smog equipment

[James Montebello <jamesm@domain.elided>]

The question was asked about 115/116 Alfas and air pumps, and when
they appeared.  Since at least one person has noted they were used on
'76 model cars, I'd strongly suspect they were used on '75 model cars,
too.  My reasoning is that 1975 was a year of big changes in the smog
regulations (or, rather, when earlier legislation took effect), both
for the Federal and California standards.  The years of note for most
Alfisti are:

1968 - EPA and DOT regs first take effect.  Primitive stuff only, for
       the most part, on all cars.
1970 - first tightening, but many cars got away with de-tuning, and
       many more adopted 1970 standards in 1968 to make life easier.
1975 - big tightening, many cars suddenly acquired "smog carbs", air 
       pumps, catalytic convertors, electronic fuel injection, thermal 
       reactors, or some combination of the above.
1980 - another notch down on the standards, and catalytic convertors 
       made mandatory (49-state, not sure about CA, which may have
       required them as early as 1978).

Later, there was more divergence between the Federal and the CA standards,
mostly in timing (EPA always adopting a few years after CA).  For the
most part, these are irrelevant to Alfisti, since Alfa either used CA
standards nationwide (typical for small-volume makers), or they stopped
importing cars altogether before they took effect.

So, air pumps appearing in 1975 makes sense, and the reason for SPICA
being dropped in favor of L-Jet on the 115 in 1980 becomes clear.

james montebello

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