Passed smog oh yea!
12-03-2007, 02:55 AM
#1
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Passed smog oh yea!
After having expired registration for 8 months 
because i couldn't get my miat to pass smog, and having my car towed($265), because of the tickets($400) and it being so overdue, I finally got it to PASS!! A new cat and a little tuning to see how much i could lean the car out (at idle and 2500 rpm) and tada! it passed with real low numbers 
so now i have two years of fun and what I've been waiting for most of all TURBO TIME!! megasquirt FTW!
because i couldn't get my miat to pass smog, and having my car towed($265), because of the tickets($400) and it being so overdue, I finally got it to PASS!! A new cat and a little tuning to see how much i could lean the car out (at idle and 2500 rpm) and tada! it passed with real low numbers so now i have two years of fun and what I've been waiting for most of all TURBO TIME!! megasquirt FTW!
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12-03-2007, 01:50 PM
#4
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How the hell did you get all that pass the visual? I would have thought that even though the 1.8 is a legal mod that they would have at least been looking a little closer for a non stock ECU.
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12-04-2007, 02:51 PM
#6
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Hehe, the smog tech i went to is pretty chill if it passes the sniffer he don't much care about nething else. I even had the laptop on in the passenger seat running megatune 
so if it didnt pass i could sit there and retune it till it passed, and btw 1.6 and 1.8 engine look almost exactly the same.
so if it didnt pass i could sit there and retune it till it passed, and btw 1.6 and 1.8 engine look almost exactly the same.
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12-04-2007, 02:53 PM
#7
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1.6 and 1.8 motors don't look the same if you know what you are looking for. Intake manifold variances, presence of an EGR, raised vs. lowered lettering, the overall length of the motor, CAS and coilpacks on opposite sides, etc.
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12-04-2007, 06:44 PM
#8
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Yes, but how many smog techs will know that?
When I first moved to CA in '04, I took my car to a local shop to get my smog check so I could submit the registration paperwork. Not a little hole-in-the-wall place, but a big shop with a big sign that had several bays and a bunch of english-speaking employees wearing clean uniforms.
When the tech went to check the timing, he asked me where the battery was so he could connect his timing light.
What are the chances that he knew to double-check that the lettering on the valve cover was recessed rather than raised and that the thermostat housing was upright rather than sideways?
When I first moved to CA in '04, I took my car to a local shop to get my smog check so I could submit the registration paperwork. Not a little hole-in-the-wall place, but a big shop with a big sign that had several bays and a bunch of english-speaking employees wearing clean uniforms.
When the tech went to check the timing, he asked me where the battery was so he could connect his timing light.
What are the chances that he knew to double-check that the lettering on the valve cover was recessed rather than raised and that the thermostat housing was upright rather than sideways?
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12-04-2007, 07:46 PM
#9
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At one point a few years ago they were talking about verifying VIN numbers in CA. I guess that never happened. Maybe that was only for kit cars. I think that was the time I was looking into them.
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12-05-2007, 05:14 PM
#10
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After having expired registration for 8 months because i couldn't get my miat to pass smog, and having my car towed($265), because of the tickets($400) and it being so overdue, I finally got it to PASS!! A new cat and a little tuning to see how much i could lean the car out (at idle and 2500 rpm) and tada! it passed with real low numbers so now i have two years of fun and what I've been waiting for most of all TURBO TIME!! megasquirt FTW!
because i couldn't get my miat to pass smog, and having my car towed($265), because of the tickets($400) and it being so overdue, I finally got it to PASS!! A new cat and a little tuning to see how much i could lean the car out (at idle and 2500 rpm) and tada! it passed with real low numbers so now i have two years of fun and what I've been waiting for most of all TURBO TIME!! megasquirt FTW!As for Visual inspection, do they just care about the catalyst or EVERYTHING emissions related? If the catalyst is present but none of the other emissions systems yet it still passes the CO emissions, do they still get ya? I live in kansas and they don't check any of that stuff (yet) but I'd like a heads up cause I think soon they're gonna start..
Only a matter of time before they start jackin mazdas too.If by verifying VIN numbers you're speaking of seizing cars that engine/chassis/transmission vins don't match, thats not really a good solution to the issue. Last I checked only body parts, transmission case, and oil pan have VINs.. Mismatching VINs on any of that stuff doesn't mean its stolen, just that it didn't leave the factory with those items installed.
If by verifying you mean checking a database to see if its stolen, I like that idea a lot.
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12-05-2007, 06:44 PM
#11
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Whether or not your smog tech is actually this ---- is a variable. I've been to both kinds.
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12-05-2007, 08:35 PM
#12
Fixed:
Technically, they care about everything. If your smog tech is ---- enough, they can fail you for a non-exempt cone air filter or non OEM-equivalent spark plugs, even if your engine runs so clean that the only things coming out of your tailpipe are pure oxygen and gerbils.
Whether or not your smog tech is actually this ---- is a variable. I've been to both kinds.
Whether or not your smog tech is actually this ---- is a variable. I've been to both kinds.
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12-06-2007, 03:21 AM
#13
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Technically, they care about everything. If your smog tech is ---- enough, they can fail you for a non-exempt cone air filter or non OEM-equivilant spark plugs, even if your engine runs so clean that the only things coming out of your tailpipe are pure oxygen and baby foxes.
Whether or not your smog tech is actually this ---- is a variable. I've been to both kinds.
Whether or not your smog tech is actually this ---- is a variable. I've been to both kinds.
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12-06-2007, 03:24 AM
#14
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I put a new magnaflow cat on, and my car would in no way pass a visual, I don't understand why it has to pass visual neways as long as exhaust gasses are not being redirected to a dump or something like that then who cares? It seems like just another way for the man to hold ya down.
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12-06-2007, 03:28 AM
#15
Technically, they care about everything. If your smog tech is ---- enough, they can fail you for a non-exempt cone air filter or non OEM-equivilant spark plugs, even if your engine runs so clean that the only things coming out of your tailpipe are pure oxygen and BUNNIES
Whether or not your smog tech is actually this ---- is a variable. I've been to both kinds.
Whether or not your smog tech is actually this ---- is a variable. I've been to both kinds.
I really feel sorry for you guys in CA. Then I think about your weather and get jealous.
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12-06-2007, 10:20 AM
#16
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You suckers truly are the Great Unwashed.
"Baby foxes" is a from a bit that Jeremy Clarkson did during the fifth season comparing the supercars of the Tony Blair era to those that were made when Mrs. Thatcher ran the show. He opens by noting that
I am truly among the unclean.
On a positive note, the weather today is clear with highs in the upper 60s and lows in the upper 50's, so I rode the SV650 to work.
"Baby foxes" is a from a bit that Jeremy Clarkson did during the fifth season comparing the supercars of the Tony Blair era to those that were made when Mrs. Thatcher ran the show. He opens by noting that
Supercars are supposed to run over Arthur Scargill, and then run over him again, for good measure. They're designed to melt ice-caps, kill the poor, poison the water table, destroy the ozone layer, decimate indigenous wildlife, recapture the Falkland Islands, and turn the entire Third World into a huge uninhabitable desert... but only after they've nicked all the oil...
These cars, then, are like one of Mr. Blair's speeches, or a pensions commercial, which amounts to the same thing.
And then by way of comparing the new Porsche Carerra GT to the McLaren F1, reviles thusly:These cars, then, are like one of Mr. Blair's speeches, or a pensions commercial, which amounts to the same thing.
All that comes out of the exhaust pipes on this Porsche, are baby foxes.
The person who thinks himself a car enthusiast and yet fails to recognize that quote is unfit even to polish The Stig's shoes. I am truly among the unclean.
On a positive note, the weather today is clear with highs in the upper 60s and lows in the upper 50's, so I rode the SV650 to work.
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12-06-2007, 01:10 PM
#18
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You suckers truly are the Great Unwashed.
"Baby foxes" is a from a bit that Jeremy Clarkson did during the fifth season comparing the supercars of the Tony Blair era to those that were made when Mrs. Thatcher ran the show. He opens by noting that
I am truly among the unclean.
On a positive note, the weather today is clear with highs in the upper 60s and lows in the upper 50's, so I rode the SV650 to work.
"Baby foxes" is a from a bit that Jeremy Clarkson did during the fifth season comparing the supercars of the Tony Blair era to those that were made when Mrs. Thatcher ran the show. He opens by noting that
Supercars are supposed to run over Arthur Scargill, and then run over him again, for good measure. They're designed to melt ice-caps, kill the poor, poison the water table, destroy the ozone layer, decimate indigenous wildlife, recapture the Falkland Islands, and turn the entire Third World into a huge uninhabitable desert... but only after they've nicked all the oil...
These cars, then, are like one of Mr. Blair's speeches, or a pensions commercial, which amounts to the same thing.
And then by way of comparing the new Porsche Carerra GT to the McLaren F1, reviles thusly:These cars, then, are like one of Mr. Blair's speeches, or a pensions commercial, which amounts to the same thing.
All that comes out of the exhaust pipes on this Porsche, are baby foxes.
The person who thinks himself a car enthusiast and yet fails to recognize that quote is unfit even to polish The Stig's shoes. I am truly among the unclean.
On a positive note, the weather today is clear with highs in the upper 60s and lows in the upper 50's, so I rode the SV650 to work.
My Mazdaspeed6 is like a pretty woman with a Beard according to Clarkson.
I envy that man greatly.
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12-06-2007, 01:12 PM
#19
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Because "they" say so.
The original intent of the visual inspection was to ensure that you had not removed or bypassed any of the emissions-control devices which were installed on the engine at the time of manufacture. Charcoal canisters, EGR, air-injection, throttle dashpots, catalytic converters, things of that nature. But I can see the logic in certain parts of the aftermarket rules as well.
Take a turbocharger system for example.
The roller test that all cars are subjected to runs the vehicle at 15 mph and 25 mph in a "loaded" state. The precise definition of "loaded" is not given, however it's probably an approximation of what the engine would be doing if it were actually cruising down the road at that speed, perhaps at a slight incline.
Neither of these two tests will cause the turbocharger system to really become "active." IOW- you're not going to be in boost. Now if it turns out that the turbo system is so poorly designed that as soon as you get into boost gallons of raw fuel start pouring out of the tailpipe, then clearly this is not something we want driving around on the road. But the current test scenario is not suitable to explore this operating condition.
Which is why the CARB certification process exists. Those guys really do test the complete system under a huge range of conditions- cold start, hot start, full load, decel, etc, and they apply a much more thorough (and expensive) battery of tests than your average smog shop could afford.
Now I'll grant you, certain parts of the CARB aftermarket regulations are pretty absurd. I really can't think of any condition in which a reasonably well-installed cone-shaped cotton air filter (which is illegal) would affect emissions any more or less than a reasonably well-installed rectangular cotton air filter (which is not illegal). Nor is it likely that an MSD ignition coil is going to cause pure evil to start spewing out of the tailpipe under any circumstances. But them's just the rules.
Specifically, California Vehicle Code, Chapter 5, Article 2, Section 27156:
The original intent of the visual inspection was to ensure that you had not removed or bypassed any of the emissions-control devices which were installed on the engine at the time of manufacture. Charcoal canisters, EGR, air-injection, throttle dashpots, catalytic converters, things of that nature. But I can see the logic in certain parts of the aftermarket rules as well.
Take a turbocharger system for example.
The roller test that all cars are subjected to runs the vehicle at 15 mph and 25 mph in a "loaded" state. The precise definition of "loaded" is not given, however it's probably an approximation of what the engine would be doing if it were actually cruising down the road at that speed, perhaps at a slight incline.
Neither of these two tests will cause the turbocharger system to really become "active." IOW- you're not going to be in boost. Now if it turns out that the turbo system is so poorly designed that as soon as you get into boost gallons of raw fuel start pouring out of the tailpipe, then clearly this is not something we want driving around on the road. But the current test scenario is not suitable to explore this operating condition.
Which is why the CARB certification process exists. Those guys really do test the complete system under a huge range of conditions- cold start, hot start, full load, decel, etc, and they apply a much more thorough (and expensive) battery of tests than your average smog shop could afford.
Now I'll grant you, certain parts of the CARB aftermarket regulations are pretty absurd. I really can't think of any condition in which a reasonably well-installed cone-shaped cotton air filter (which is illegal) would affect emissions any more or less than a reasonably well-installed rectangular cotton air filter (which is not illegal). Nor is it likely that an MSD ignition coil is going to cause pure evil to start spewing out of the tailpipe under any circumstances. But them's just the rules.
Specifically, California Vehicle Code, Chapter 5, Article 2, Section 27156:
(b) No person shall operate or leave standing upon any highway any motor vehicle which is required to be equipped with a motor vehicle pollution control device under Part 5 (commencing with Section 43000) of Division 26 of the Health and Safety Code or any other certified motor vehicle pollution control device required by any other state law or any rule or regulation adopted pursuant to that law, or required to be equipped with a motor vehicle pollution control device pursuant to the National Emission Standards Act (42 U.S.C. Secs. 1857f-1 to 1857f-7, inclusive) and the standards and regulations adopted pursuant to that federal act, unless the motor vehicle is equipped with the required motor vehicle pollution control device which is correctly installed and in operating condition. No person shall disconnect, modify, or alter any such required device.
(c) No person shall install, sell, offer for sale, or advertise any device, apparatus, or mechanismwhich alters or modifies the original design or performance of any such motor vehicle pollution control device or system.
(h) This section shall not apply to an alteration, modification, or modifying device, apparatus, or mechanism found by resolution of the State Air Resources Board to do either of the following: intended for use with, or as a part of, any required motor vehicle pollution control device or system
The truth of the matter is that most states have laws similar to this in their respective motor vehicle codes, and most of it is redundant to federal statutes as well. Removing a catalytic converter is illegal even if you live in Rawson, North Dakota (population: 6), it's just that CA is the only place that's made a conscious decision to really enforce the law to a tee in this regard.
(c) No person shall install, sell, offer for sale, or advertise any device, apparatus, or mechanismwhich alters or modifies the original design or performance of any such motor vehicle pollution control device or system.
(h) This section shall not apply to an alteration, modification, or modifying device, apparatus, or mechanism found by resolution of the State Air Resources Board to do either of the following: intended for use with, or as a part of, any required motor vehicle pollution control device or system
(1) Not to reduce the effectiveness of any required motor vehicle pollution control device.
(2) To result in emissions from any such modified or altered vehicle which are at levels which comply with existing state or federal standards for that model year of the vehicle being modified or converted.
(2) To result in emissions from any such modified or altered vehicle which are at levels which comply with existing state or federal standards for that model year of the vehicle being modified or converted.
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12-06-2007, 01:48 PM
#20
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So what if I'm driving a car that has a 100% synthetic fuel with no hydrocarbon base what so ever burning in it?? Ie, ethanol?
Combustion of Ethanol forms Carbon Dioxide and Water... C2H5OH + 3 O2 → 2 CO2 + 3 H2O
And last time I checked, CO2 was something necessary for plant life to sustain converting it to O2 through photosynthesis. So whats the problem?
Combustion of Ethanol forms Carbon Dioxide and Water... C2H5OH + 3 O2 → 2 CO2 + 3 H2O
And last time I checked, CO2 was something necessary for plant life to sustain converting it to O2 through photosynthesis. So whats the problem?
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