Hello, new here
I am resurrecting a 1987 3 door DX. I bought it in 1990, only three years old. I drove it for years until it wasn't running so good anymore and parked it. I loved this car and intend to restore it some day. It has been sitting for about a decade. I finally pulled it out to bring it back to life. It needs EVERYTHING. Total body and paint work, completely new interior. The engine itself only has 150K miles, it was not running well when I parked it only because the carb was deteriorating. I understand the internal gaskets notoriously leak with age on these. The emissions system is largely made from plastic parts and has deteriorated and leaking. With a carb rebuild and all new hoses, belts, and so on I would expect it to run like a top. The challenge is the emissions system which is all vacuum controlled. Ancient technology by today's standard and I can't find parts anywhere. A year later in the 1988 model the vacuum system was replaced with an electronic system greatly simplifying it. This old car never had a lot of emissions issues to begin with, it's tiny 1.3 liter engine is so small you could probably hold it in your lap and it is very efficient. It would also run way better without it including better mileage which of course makes more environmental sense anyway. Nevertheless some state governments required it whether it actually improved emissions or not, a one size fits all policy that was really more effective on larger cars than this tiny thing. BUT, somehow it will have to get passed the emissions testing. My question is, has anyone ever tried removing or bypassing this ancient system and have it pass? This was the base model and never had air conditioning so I will be adding that as well but that is a topic for another day.