I had an emissions prob w/ my 86 Civic Wagon, auto/air/2wd, carb.
My prob was NOX [nitrous oxide] which the guy from State EPA told me was "fixable," which I thought was an odd word to use [what ISN'T fixable?]. What he meant was fixable at reasonable cost, probably via a cat converter. If the prob were HC [hydro-carbons], it could have meant bad rings which, as stated in previous posts here, is unfortunately expensive. [But other things can cause HC probs; hopefully economical carb adjustments.]
I didn't get cat converter because in this state I was eligible for an emissions waiver since my spending on this repair job [a lot of carb work] had reached a certain threshold.
You may want to see if your state offers emissions waivers. The state inspection office I used was not well informed on the issue.