I went down to try and pass my 82 yesterday almost passed. I welded on a new main cat, piped it strait to the air pump, ran the gas tank till almost empty then I put 2 gallons of gas and 1 gallon of denatured alcohol. ......................................
My HC readings went from 1200 to 202 at 15mph, The maximum allowable Hc Count is 152 at 15mph. I failed by 50, everything else passed I even passed the HC test at 25mph.....................Should I Just put another gallon of denatured alcohol in to bring the mixture to 50/50 or Should I replace my spark plugs?

 

Don't run more alcohol, it won't help most likely.
The best way to get that trick to work is to run a tank of premium with a bottle of Pep Boy's "Guaranteed to Pass" additive, when that gets done run the same ratio you did, but make it a larger quantity. Then run the car for a half hour or so before going to the testing center, that way everythings nice and hot to burn off all the stuff.

 

I failed what we call Air Care in November and required a new oxygen (02) sensor on my 1985 GSL-SE. If you need to replace a sensor, drive the car for a few days before you run it through again.

 

has anybody here ever gotten their gsl-se (or other model) to pass with no cat installed? maybe with the dry gas / denatured alcohol trick mentioned above? I failed a few weeks ago, and when i go home I'm gonna try again, since I can't really afford a new cat (and i don't feel like taking off my header / straightpipe). If anybody has ever successfully gotten the trick to work with no cat, or if it is even possible, please let us know