just checking in

for the ones that think i was bashing on amc. im only telling you i know my way around a 350 so well because my auto class teaches us using them and i haave many friends that work on them. if i didnt like amc i wouldve never bought the car and even if i learned to hate it afterward. i couldve easily hauled it to the junk yard i work at and smashed it till there was nothing left.

I can remember having small block chevys in school, and the teacher decided to get rid of all of them and went to the 2.3 Ford 4cylinder. Because the SBC was obsolete. And the 2.3 Ford is obsolete today. (This was college for me). Spirit DL 1983, keep an open mind, engines pretty much all work the same way.

Late 70s and early 80s emissions systems are confusing to just about everyone, so don't feel stupid! UnclJohn (John Elle) on here knows the late AMC emissions better than most. Diagrams alone aren't usually enoug, you need the TSM for whatever car you're working on. They cost $25-$60, depending on where you get it and what year (e-bay is a good source), but that's the BEST money you can spend on any car. The TSM skips basic knowledge, but give precise details on AMC specific things - even rebuilding the engine and auto transmission.

I have enjoyed this hobby using primarily the 1970 and newer AMC cars, those made during the smog era that pretty much started in 1969 and extended through to the introduction of Fuel Injection.
As far as AMC goes it was their cars with Ball Joint front suspensions up through the all wheel drive Jeeps and Eagles.
I have never had interest in Jeeps and as most of them are classified as light trucks, they have their own data under a truck heading in many smog publications. Eagles have not been something that has fascinated me either except as parts cars. Some models of Eagles were sold in California as light trucks which gave them a different smog classification and that data is also included under a light truck document rather than automobile information in documents such as Chiltons which has a tendency to filter things that way.
AMC like other manufacturers did not do a good job of documenting their smog configurations. The TSM would verbally describe what a function was such as the name"EGR" and describe how it worked and what it did, but would not tie it in to how it was configured under the hood. If it needed manifold vacuum as part of it's function it would be described as needing it. There would be no description as to how it got it. That was left up to the mechanic to figure it out. There were separate manuals describing individual smog functions also. But nothing to tie things together as to how they interfaced. The middle 70's started to include vacuum schematics. This helped to a great extent to solve the frustration of how to repair things. Up to a point. I have a TSM for each year car I own. I also have an number of AMC smog manuals along with Chiltons and MOTORS smog manuals. Along with a copy of every smog diagram used by AMC from 1970 up through the end of production.
I own two 1980 AMC cars, a 1980 AMX which is bone stock original and a modified 1980 Sprit which has had two engine configurations both of which had increased compression and a cam. All three of those packages could and did and still do, pass the Arizona Smog tests, well the Spirit in it's final configuration does anyway.
State testing is a function of the individual states and is a dynamic fluid operation. It both changes between states and a function of time. What would work for Maine may not work for Montana, it might, but then again it might not. And original configuration may or may not be still required.
I build smog legal performance engines. They run on locally available premium octane fuel of currently 91 octane. They may or may not require a tune up specifically for the purpose of passing a smog test and it may or many not reflect the OEM configuration or tune.
It pays to know what your state is looking for come smog test time and how to go about seeing to it what they are looking for is what they see.
Currently the state of Arizona thinks my 1980 Spirit is a 1994 Jeep Grand Cherokee and come smog test time, that is what they will think they are looking at.
The smog rules have changed recently or some time in the last 5 years anyway here and I am pretty sure that the 1976 Hornet I am building will be able to pass a smog test with the 1993 Chevrolet 350 Cu in V8 in it with World Heads, air gap intake, a fairly aggressive street cam if I am understanding the rules correctly. It will probably have to go see a referee which I have done before. And if I have a problem with it, I think I can get by the problem by installing high flow catalytic converters and hooking up and plumbing for the air pump which is part of the engine installation I am using.
Even with the proper vacuum diagram it can get a bit tricky to get something through a smog inspection. The 1980 Spirit/AMX has 11 different smog diagrams depending on Federal, High Altitude (Denver), or California configuration, standard transmission or automatic, or 3 different rear axle gearings if an Eagle or Canadian. And some Eagles were sold in California as light trucks thus having their own variations.
Tune up procedures on these cars are very specific and if they are properly configure (most aren't) and properly tuned (and very few are) they run pretty good.
But they are a perfect example of why fuel injection was needed and why when people I knew back in the day were furious and frustrated at Renault for not installing the fuel injection they had on engines on test stands running and passing tests.
Can you imagine what a performance package a 1980 AMX might have been with what became known a the Renix fuel injection and then only available on the trucks that AMC built at the time.
I have also questioned why a performance version of I6 with a carburetor could not be made. I have built a couple of them and they have all passed the state test anyway, which is different then the criteria used to pass a Federal est.