Hello:
I'm a new member here, from the USA. Thank you to Mersuforum for providing the ability to share information in English. I appreciate it very much.
I currently own 2 W201's, each with an OM602 Turbo engine and 5-speed manual transmission. One of these cars will be my daily driver and remains essentially stock.
The other will be my "toy", which will receive performance upgrades (hopefully to include Superturbo treatment), with an eye towards land speed racing. It has been a lifelong dream of mine to go racing at the Bonneville Salt Flats, and that is my intention with this car.
Anyway, I have been reading and learning as much as possible about these drivetrains. The Finns have the greatest knowledge and experience tuning these engines, and again, I appreciate the opportunity to participate in your forum.

Thank You,

SteveM.

Hi Steve!


We're very pleased to have you join our forum. You're very privileged to live in the states as you are practically free to modify your car there I believe. Down here the local DMV nags about the slightest of modifications unless they've been approved.

E320:
You are correct for the most part. What is peculiar about the U.S. is that motor vehicle licensing varies from state to state. I happen to live in Missouri, which is a relatively unrestricted state compared to many others. In Missouri, we do not have emissions inspections for any vehicles prior to 1996. We still have safety inspections, but we are free to modify engines on anything prior to 1996.

I used to live in the state of Indiana. There, we had no inspections whatsoever. If the owner felt that the car was safe to drive, then that was OK by the DMV. All the DMV cared about was the licensing revenue. That was just about as free as you can imagine with respect to motor vehicles.

Not all of our states are so lenient, however, as many have safety, emissions, and "visual" inspections.

SteveM.

If a state has no annual emissions tests a police officer can still do a roadside inspection and/or emissions test at any time.

This is something that I have never heard and definitely have never seen.

How would a police officer in a state like Missouri be able to perform a roadside emissions test? When we used to have a testing requirement, it took huge expensive equipment (chassis dyno plus sniffer) in order to perform the test. This could not possibly be performed by a police officer.
Also, to what standard would he/she be measuring? As far as I know, there are no federal standards, and there is absolutely no standard in states which do not have emissions testing.

Not trying to be argumentative, but if you can point to a federal or state statute that shows how police can perform emissions testing, I'd love to see it.

SteveM.

Google it, each county has their own rules and regulations.

Google what? Motor vehicle licensing, emissions testing is governed by State Law, not by county ordinances. While certain counties within a State may have testing requirements while others don't (normally counties with big cites), the laws are set by the States.

If you have any links to information showing how a Police Officer could conduct a roadside emissions test, I would love to see it. I have never heard of or seen such a test.

I don't want people outside the US to believe that police officers pull people over and conduct emissions inspections on the side of the road. I have never seen this happen, and have never heard of it before today.

SteveM.

Colorado Debuts Roadside Emissions Testing to Identify High-Polluting Vehicles
http://www.cdphe.state.co.us/release/2008/01102008.html

Diesels do not always need a dyno or large testing equipment. An opacity tester fits inside of a suitcase, can be used anywhere AND in some cases is not even needed. Anyone can be licensed to judge opacity by visual tests alone.

Here is an opacity tester:


Here is one in action:


There is nothing to stop them from testing a Diesel car, not just trucks.

Here is another (EDIT: From South Africa):


In the UK:

Thanks for the link and pics. That's the first I've seen of roadside testing. They don't do it in Missouri. I'll be sure to stay out of Colorado, the UK, and South Africa if I'm belching thick black smoke out of my tailpipe.

Thanks again,

Steve.