This is EXACTLY correct. I have the book with the EPA application for the DMC-12 and you would be amazed at the level of minutia that it entails. Frontal area, rolling resistance, fuel filler neck specifactions, vapor recovery, warm-up time, calibrations, etc. The thing that amazes me the most is that the advance curve is exactly the same for the automatic AND the 5-speed! On every other line of cars I have seen there is ALWAYS *some* kind of difference between the automatics and the manuals. There is almost no mention of the advance curve in any of the EPA documents. I guess they only care about the initial and full advance, they don't care how fast you get from one to the other. BTW the emission testing was done by Lotus @ Chryler Coproration's proving ground in Chelsea, MI. As a point of mention, the distributer has 2 counterweights. Most Deloreans that I have taken the distributer apart on have only 1 spring but that controls the revolving shaft so it actually affects both weights. On most distribuers there usually are 2 weights, but they are not the same. In any case there are 2 weights and they are different. That is what causes the "knee" in the advance curve. If they were both the same the curve would be smooth. I believe there could be some performance improvements to be gained by experimenting with the advance curve. On most cars (not Deloreans) the quicker you can bring in your advance the more horespower and torque, that is until you start to get detonation! As for reinventing the wheel, DMC wanted a 50 State car so they made a car that would meet California's certifacations. That way it would be good in ALL of the US so they didn't have to make a special model just for CA and could import all the West coast cars through CA. David Teitelbaum vin 10757 --- In dmcnews@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx, "Bruce Benson" <delornut@...> wrote: > > > Even though the two used basically the same engine there are differences in > the physical characteristics of the cars. Things like rolling resistance, > weight, how the car deals with driven air flow resistance along with > differences in gear ratios means that the emissions produced can be > different. I'd guess the ignition changes were made to adjust for those > differences. To address comments privately to the moderating team, please address: moderators@xxxxxxxxxxx For more info on the list, tech articles, cars for sale see www.dmcnews.com To search the archives or view files, log in at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/dmcnews Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/dmcnews/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/dmcnews/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: mailto:dmcnews-digest@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx mailto:dmcnews-fullfeatured@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: dmcnews-unsubscribe@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/