Kellysguy, as of about three years ago NC implemented age specific rules on emissions and they apply statewide at this time. Prior to that emissions testing was location specific with regions like where I live being subject to tail-pipe sniffing. Now there is ODB emissions testing required on all late model cars. If your car is "newer" than 25 years and does not have an OBD port, the vehicle is now only subject to safety inspection. If it is older than 25 years, no inspection is required at all. Apparently they assume a car that old is a collector car, not a daily driver. All the rules changed within the past few years.
Regarding my running problems mentioned above (November 2009), the project Spitfire is still not on the road and I have not completely addressed the running issues. However, I know two things that are/were wrong on my Triumph. The needle I have is too lean. The "stock" MGB needle is a much richer ABD profile. I will be installing one soon. The main problem I was having was running 10W30 oil in the dashpot. It was way too thin. I changed to 20W50 since I had that immediately at hand and all the problems I was having during acceleration went away (once the engine was warm). It would still balk when cold but behaved much better with thicker dashpot oil. I would have thought 20W50 way too thick. However, I saw recently on one of John Twist's YouTube videos that he was actually encouraging his customers to try 90W oil in the dashpots. (I know his shop is closed but John's videos are still on YouTube).