year it was constructed. The drivetrain would have to meet the emission spec for the model year that engine was produced.

The New Chrysler Corporation? Alfa Romeo!

Things are getting interesting in new car land. It appears that Chrysler's merger with Fiat SpA. will produce some fresh european fruit very soon. Talks are underway concerning opening a new paint shop for the Brampton, Ontario plant. It happens to be a flexible assy plant currently producing the Dodge Challenger,Chrysler 300 series and Charger. Officials from Chrysler aren't confirming anything yet, but a meeting between Chrysler and Fiat management in June during restructuring talks included a powerpoint presentation which included some pics of intruiging new models which may end up in Brampton. One of those vehicles is the Alfa Romeo 169 sports sedan. The Alfa Romeo 169 is going to replace the 166 model for 2010. It comes with two V8 engines, the latter a 350 horse power variant.Another model shown during the presentation was a 200C which is a hybrid car. While teh European roll out will be in 2010, research firm, IHS Global states that Chrysler Canada would start building Alfa Romeos in November 2010 which would make them 2011 models for North America. Can Ferraris be far behind in order to escape the import tarriffs? Meanwhile, take a peek at the luxury 169 sports sedan. Isn't that a gas? It's rear wheel drive too!Photography is by Huckfeldt.

Market Moment Summer 2009: Strong Sales with Lower Prices

People ask me all the time what is going on with collector cars. Are they good investments? Is the market flat? Is now the time to buy or should I wait? There isn't one answer that fits these questions because it is different for every person. Just as there are so many different cars in various conditions offered for sale for every budget, there are going to be some that sell quickly for good money, some that sell for fair money and some that just sit around. The general trend indicates that sales overall are steady. People aren't getting huge dollars for their Chevelles and GTOs, but they aren't losing money either. Project cars are selling very well presently. The cars that are sitting around usually are very poor specimens needing restoration or rare cars that are priced dearly. I've sold lots of collector car parts to individuals completing restorations or gathering pieces to start a project.Many sales went to Sweden, USA and Northern Ontario. The poor economy hasn't affected the enthusiast level of the hobby. Cars are still being wrenched together and driven. At the other end of the scale, I've seen very nice quality restorations languish on the market because the seller was asking too much money. One 1969 Camaro Z/28 clone was well restored with excellent colours. It went on the market in the winter at $35,000 only to sit until it recently sold for $27,000. This is the most you could expect for a reproduction 1969 Z/28 in today's climate. It was a high production car to begin with and you have lots of competition when it comes to clones.
Speaking of which, clone cars apparently are selling again. According to Cars OnLine.com's weekly newsletter, the vendor has recorded a major flow of clone cars from sellers to buyers last week.A lowered price grid with realistic sellers combined with renewed enthusiasm for driver cars is the reason for this surge. What can we expect to see develop over the next 6 months? I believe a gradual shift towards street driven muscle cars mixed with rat rods and 1950s street machines will dominate the picture. The numbers matching factory cars and show boats from the '50s will be in the background and generate copy in buff mags, but it won't be the same level of hype and excitement as before. From what I've gathered talking to friends in the hobby, the high end cars are still being purchased but the buyers are avoiding publicity and dealing privately. Of course, a few are still being sold to dealers such as RM and Barrett-Jackson but the spot lights will be dimmer next January. Serious money will flow for genuine finds and real collector cars. I hope we don't see stuff like "the last 1967 Stingray" appearing in catalogs for 2010. Frankly, that car was ordinary and minus the build up, would've generated less than $200,000. In general, the hobby would be well served if less sensationalism was generated on ordinary cars.
To sum up, the age of hype and fantasy money for old cars is drawing to a close for now. It will spin up again soon but for now we can enjoy the hobby and actually drive the cars.

Our Automotive Future?

So much has happened in the American auto industry lately it has been difficult to catch up. As it stands, Chrysler decalred Chapter 11 and is in the process of becoming a part of Fiat Spa. GM is getting ready for bankruptcy and who knows what conglomerate will eventually buy it out. Right now they're talking about the US government owning it on paper for a quick turnover and fresh start. Have you EVER known the government to do anything quickly? I think it's interesting to watch this new playing field develop. We're almost back in the early days when the playing field had a shake down. By early days I mean the 1910-1927 era. Of course, there were shakedowns in the 1950s too when Packard, Desoto, Nash and Studebaker all took dirt naps.
I think we'll find Italian cars will make a comeback in USA. Fiat owning a piece of Walter P allows it to incorporate Fiats into the product line. Eventually a US plant will be built escaping the tarriffs and duties such cars would face presently. Alfa Romeo recently suggested they were re entering the market after a prolonged absence in the 1980s. This could get interesting!Now whether public acceptance of said vehicles will occur, that's another story.
Meanwhile we should prepare by learning how to drive like Italians. In actual fact, that would be mean learning how to drive motorcycles. It's by far the major form of personal transport there.Now in America we have this problem called winter. We can adapt by operating snowmobiles. Think about it, what kind of traffic jam could possibly happen with snowmobiles? They're small, very manoeverable and some of them are insanely fast. Of course I wouldn't want to tangle with 18 wheelers. I guess we'd have to make tractor trailer snowmobiles. Motorcycles and tractor trailers also pose a problem. I guess the solution there would be a dedicated truck lane. The motorcycles would be forbidden to use that except for entry and exit. It could work in theory but then reality comes along and wrecks it. Maybe that's the whole problem with the automobile, reality finally caught it with it.I'l be watching car ads more closely now. They've been selling fantasy for decades. The whole scene has gotten ugly in Detroit. How are they going to deal with a Big Two and A Half? How do they sell a 2010 Dodge Giovanni GT? Will Americans learn to enjoy Asian made Chevrolets?
We live in interesting times.

PHS Presents: 5 Things You Didn't Know About Camaros

1. The wrap around rear window was supposed to appear in 1973.
Engineers were having trouble with the window popping out as the adhesives used weren't able to stick to the glass in driving conditions. It wasn't until 1975 that they found a butyl sealant that did the trick.

2. The Z/28 hood decal on 1974 Camaros has a factory defect.
The white background isn't supposed to be visible at all. It should've been clear tape to show body paint color. The master decal was sent to the manufacturer with white in the background and was printed that way.

3. You could order a high performance 327 Camaro four speed car in 1967 and 1968 which was virtually and SS 327 package.
This option was RPO L30. It wasn't marketed in ads nor promoted. What happened is if you ordered a 275 hp 327 with four speed transmission, a group of mandatory features were added to make it a budget performance car. The transmission was a Saginaw instead of a Muncie but you also got a 12 bolt axle ( some cars came with 10 bolts), single traction bar, dual exhaust, wide profile tires, high torque starter motor, special distributor, Quadrajet carb with good cylinder heads and forged steel crankshaft. The 1968 versions featured staggered shocks, multi leaf springs and proportioning valve for rear brakes. One of the best budget bombers out there.

4. 1975 Camaro, the difficult one to restore.
1975 was a strange year for General Motors. Many cars had one year only parts which makes restoring them tough to do. Camaro interiors are a good example. GM secured a line of interior fabrics and vinyls with special patterns that weren't repeated the next season. 1975 was also the year they added a leather interior option. It wasn't repeated either.

5.A hard to find Camaro: 1971-1972 SS 396When was the last time you saw a real one? They don't pop up as clones often.

New Engine Oils for Flat Tappet Cam Cars!

About a year ago, I wrote about recent changes in engine oil packages that pose threats to older, flat tappet camshaft operated car engines. In essence, manufacturers removed zinc dialkyldithiophosphate (ZDDP) from oils to minute trace amounts in order to satisfy upcoming regulations for new diesel and heavy truck emissions. Word is new trucks will be running catalytic converters and Zinc is known for fouling them up. Car manufacturers years ago switched to roller camshafts for mass production and those style cams don't require added zinc protection the way older, surface hardened gray iron camshafts do.
The results of using the recent formulated low zinc oils have been catastrophic. Camshaft failures inside of 300 miles is common, especially on new engine builds. Older engines with a bit of zinc embedded on the lobes will stay protected for maybe one oil change cycle but then they're in danger. When I last wrote about this topic, the suggested solution was to add engine oil supplement (EOS) or use a synthetic grade motor oil. Since then, another alternative has arrived.
Union 76 HIgh Performance Motor Oil, Kendall GT-1 High Performance Motor Oil 20W50 and Phillips TropArtic Racing Motor Oil 20W50 are being reformulated with more ZDDP starting in March 1, 2009. These oils will contain 1200 ppm of zinc which is the required amount to provide cams with antiscuffing, antiwear and oxidation inhibition.
Some Questions and Answers about engine wear and ZDDP
Q:Why do the older camshafts wear out quickly without ZDDP?

A: Older flat tappet cams such as the 428 CJ, Ram Air IV, LS-6 and LS-5 and other high performance engines were surface hardened only. A car with high spring pressures and not enough zinc in the oil can wear through the protective surface very easily. Pitting, uneven lobes, severe wear patterns appear very quickly. As the camshaft profile changes, power loss occurs.

Q: Other than losing a cam and lifters, are there other dangers?

A: Yes, we've seen a few of these engines stripped down last summer and witnessed camshaft bearing wear and lopsided bearing journals. A significant amount of displaced metal appears in every case. If the metal isn't found in the oil pan, it is somewhere inside the engine block, in an oil gallery or pump main. In such instances the reccommended procedure is to tear down and flush the block to remove loose metal. That's the only way to assure no further contamination. At the very least, the cam bearings must be changed.

Q:My engine is a fresh rebuild. I lubed the camshaft with the factory supplied lube. Do I need this EOS additive?

A: After you've done your initial engine break in, You drop the oil pan plug and change to fresh oil. It doesn't matter which brand you pick, likely it will have less than 1200 ppm of zinc. That protective goo on the cam is for the most part, gone now. It did its job during break in. You still need to use EOS or one of the new formulated oils at the top of the article for protection.

Q: My car is street driven and I use 10W30 oil. Wouldn't switching to a heavier grade of oil reduce horsepower?

A: In more recent engines where tolerances are tighter, say a 4.6 Ford or the last of the 5.0 Mustangs, you might lose some power. The 5.0 liter Cobra engines from 1985 and up used roller cams so it's not an issue the way flat tappet cams are. If you want to keep using 10W30, try an additive instead.

Q: Where can I get EOS additive?

A: General Motors Canada has the additive for sale. It's been reported the product is no longer in service at US dealerships with an invalid part number. Likely lots of dealers have old stock available. Competition Cams sells bottles of their own brand. Either will work fine. ZDDP or zinc is the ingredient you want.
See also "Flat Tappet Camshafts Need Zinc!" from April 18, 2008

PHS Interviews: Sean Mattingly of UltimateGTO.com

Pontiac GTO fans have been visiting UltimateGTO.com owned by Sean Mattingly for years. A megasite rather than a simple portal, almost anything related to the first US muscle car is there if you look hard enough. It has over 16,600 pictures of real GTOS, Tempests and Lemans from every year. This year, TUGTOPS is expanding with new features, so we thought it was time for another interviw with Sean Mattingly.

PHS: TUGTOPS recently celebrated its 12th Anniversary. When you first started, did you think it would ever get this large?

SM: In 1996, no. My computer at the time had a tiny 40 Meg hard drive, and going on a quest to collect a photo of evey GTO seemed impossible. In the beginning, I was only saving photos of 1968 GTOs on large 5.25 inch floppy discs. I think I fitted 8 photos on each floppy. It seems pitiful today compared to the fast commercial server I'm on with Terrabytes of storage space. What surprised me is how many "car nuts" would contact me from around the world with tales of their GTO lust. If you can get high on car enthusiasm, this is it.

PHS: My favorite section of the site is advanced picture search. I use it all the time for research purposes. Do you have a favorite part of the website; one that still gives you lots of pleasure to this day?

SM: The Advanced Picture Searcher is my favorite too. If people haven't seen that, they're missing out on my buddy, Jeff Klein's, brilliance. He's helped database every photo on the site. Easily a decade before other sites even thought of organizing pic galleries with "tags", we'd built a searchable database. If someone needs to search just for GTO "pedal cars", there's a dropdown box on the screen to see 24 pics of pedal cars. If you get a hankerin' to see lesser known models like the "Custom S", Advanced Picture Searcher will show you 63 of them in 2 door hardtop, convertible and 4 doors. See right there, you might have learned something interesting if you didn't realize there was a four door "Custom S" that resembles your GTO.
One of my daily pleasures is reviewing photo comments. Every day, web visitors leave comments on the cars. Usually, they have favorable encouragement for the car's owner. Once in awhile, a guy will find a pic of his long-lost GTO and tell the owner, "Hey, that's my old car! My Dad made me sell it when I got my first speeding ticket. Good to see mny old car is still alive."

PHS: Looking over the Wide Track era, Pontiac added many new pieces to keep the GTO a front runner. At one point, the image solidified and people perceived GTO to be the best performance intermediate available. Sales statistics suggest that happened in 1966. In your opinion, what were the strong and weak points of the 1966 GTO?

SM: How can a person explain love at first sight? Even if one of these cars was sitting in the middle of a junkyard among many other makes, it's the first one you have to walk up and examine. Even the King of Sweden adores the 1966 GTO and drives his in parades. Of course, I have a photo of that along with 1,282 others. I've tried to gauge the popularity of different model years using weekly poll questions on the main page. I asked people what year they prefer. If you thought 1966, you'd be close. In polls conducted from 2001-2003, the '69 GTO won. From 2004-2006, the '67 GTO was most popular. In the past three years, it has been a tie between 1969 and 1967.

PHS: The GTO along with the Mustang, was one of the first muscle cars to be restored in the late 1970s. Your website has remarkable tools for the restorer from vintage pics and many variations in trim and options, links to Performance Years forums and a large dealer list by zone. How did you start a zone list file? Dealer codes are only seen on build sheets, sales receipts and PHS documents.

SM: I started the Pontiac Zone and Dealer Code list as a side project. It's located under "Text Topics" on main page. For the most part, car owners contributed their codes via email and I add them to the list. Some of my helpers will walk around car shows and jot down zone codes and dealer names from window stickers and send them to me. I was sure someone would volunteer a printed complete list. No such list has surfaced. Since 1996, I've had people liquidating two different estates tell me they thought such a book or document was in their dad's collection. Neither of them were able to produce a master list. So until one appears, we have over 1,050 user submitted codes with towns and notes.

PHS: Sean, you're adding more features and content this year. What can visitors expect to see on TUGTOPS soon?

SM: I'm adding more GTO pics and picking out bigger images for "Picture of the Week." The backlog of unposted material is huge. I've probably 2,500 to edit and database. I'll post some news items on GM and the current demise of the Pontiac brand. I wish there was positive news to report on that.

PHS: Like most people, you have a day job, tending operations for radio stations in Indiana and doing a DJ drive as well. Is it difficult to get spare time?

SM: The site is set up so I can administer it from pretty much anywhere. It helps when I'm on the road. I can't make a career out of GTOs can I? If I made UltimateGTO.com my main business, the site would have to be plastered with ad banners. I'd never do that to my fans. It's a fun hobby site, I'll keep it that way.

PHS: In the summer, you've toured all the drive in theaters of Indiana and posted photos of many. Is there anything you'd like to do with your GTO that you haven't tackled yet?

SM: I caught the drifting bug at the Bob Bondurant School of High Performance Driving. I'd like to do a perfect 360 degree spin. GTO drifter, Rhys Millen, showed me how it's done there. I keep trying but can't get it just right. For some reason, my non power brake car has trouble nailing it back home. I can make a few passes in my '68, but then the cops have to come and watch...

PHS: From my perspective, once prices at auctions topped $50,000 for decent GTOs, it hurt the hobby. We saw less GTOs and other real muscle cars appear at cruise nights and owners became reluctant to drive them. I haven't seen a real hemicuda in four years. What is it like out your way? Do people still enjoy their cars the way they used to?

SM: Here in the Muncie, Indiana area, land is cheap. The countryside is flat farmland with plenty of pole barns. You know what's in those barns, tractors and old cars! I don't think people are overly scared of driving them around here. The towns are small, traffic is light, people are still polite. Heck, I still drive my GTO down to the shopping center to get a haircut. Nobody messes with the car. Just today, I saw a shiny 1966 LeMans at Subway. There's a lady who works at a fast-food place with a purple metal flake GTO with skulls hanging from the rear view mirror. I also know a guy with 5 CanAms in his side yard, all in driveable condition.
With today's technology, if you wreck your classic beyond hope, who cares? With the internet, you could find another one and have it in your driveway in about a week. Searching for cars and parts has never been easier with the internet. In my opinion, it makes no sense to try to "keep the miles off" a car. Life is short, put ON some miles flying down country roads in an old-school car made without any computers in it! Enjoy the hell out of it and yes, use it up without remorse.

PHS: Everyone it seems has a favorite GTO. If you won the Powerball Lottery and money was no object, what model GTO would end up joining your 1968 hardtop?

SM: I might get some kind of pace car. The Indy 500 is south of us. I regret Pontiac never made a Pace Car edition GTO. They should have made a Hurst GTO pace car, darnit! One of the orange and white Camaro convertible Pace Cars would be cool.

PHS: What are some of the big changes you've seen with GTO owners since you've started this site?

SM: People used to write in telling me how "rare" their car was. Now they can browse through pictures, look at maybe 45 pics of cars with the same paint and roof color. Suddenly it's not so rare, plus they can correspond with other owners. It's great to see people sharing stories and info about their GTOs.

PHS: A great feature you have is continual updates on news items related to GTOs. You've covered car crashes, street racing arrests, notable auctions. What's the strangest story you've seen involving a GTO?

SM: There were so many. A lady won a new GTO on "The Price is Right" game show. The prize car they delivered had been previously wrecked and repaired. They didn't disclose that to the lady and she sued. Another one is the Police Chief in tiny Boones Mill, Virginia, with his 2004 GTO patrol car. He's in the news for ticketing speeders or fighting with the mayor and the town council. Last one I saw, he bought a good size yacht at a surplus auction. Not having a lake for his new yacht, he built a pool for it in the front yard and puts it on display as a lawn ornament. OMG the photo is hilarious.

PHS: Your early hobby car experiences are documented in the website.At one time, you bought a GTO. What made you buy one over say, a Trans Am or Chevelle?

SM: Since junior high I liked Pontiacs. I would go the public library and read all the car mags they had. When shopping for my first car, I tested a used Smokey & the Bandit TA. It was way out of my price range. I also admired the Buick Grand Nationals. Instead, I veered off to the GTO world and am thrilled with it. My wife won't let me buy any additional cars with one exception. She says I can bring back a '77 Bandit Trans Am anytime. I just might do that someday as a surprise!

PHS CollectorCarWorld thanks Sean Mattingly for
taking time to answer our questions. For more info,
pictures about the first muscle car, visit
http://ultimategto.com