Removing Emission Controls

[JHScoot]

Yes, I know it's technically illegal but no one is watching and global climate change is inevitable. So I can't be held responsible, accountable, or eligible to be tied to the nearest tree and whipped silly for making holes in the ozone.

Ok, so that's my opener and disclaimer. What I would like to know is this:

Will removing it from the Buddy (or a Kymco Agility) cause adverse affects?

Will removing it improve performance and reliability as I have heard it does?

Is it easy to do, and are other adjustments necessary? Can I simply "disconnect" some hoses and forget about it, or is it a pro job better left to a mechanic?

Finally, have YOU ever done it and what were the results?

It amazes me these 4 Strokes are required to have these things on them imo. I mean, I pollute more spilling a little gas then I do riding. But...noooo!

What say the more experienced here?

[jmazza]

Unfortunately, I can't give you an answer as to how to modify your scooter in this way. I can, however, offer you this thread as a counter thought to your statement about polluting. It's not at all necessarily true that your scooter pollutes less than a car. Compounding this is the fact that a scooter is a single-person vehicle (ok, two at most).

The results in that thread are rightfully questioned as they are a bit murky but I thought you'd find it interesting nonetheless.

[gitsum79]

Unfortunately, I can't give you an answer as to how to modify your scooter in this way. I can, however, offer you this thread as a counter thought to your statement about polluting. It's not at all necessarily true that your scooter pollutes less than a car. Compounding this is the fact that a scooter is a single-person vehicle (ok, two at most).

The results in that thread are rightfully questioned as they are a bit murky but I thought you'd find it interesting nonetheless.

Here's what I posted in that thread (even though it was pretty old).

No SUV or full size pickup in the comparison? No scooter either? I know my scooters and small motorcycles are way greener than a gas guzzler, and still better than an economy car.

SUV 18 mpg, Buddy 170i 80 mpg, 4 1/5 times better.

Modern scooter with catalyst and fuel injection will probably emit half the emissions of MythBusters 416% average, let's say around 200%.

Factor in the gas mileage, and that means the scooter is over twice as green as the SUV.

Dare I mention how much fossil fuel/energy was used to manufacture the SUV compared to the scooter? How much more labor, more complex machine tooling, materials, research and development, ect.? Same goes for replacement part costs.

In the big scheme of things, the modern scooter is way more than twice as green as any SUV or pickup, and yes, that includes an "economy" car that gets twice the gas mileage.

I don't have a PHD or TV show, and maybe my figures/percentages aren't completely accurate. But my common sense does tell me that a $3000 scooter that gets 80 mpg is way greener than any cage

If you take a trip over to SymOwner forums, I posted information on removing all of the smog junk on both a Sym Wolf Classic 150 and a HD200 EVO. Yes, it makes your scooter/motorcycle more reliable, less stuff to go wrong and much easier to diagnose any future problems.

[Skootz Kabootz]

Yes, I know it's technically illegal...

No, it IS illegal, not to mention irresponsible on numerous levels.

but no one is watching and global climate change is inevitable...

Yes they are and it is definitely inevitable if people think like you are.

So I can't be held responsible, accountable, or eligible to be tied to the nearest tree and whipped silly for making holes in the ozone.

You sure as hell can. We are all responsible for our choices and actions.

There will be no help to do this coming from me.

[skully93]

everything else aside, they're really simple machines and the controls really regulate the performance in a good way.

Always being brought up is the 'I know better than the engineers who made this' school of thought. there are some restrictors for speed on some 50cc scoots, and those can be removed depending on model, and not cause chaos and ruin. it isn't an emission control most of the time.

the emissions controls, however....leave those there.

[gitsum79]

The engineers that designed Taiwanese and Japanese scooters did so without most of the extra emission equipment. It's the tree huggers in Europe and the US that require add-on smog junk that probably makes a bigger footprint in global warming than the lower emissions are worth.

Driving a "dirty" scooter for a month saves enough fuel compared to a popular large American vehicle to more than make up for the footprint of refining and shipping all that extra gasoline.

Maybe if more Americans embraced the 21st century, scooters would be more mainstream? Perhaps a major US manufacturer could make a competitive scooter that would help our economy, ecology and save all of us some money instead of paying extra for import taxes and fees

[heatherkay]

Emissions controls are for smog, not greenhouse gases. Nothing to do with some long-term global warming, but to minimize the very real, very short-term air quality in your city. The fact that manufacturers in Asia don't worry about these things is the reason that you can cut the air in most Asian cities with a knife. If you're going to be all smug about how the rules don't apply to you, at least be clear on what health risk you're trying to foist on all the rest of us.

[gitsum79]

Let me make this clear. Up to four extra cannisters, at least three or so extra vacuum lines, the PAIR system with a dedicated exhaust port and air valve is what you can expect to find on a modern carbureted scooter.

I don't care how well you think it runs, it cannot be tuned as effectively as an engine without all this add-on junk. A little more efficiency and a little less weight means less fuel consumption and less CO2. It takes energy to make all the smog stuff, hence more CO2 used. So yes, it can make a difference on global warming.

I live in a state without vehicle emissions or inspections. So I don't have any rules to ignore or be smug about

I know my motorcycles and scooters run better without all the smog junk, and run greener than most of the cages on the road. That's my personal preference and opinion, and I'm not trying to force that on anyone.

[Syd]

That's my personal preference and opinion, and I'm not trying to force that on anyone.

I know I should avoid JHScoot's troll-bait, but I also wanted to make sure no one missed this in the upcoming argument.

[jmazza]

Yeah I don't think this one's going anywhere good. Let's move on.