EPA tightens emission rules on boats, and small engines

[Tom Kirkham]

EPA tightens emission rules on Boats, Lawn Mowers, Personal Watercraft, etc. Can race cars and kit cars be far behind?

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...090403373.html

[Excaliber]

I don't think this will carry over to automobiles with what the EPA has been doing with 'small engines'. The requirements for small engines have been tightening for several years and continue to do so. Two stroke engines have especially been hit hard and their day in the sun is fast coming to a close.

[1ntCobra]

There are 10s of millions of lawn mowers, weed wackers and chain saws that add up to lots of pollution. There are 10s of thousand of Cobra replicas to go after. Which do you think you would go after to make a difference?

[Cashburn]

Kit cars etc. are already feeling the pain. In CT the state EPA has adopted the tighter legislation and all states will eventually adopt.

If your state does not currently have a SEMA type legislation in place I recommend getting together and pursuing it.

[Cobrabill]

[quote=Cashburn;876704]Kit cars etc. are already feeling the pain. In CT the state EPA has adopted the tighter legislation and all states will eventually adopt.QUOTE]


Really?Then please explain how Arizona enacted a law recently that states ANY vehicle over 15 years old that is insured as a "Classic vehicle" is emissions exempt.

Ct.is a sh!thole of a state-nothing good has happened there in 45+ years.The trend continues.

[Ron61]

A young engineer that I know from another site works for Genrac. About 2 years ago they received a letter from California stating that they would have to make changes to all of their generators and engines if they wanted to continue to do business in California. I received an e-mail from him two days ago telling me what a pain it was to have to make all of the engines different as now some other states are starting to want emission controls, but there seems to be no standard. I believe it was last year here that Sears had a big sale to get rid of all the lawn and garden tractors and equipment they had in stock as it was no longer legal in this state. They could sell what they had in stock and all new stuff had to meet new emission requirements. So the tightening of rules on small engines is not new to us here in California.

Ron

[Excaliber]

The EPA requirements are "Federal" as it regards imports. Chineese, Taiwan, Japan, etc. Mopeds, for instance, have to meet strict emmission control guidelines before they are allowed approval from the EPA/DOT. You can't register for the highway without DOT/EPA approval. It will be interesting to see how this impacts boats. 2 stroke mopeds and boats are a HUGE business here in Hawaii. Mopeds are all ready running a catalytic converter as of 2008. Even the four strokes have new emmission stuff on them (EGR primarily). But they haven't had to go with cat converters, yet. Each year the rules become more strict, the requirements for the coming years have all ready been set for imports.

EPA could well turn it's attention to other 'speciallity' markets in the future.

[Cashburn]

[quote=Cobrabill;876709]

Originally Posted by Cashburn

Kit cars etc. are already feeling the pain. In CT the state EPA has adopted the tighter legislation and all states will eventually adopt.QUOTE]


Really?Then please explain how Arizona enacted a law recently that states ANY vehicle over 15 years old that is insured as a "Classic vehicle" is emissions exempt.

Ct.is a sh!thole of a state-nothing good has happened there in 45+ years.The trend continues.

You need to read up on it. Let me help you out a little. AZ has a similar law to SEMA that allows you to register a kit as the year it replicates, in this case 1965. This allows the exemption for emissions to run its course. Now if you do not have SEMA type legislation (as in CT) the vehicles are titled as the year of manufacture. The year of manufacture in these states is usually defined as the year they are first presented for state inspection. That means 2008 if done today.

We successfully passed legislation in CT last year to have "composites" ie kits exempted from emissions testing (ongoing) ... as a consolation to the Federal mandate they shifted and reworded the initial inspection requirements to verify the presence of emissions controls before registering.

It is at the Federal level and the states are going to adopt as it allows, with the higher population densities doing it first.

Read this thread in 5 years...

[Don]

As Jay mentioned, the emissions testing for CT Composites ( kit cars & replicas ) is still exempt, but as of August 1, the emissions/systems hardware must still be installed based upon the year, requiring documented proof which is not defined, of the engine as noted below. CT will not have an exemption program similar to CA.

......reply regarding the August 1 CT Composite regulations received from Harry Gough, CT DMV Principal Engineer: The first item is the question/statement and then Harry's response


Q: The Federal EPA mandate for installation of the emission hardware did not exist when the CT General Assembly passed the Composite Emission Exemption in 2007.

A: It is this EPA hardware mandate which requires with no options or alternatives CT to issue the new Composite emission regulations. The EPA requirement has been in effect at least since 1994. If you care to review their information it is available at

http://www.epa.gov/otaq/imports/kitcar.htm

Harry Gough, PE
Principal Engineer
State of CT DMV
203-271-5413

From the EPA Regulation:

The components of the drivetrain (engine, transmission, differential) must be exclusively or substantially used and/or rebuilt. Regardless of the combination of new and used components, the engine must be used or used and rebuilt. The engine block and cylinder head(s) must be used, other components of the engine may be new. "Used" means the component has been in a vehicle that has been titled to an ultimate purchaser. A rebuilt component is defined as a used component which has been refurbished with new or other used parts.

Excerpt from the CT DMV Composite Regulations:

Effective August 1, 2008 all composite vehicles (except motorcycles) presented for a composite inspection will be required to be equipped with the following emissions systems based on the year of manufacture of the engine used in construction.

Emissions controls must match the year of the engine used in the composite vehicle. Documented proof of engine year must be provided by the applicant. This information will be verified for accuracy and the presence of all required components will be verified during the inspection.

Note: This requirement will not apply to vehicles with engines purchased prior to August 1, 2008. Documented proof of engine year and purchase date must still be provided at time of inspection.

All Light Duty Vehicles with Gasoline Engines were equipped with the controls indicated below (Lt. Duty = below 6001 lbs GVWR till 1978 & below 8501 lbs GVWR after):

Year of Engine Emissions Controls Required of All Vehicles That Year

Pre - 1966 None

1966 - 1970 PCV, Variable Advance Distributor

1971 – 1978 PCV, Variable Advance Distributor, Evap. Canister, and Thermostatic Air Cleaner or Air Injection System

1979 – 1988 PCV, Variable Advance Distributor, Evap. Canister, Thermostatic Air Cleaner or Air Injection System, and CAT

1989 – 1995 PCV, Variable Advance Distributor, Evap. Canister, CAT, Computerized Engine Management, O2 sensor

1996 – current PCV, Electronic Spark Control, Evap. Canister, CAT, Closed Loop Computerized Engine Management, O2 sensors, Fuel Injection

[Excaliber]

Ouch! Man thats gonna put a damper on things. It does bring up the issue of period correct engines but then there is the question of WHAT would be applicable to that?

289, possible 302 might work, but what about after market alloy heads on that engine? Same question for the 427, 428, 429's. Early 351's maybe? The choices are limited...

I see your point about this creeping into other States in time.

[Don]

Excaliber:

Note that the heads must also be used/original:

The engine block and cylinder head(s) must be used, other components of the engine may be new.

Might be in the regs somewhere if a pre-1966 engine head needs to be replaced, the head specifications must be the same as the original....an assumption.

Seems most of the past discussions have only mentioned the block, not the heads

[SP01715]

Since my other hobby is high performance boats, I have been dealing with this crap here in California for a while now. They have even talked about requiring boats to have catalytic convertors which they don't seem to understand could be very dangerous in a fiberglass boats.

We have a cabin on lake Tahoe and have been restricted to what types of boats we can use there. The nuts on the left are not going to stop until we are riding horses and paddling row boats...

[Excaliber]

Even many of the period correct motors in an exceptionally well built to original specs replica run modern alloy heads! Seems like CT just got worse than Calif for registering a new replica.

Those cat converters not only get hot as hade, they STAY hot for a LONG time after shut down.

[Don]

The head requirement I mentioned is in the Federal EPA regulation. The CT EPA/DMV emissions regulations only refer to the engine year as identified by the block dates etc., no specific mention of the heads or reference to the Fed EPA regulation:

http://www.epa.gov/otaq/imports/kitcar.htm