[Okie Enfield]

LOL 

[Okie Enfield]

Oh and thats MR. Ugly to you 

[Kevin Mahoney]

Both 49 state and CA RE's produce about half of the emission  that CA tolerates.
A catalytic converter cleans up a lot of stuff. Never mind all of the arguments (some quite interesting) about the materials it takes to make some of that stuff and disposal. As for vapor canister, it does not harm and does not adversely affect performance and it is the law of the land......... for better or worse depending upon your viewpoint.

[Ducati Scotty]

it does not harm and does not adversely affect performance

Absolutely!  Unlike some emissions devices/requirements this one doesn't hurt performance one iota.  It just looks ugly

Scott

[Alan LaRue]

My B5 has the screw-on gas cap, too. I was wondering if the owner's manual was just wrong and all B5's have it. I would really prefer a flip cap that I don't have to find a place for when I fuel up!

[Lwt Big Cheese]

Another great American export - the catalytic converter.

They don't work over here as they never get hot enough. I did a 90 mile round trip to the Ace Caff and the oil didn't get hot enough to avoid mayonaising!!!

The legislation was brought in at the time that Ford had designed a lean burn engine. That had to be binned as the Cat equipped cars have to use MORE fuel.

They may work in hot and sunny California, but they don't work here.

Oh as an aside. The price of metal has shot up here, so people are stealing catalytic converters from cars!!!

[prof_stack]

My B5 has the screw-on gas cap, too. I was wondering if the owner's manual was just wrong and all B5's have it. I would really prefer a flip cap that I don't have to find a place for when I fuel up!

Having the charcoal canister means that the gas cap will be the screw-on kind.

[Arizoni]

The only problem I've had with my charcoal canister was its location.

As the bike comes from the factory the canister is mounted on the bottom of the front downtube right in front of the engine mounts.

It was right in the way of the lower brackets on the crash bar I wanted to install.  Obviously it needed to either be removed, or moved to a new location.

The total cost to create a new home for it was about $5.00 which bought me a 1/8" thick piece of cold rolled steel bar and two U bolts plus the screws, washers and nuts to mount it to the bar.

I positioned it so it was stuck in next to the engine and most folks don't even notice it unless I point it out to them.

[indyogb]

Whew.  Done.  I had to come back and re-read the posts after I got the tank off.  Holy plastic vacuum 'T', Batman!  I was expecting 2 separate lines, not a 3 into 2 network of vacuum routing.  I'm sure there is a reason, but it seemed overly complicated to my simple mind.  At any rate, got the throttle body return line plugged, and routed the vent to the back wheel area.  It felt like the idle speed was a little faster, but that may just be me or coincidence (colder than my normal riding temps).  I'll get a proper plug for the throttle body, and double-check everything for vacuum leaks.  Then, onto the exhaust and headlight.

Thanks everyone for your help.  It helps my confidence to read that others know what is going on.  I'm fairly mechanically inclined, but I definitely don't like to blaze the untraveled trails.  So, thanks again, everyone.

[ROVERMAN]

Lwt Big Cheese, in regard to Catalytic Converters. The attitude out of the U.K. was like yours back in the late eighties, i.e. they will fail and plug up etc etc. If anyone who thinks these on board chemistry labs don't work you need to research them on the web. Can't provide links but there are many sites out there that may convince you that these things are worth their weight in Rhodium.....pun intended.
Nearly spring in Michigan!

[Alan LaRue]

Well, as far as I can tell, my B5 does not have the charcoal canister. But it does have a screw-on gas cap.

[Lwt Big Cheese]

Lwt Big Cheese, in regard to Catalytic Converters. The attitude out of the U.K. was like yours back in the late eighties, i.e. they will fail and plug up etc etc. If anyone who thinks these on board chemistry labs don't work you need to research them on the web. Can't provide links but there are many sites out there that may convince you that these things are worth their weight in Rhodium.....pun intended.
Nearly spring in Michigan!

I didn't say they would foul anything, just that they don't work in the UK.

And I have Googled it.

From which I get
"A quarter of all journeys in the UK are less than 3km (two miles),"

So how will the cat get warm during a 2 mile journey in winter? Especially as many new cars turn them selves off when stationery at a junction. Remember you can't sit in your driveway and warm the engine any more! They only get warm by driving them!!!

Also the cat fitted engine has to use ore fuel, which is why it killed off the Ford lean burn engine.

[Lwt Big Cheese]

Catalytic converters have proven to be reliable and effective in reducing noxious tailpipe emissions. However, they also have some shortcomings and adverse environmental impacts in production:

    Although catalytic converters are effective at removing hydrocarbons and other harmful emissions, they do not reduce the emission of carbon dioxide (CO2) produced when fossil fuels are burnt.[22] Carbon dioxide produced from fossil fuels is one of the greenhouse gases indicated by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) to be a "most likely" cause of global warming.[23] Additionally, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has stated catalytic converters are a significant and growing cause of global warming, because of their release of nitrous oxide (N2O), a greenhouse gas over three hundred times more potent than carbon dioxide. The EPA state that motor vehicles contribute approximately 3% of nitrous oxide emissions.[24]

[Lwt Big Cheese]

    An engine equipped with a three-way catalyst must run at the stoichiometric point, which means more fuel is consumed than in a lean-burn engine. This, in turn, means relatively more CO2 emissions from the vehicle. Nevertheless, catalyst-equipped engines produce cleaner exhaust than lean-burn engines.

    Catalytic converter production requires palladium or platinum; part of the world supply of these precious metals is produced near Norilsk, Russia, where the industry (among others) has caused Norilsk to be added to Time magazine's list of most-polluted places

[Ducati Scotty]

From which I get
"A quarter of all journeys in the UK are less than 3km (two miles),"

So for the other 3/4 of journeys that are longer (i.e. more than 3/4 of the mileage travleled) and use more fuel they do work?  I could see the above statement may support the theory that they are less effective overall for he population as a whole but not completely uselesss.  Also, your oil temperature is meaningless to the cat, it only cares about your exhaust temp and that gets up to the right range more quickly.

Scott