The Cone of Shame

When we last left off, the Eagle was at a nearby shop, just to get its carburetor tuned to increase the chance of it passing a state emissions test, or "passing smog" as they say where I'm from.

Of course, you never know what's going to come to light when a fresh set of eyes starts looking at the internals of an old car. The phone call that came on Wednesday had some news that I did not expect. The guy told me that while they adjusted the carburetion, there were some bushings and gaskets on the thing that were problematic and most likely contributing to the stalling issue. Also, the rear brakes were, and I quote, "persnickety", in that they would sometimes lock up under relatively little braking pressure. Apart from that, the new exhaust pipe isn't sticking far enough out the back for the emissions test people to put the big cone thing* on it, that collects the exhaust gas.

There were a couple other little things that I'm not worried about right now, but what they recommended for the carburetor was total replacement with a re-manufactured unit, for the mere cost of upwards of $700. This is a reasonable price for professional work, but I could do the exact same thing myself for about $300, or if I'm feeling like a (frugal) glutton for punishment, I could pick up a rebuild kit for ~$20.

So the game plan for now is this: Forget about the carb and the brakes for the time being, and get a bolt-on exhaust tip that will stick out far enough to be able to test the emissions. If it passes, which seems possible, then I can register it. This buys me a ton of time to fix the brakes and carburetor at my leisure. If it doesn't pass, then I can get a 30-day permit, which buys me at least enough time to redo the carburetor, and I don't have to stress about using 3-day permits anymore, of which you can only use 3 in a year.

No pictures this time, 'cause, y'know, it's in the shop. Getting it back this afternoon though.

* "I do not like the cone of shame."