However when it came time to do the emissions, he asked what year the engine was, I said 1998, he said OK and carried on
I'm now getting close to IVA and am putting the thought into getting through that I really should have done from the start.
I am trying to find the age of the engine but have limited information to go on - the engine number and possibly the donor registration number. Any
advice on what I can do would be very helpful. A more detailed explanation of where I have got to is below...
My problem is the emissions test criteria, which I know are related to the age of the engine. I am using a BMW 2.8 donor engine that I know came out
of a 1997 car, the problem is proving it....
I know what the engine number is (as its stamped on it) and I was told that if I contacted BMW they would confirm the engine age. However, when I
tried, they said that they would also need the chassis number (VIN?), which is strange because I was fairly sure that someone else had done it just
from the engine number. To be fair, BMW were trying to be helpful, but perhaps I just got the wrong person.
I have also contacted the person that I bought the engine off, who is also trying to be helpful, and he's looking for copies his old paperwork,
but it may be that all he can give me is the original registration number from the donor car (sold me the engine because he was swapping for a V8, but
the body work has subsequently crumbled so the car has been scrapped).
If he only finds the registration number, is there any way that I can trace the chassis number from that bearing in mind that the car was never in my
name? A post on here from 2008 said that it could be done by typing the reg into an on line motor factors web site and then looking at the computer
code behind the parts page. It worked for a couple of people at the time, but I have just tested it for my tin top and it didn't work, so I
guess that its been tightened up for security reasons.
Apologies for the wordy post, but I wanted to give a proper explanation of what I was after.
On a more positive note, I put brake fluid in the car for the first time at the weekend, bled the breaks without any problem (had to take the upside
down rear Sierra callipers off as per previous experience on here), and I now have a good pedal with no leaks - which is a relief because I was not at
all convinced about my brake pipe flaring skills!)
Before I swapped to the r1 I got this very info for the m42 lump from a very helpful bloke at my local bmw dealer parts desk. He gave me an official
bit of paper with the details I needed for prooving engine age.
Just take in as much information as possible and I'm sure they will sort you out.
When I had my test at Nottingham, I took a Haynes manual that had the model year/ engine numbers in.
However when it came time to do the emissions, he asked what year the engine was, I said 1998, he said OK and carried on
It doesn't matter. Your engine is the stricter CAT emissions anyway. You only need to prove its age if its before 1992.
quote:
Originally posted by deezee
It doesn't matter. Your engine is the stricter CAT emissions anyway. You only need to prove its age if its before 1992.
It doesn't need to have the age proof as it's post the cut off date to get away with the non-cat' test. Any car without proof will be
treated as post cut off but that doesn't alter how yours will be tested.
You'll need a cat' and have to meet... CO<0.3%, HC<200ppm and lamda between 0.97-1.03 @2500-3000rpm and CO<0.5% @idle .
(The cut off is effectivly 31st July '95 though once all the exceptions are taken into account)
I've had a look at the latest version of the IVA manual and it refers to an additional date of post 2002 with stricter emissions limits than the
post 1995 limits (see CAT1 flow chart on page 8 of section 02B-Metered Emissions). Admittedly only if they cannot find an exact match for the engine
in the analyser data base - not sure what the criteria will be if they do find a match.
If I'm reading it right then there could well be a benefit in proving that I have a pre-2002 engine.
Just answered my own question. I have found a PDF version of the code book that the exhaust analysers use for vehicle specific emissions tests. As
well as my 8 digit engine code, it also has another code stamped next to it (28 6 S1) and I found this in the PDF. This confirms that my engine
should be tested against the 1995-2002 test standards.
A link to the test book is as follows. The engine specific codes and emissions standards start from page 17 and may be useful to others who cannot
trace the donor car.
Engine specific emissions limits