bcbell@inmet.UUCP (10/19/85)
** gas lines ** The federal government set up increasingly tougher emissions standards for all cars sold in the U.S., with the exception of racing cars and certain other special vehicles. Each year the standards for NOXs and particulates got stricter. They applied, and continue to apply to all cars- both foreign and domestic. The government never mandated how automakers had to comply. Cars that didn't have catalytic converters while others of the same model year did simply meant that those engines could be made to meet the standards without them. The fact that, for a while, most American cars needed cats to meet emissions standards while most Japanese cars didn't makes much more sense when you consider the state of the respective country's auto industry at the time. American auto makers were well tooled up to crank out big, heavy, inefficient, gas guzzling engines. During the early years of emission standards it was much cheaper to tack a catalytic converter on than to design brand new engines and to tool up to produce them. During the same time period, Japanese automakers were producing small, light, efficient, fuel saving engines. Fuel was very expensive in Japan and had been for quite some time. Since (for the most part) efficient engines produce less emissions, the Japanese had a jump on most American companies. Honda is of particular interest as they were just getting into the auto business at the time the emissions thing started. Since they had little invested in tooling, they developed a new engine designed specifically to meet American emissions specs. This "stratified charge" engine had a two-part burn stage. First a small amount of very rich mixture was ignited which in turn lit a larger, much leaner charge. The net result was a lean fuel-to- air ratio, which meant fewer emissions. These engines passed emissions for a number of years after most others (even other Japanese engines) had to go to a cat. So, it wasn't that the Japanese got a break in the requirements but that the engines they had at the time were closer to the required emissions to begin with. Next time, bet money. R.M. Mottola Cyborg Corp. Newton, MA.