18psi

iTrader: (76)

Everything 96+ is OBDII and does in fact hook up and "read"

At least here in CA it does. Not sure about the Fed spec cars, but I highly doubt they're any different.

*EDIT: also keep in mind that given our "wonderful" CA laws, everything past 75 gets a full visual inspection as well as the sniffer.

EErockMiata

OP has a 94. so IMO get an FM turbo kit and go nuts. I never usually have a problem finding the right guy here in socal to smog the car. I'm not going to go into the details but typically you can end up in a situation where if it sniffs it passes.

triple88a

iTrader: (2)

Pre 95 cars are OBD1.

96 + are OBD2 which will report everything going on in the engine read by the sensors.

Here in IL obd1 cars are not tested however obd2 cars require a fully working obd2 ecu.

EErockMiata

YOU GUYS ARE DICKS... I'M NEVER POSTING HERE AGAIN!!!

lol jk. thanks for correcting me on that one. I knew there was something weird to that generations ecu.

ThePass

iTrader: (3)

WTB: OBD1 NB

concealer404

iTrader: (3)

For the body? Or the other things? I bet you could get damn close with an NA if you were a bit creative.

For instance, our car runs a BP4W head. With a CAS. Smog man wouldn't know a damn thing.

Joe Perez

iTrader: (8)

You are correct. OBD-II compatibility is mandatory in all 1996 and later vehicle by US Federal law, and as a result of this uniformity, the vast majority of states which perform emissions testing do a plug-in test on all '96 and later vehicles. Many (most?) of these states have switched to plugin-only testing (in lieu of the sniffer) for '96 and newer cars, and in a few states, they've gotten rid of the sniffers entirely and thus all 1995 and older vehicles are exempt from emissions testing. (North Carolina comes to mind, and I *think* Ohio may have also switched.)




Which leads into...
This is certainly a viable option. When I had my Greddy-equipped '92, I took it to one particular shop (a one-bay place in a seedy neighborhood run by a grizzly older man who used the other bay to store all of his non-running motorcycles), since this gentleman took a somewhat relaxed attitude towards the visual inspection. That said, I was always slightly nervous about the possibility that an over-eager CHiPpie might someday request that I lift the hood, in which case it would have been a referee ticket followed by forfeiture.


As Savington pointed out, you can always try to register the car in a non-emissions county. This is one of those concepts that you hear people discuss in the abstract, but nobody can ever actually seem to point to a specific example of where it worked. In the 8 years I lived in CA, I only ever met one person who actually had an "exempt" car, and that was because of a rather bizarre (and unintentional, and likely nonrepeatable) series of paperwork errors at the DMV which took place during the process of importing a salvage-titled car, which had not been re-registered in its home state subsequent to the writeoff, into CA from elsewhere.

cardriverx

iTrader: (12)

Well as said I would rather an AP2 for the engine. But another reason is my credit union will let me finance an 04+ for 1.99% APR. I plan to just pay the car off in a year or two and take advantage of the great rate.



EErock, what about getting pulled over? Plus the one I have now has a stripped spark plug that I did not find when buying and the oil pan is leaking... I couldn't just throw a turbo on it without worrying about the engine. The previous owner sucked :/

concealer404

iTrader: (3)

Ah!

Good point. Carry on!

EErockMiata

I run my car NA and I keep everything very stock looking under the hood with this car. But the outside of my car screams pull me the eff over... never been pulled over once. Granted nearly all of my driving with this car is done while going to the track and home again. I don't speed in this car on the street and I short shift unless i'm ready to get a ticket.

Thepass has an insane car that he street drives to the track and hasn't gotten pulled over in a long while, if ever.

It's all about how you drive the thing. I used to have a completely modified mini that would have resulted in a part out of pulled over and hood popped. Drove that car on socal roads for 4 years without a single issue, pull over, or hood pop and most of that cars life was up in the canyons of malibu in CHP hunting grounds.

Just don't drive like an *** and don't roll around with street racers and you should be fine. Prepare yourself for the possibility of going back to stock if you get busted, or move out of state LoL. That's the game we play here.

18psi

iTrader: (76)

I'm curious:

Who here has ever had their hood popped by a cop on the street when:
1) you weren't street racing/speeding
2) your car wasn't a crazy looking racecar
3) car wasn't loud enough to wake the dead

I know plenty of people that had it happen, but all couldn't meet the above categories.

triple88a

iTrader: (2)

4) you get pulled over for a random cause, the cop notices the car smells like **** because of no cat and things go from there. Happened to a buddy here, the cop checked his truck with a mirror and he had no cat.

EErockMiata

That's just giving them ammo for free. A single cell racing cat barely robs any HP and gets you playing by their rules.

18psi

iTrader: (76)

Yeah as of last year all my cars get catted hotside parts.

Because why not. Usually cuts down on raspiness as a bonus

curly

iTrader: (25)

Even though I think we've killed the topic, I just wanted to add my input.

I drove a grey '04 msm yesterday, bone stock, 157,000 miles. It was fantastic. Everything I love in an NB for DDability, plus torque and even some high end power. I don't find myself rev'ing to 7000 on a consistent basis, and if the wife's in the car and I'm that high, it's partial throttle because she gets car sick. So the 6500rpm redline wasn't even noticeable.

For $9k I would of bought it in an instant just from how much I liked it, although he said "no bullshit, you could probably walk out the door with it for $7.5k".

Value just isn't there for my current DD, an '08 Lancer. Need to sell that first for $6k and walk in with $4-5k cash.

Although I did not see a reason to go with the $9k MSM over the $6k '01 6spd/torsen.

shuiend

iTrader: (24)

Could you not do a MSM and then the new MS3PNP that DIY is selling? Just plug in stock ECU every 2 year for testing?

Mazduh

I wish my msm was stock still so I could install just a megasquirt and see the difference in drivability. When I went on to a megasquirt my car was already running full bolt=ons etc.

cardriverx

iTrader: (12)

I would get a Reverent MS3, but yes that's the idea.

18psi

iTrader: (76)

its a sexellent idea

Last time I drove a stock-ecu msm I wanted to get out and push the car pre-5k rpm

curly

iTrader: (25)

There must be huge differences between different MSMs, I could not be happier with how the '04 drove with 157k. I've heard similar opinions. Everywhere from bone stock to bolt ons, they all drive very differently.