GlassicAnnex

Emission or Smog equipment Replicars

In the late 1970's and into the 1980's, smog and pollution control was becoming an ever growing issue with the government, and, according to Joel who is Joel? the requirements on the small Replicars company matched and sometimes surpassed the burden put on large companies, such as Ford.

In 2015, Tony bought and brought car #1452 into California. The car is a 1980, and California requires (as of 2015) that any car newer than 1975 pass a smog test.
As with many later Glassics and all Replicars - someone had removed parts of the smog equipment.  Below is the info Tony shared about his attempt, and ultimate success, in getting his car "up to specs".


Car 1452 and owner, Tony, enjoying the scenery Can you identify the bridge on the left?.
answer below.

Why is some of this in PURPLE? I have long felt that the level of Motor Vehicle Department sympathy and flexibility in dealing with "collector cars" has been largely lacking. A report below shows his Glassic as a "gross polluter" - yet, a large number of Glassics are driven less than a thousand miles a year. 

Below is part of Tony's correspondence

Here is part of his first email:  \

I tried to convert the Nebraska title of my Glassic over to a California title at the local DMV this morning and, after taking my money, they told me that they want me to bring it in for an inspection, before they would issue me the new title & CA plates.
 

AND THE NEXT EMAIL:

The DMV inspector was unsatisfied with the car's VIN # and its paperwork.
Today I go and visit the "CHP (California Highway Patrol) VIN Officer".
 
I printed out several pages of your web site, "Finding the VIN" page; hopefully this will convince the CHP that this is a real car.
Once the VIN number has been assigned / agreed to I have to take the car to the CA state Referee to get its SMOG bar code sticker.
Trying to get my 1980 Ford 302 V8 engine to pass CA smog is going to be a "thing", or so I am told by every mechanic I have spoken to so far.
One older mechanic told me it was almost impossible to get the 1980 mustang's to pass CA smog back in 1980 when they were brand new!
The obvious part missing from my car is the belt to the "smog pump".
 
Do you have any information about the part number of this belt?
 
Apparently, my car has an air pump that (when there is a belt to run it off the crank shaft) pumps air into the catalytic converter to help convert the exhaust fumes into less nasty air

And then later on:

The visit with the CHP (California Highway Patrol) officer went well.
 
Despite my appointment being his last for the day, and his apparent "grumpy conversation" with the guy ahead of me who didn't like the "no" answer the officer had for his modified Sebring; he (the CHP officer) loved the Glassic car and was "good" throughout the meeting with me. We were able to locate the chassis VIN #, it was stamped into the metal of the chassis just where your web site said it should be, although under several layers of black paint; it matches the door sticker, so I really do have car 1452. Just so you know, my car has the same VIN # number scratched under the hood, although the CHP officer wasn't impressed with that.
 
The CHP officer claimed that he checked his computer system and my car's original VIN number was already allocated..... In the end he issued me a new CA VIN #. Not the result I was hoping for, but good enough to move this saga forward.
 
So now I can get an appointment with the CA state referee who will test the car and issue me with the smog bar code sticker.
As for the smog pump belt..... My internet research has yielded :

 

I agree with your string idea (I had said that getting a part number would be difficult, since the Glassic configuration was not a standard Ford layout and suggested using a piece of string to measure the length of belt needed) and will be crawling under the car today to get the length measurement, before I order the part.

 

As I recall Tony's story, his car failed, and a referee was assigned to his case. Tony had written:
 
Please see smogreport1phaeton.pdf  (document) of the paperwork generated by my cars first smog check/inspection.
 
So, it turns out that the vacuum schematics page the CA state referee gave me is for a fuel injected car!
 
My car has a twin barrel carburetor.
 
No wonder my car failed its smog so horribly.
My buddy Larry and I went through the Ford book and we think that figure 49 is the correct vacuum schematic for the car (below).
All I have to do now is convince the State referee to accept figure 49 is the correct vacuum schematic for the car.
I'm sure he will be good about it
On the upside, Larry (Tony's friend) and I have adjusted the timing and re-routed a couple of vacuum hoses ( as in fig 49 ) and the car purrs and is 100% more fun to drive! It makes me so happy, I'm

Somewhere in the sequence of things was this email from Tony:

 

I just got back from my CA state referee appointment.
It seemed to me the two guys who worked at the Alameda Referee station were very professional.
 
Anyway, an hour later, they said that they had done all that they could do and that they were sending all of the car's information and the photographs to their supervisor for clarification.

 

Apparently, my car is "missing" the federal smog sticker; so someone above their level needed to determine what the "smog" status of my car is, before they can actually do the smog test on the car. They also spoke about changing the registration of the car to AB100(?). I told them that AB100 wasn't on my radar. So now I am waiting for someone from either DMV or BAR or the CA state referee's to contact me about what to do next.

 

The temporary registration expires on August 31st, so I hope they move this process along sooner rather than later. Hope springs eternal.
 
So at answer your earlier questions:
My car (#1452) is now CA 962568.  the car has both the original Replicar sticker plus the blue CA tag.
The original smog pump was ceased (Tony is Australian, I think that means "no good"), so I replaced it. The replacement smog pump I got was apparently for a 1973 mustang 302V8 part number CRD 32-290.
The smog pump belt I got (that actually fit the car) is a Gates 7329 (6mm x 845mm). The information I gave you earlier that I read on Ebay was incorrect. Sorry.
I also discovered that the voltage regulator was faulty. The replacement is part # VR440SB.
 
The CHP officer didn't mention anything about what car the number 1452 was "already allocated" to.
 
I live in California, I bought a car from Nebraska, I need a California title, while I agree its a pain in the butt, I respect the states laws and do what I can to stay on the correct side of them. The things one does to avoid drama......
 
I would also like to mention that the car seems to be running cooler since I installed a working smog pump.
 
This is the correct page of specifications for his car.

Below shows where the above specs came from in the Ford big book.

And this is the checklist that his car was subjected to.  phaetonvehiclecompliancechecklist1.pdf

In the end, the car, after way more work than it should have been, is on the road.

My car passed its smog, the State gave me the new title, number plates and tags. Its now a real CA car!
In the end, I didn't have to install 3 point seat belts nor was I forced to install roll bars. Yay!
 
I had to adjust the vacuum lines a little, and I replaced the catalytic converter. The old one turned out to be hollow!
My passing smog numbers were super low. I always had faith the the car I bought was truly a 29000 mile car.
I drive the car almost daily and am loving it, although the weather up here is turning a little chilly and I am noticing that in the mornings.

Answer to the location of the picture above:

The background of the above picture is of the San Francisco, California skyline, taken from Treasure Island,
 and the bridge on the left is the Oakland Bay Bridge. Out of view on the right would be
Alcatraz Island and the Golden Gate bridge.