JasonC SBB

I heard this too from a smog guy. There's a stupid new "grading" system for smog techs.

It goes into a lot more things, such as the number of unfinished monitors in the OBD system you let through, and how many times you abort at test, etc etc.

Just like MADD, when a bureaucracy appears which does good things, when its job is done, it doesn't quietly ride off into the sunset. It grows and turns into a monster that devours everything in its path.

MartinezA92

iTrader: (4)

Its somewhere on either the BAR or CARB website. I don't really remember where. I know a claim like that without evidence is useless, but its somewhere out there.

Jpopsbronco

iTrader: (9)

They honestly do, Some of the smaller shops would get pwned for passing like 95% of cars, cause in reality with the way carb and everything is setup, only like 75% would pass due to visual inspection... I have also heard from a couple smog guys, evey year they have to give their information on passes and fails and if the passes are over a certain percent they will be investigated and possibly shutdown...

Jpopsbronco

iTrader: (9)

Thats why everyone here in cali wants 90-94 cause they wont get checked. all they do is look at your cel and airbag light to see if something's wrong and your good to go. but obd2 cars your going to pay because youll fail for anything being wrong. Ie if you reset codes and dont drive 50 miles, any faults in airbag system, any engine code even if its not a cel fail. theyll check abs crap and everything. Theyr supposed to check for full funtionality of drive train also but most people consider the dyno thing good enough. I've been failed because of all kinds of random sh&*

RyanRaduechel

iTrader: (10)

This is my thought process regarding smog in CA, any of you had experience trying to do it this way?

I have only had to smog one car, when I first bought my Miata, its coming to that time again to smog it. I didn't pay attention to how well they looked at the vin plate on the dash, and the vin stamped on the firewall. I was curious to see how thorough are they when it comes to vin numbers and such? I don't really want to swap everything back to stock and my buddy has a 90 NA thats stock and is the same color.

Since I have the windshield and dash board out of my car, I was thinking of drilling out the rivets on the vin plate and maybe take some rivet heads and just glue them on. That way it looks like it is still attached, then take some two sided tape and stick it over his, put my license plates on his car and win?

I have looked into and asked around about all this hot smog stuff, the people I have asked around here that have done it cost them anywhere from $250 to $350 depending on the shop. That seems a little outrageous to me.

Joe Perez

iTrader: (8)

I thought that in CA, any unready monitors were an immediate fail. IOW, the tech doesn't have any control over the process.




Well, AB 2289 says that:On the plus side, it also looks as if they are going to eliminate the dyno test for OBD-II vehciles, and go on plug-in testing alone.

Many other states have previously adopted such a procedure, and in at least some of those states, it has eventually led to the elimination of testing altogether for non OBD-II vehciles. North Carolina springs to mind as one example- only '96 and newer cars are required to get smogged, because they got rid of the equipment necessary to test older cars.

Will CA go that route? Hard to say- we do have a bit of a reputation for being hard-asses. On the other hand, if one considers the number of pre '96 vehicles on the road today relative to the number of '96 and newer vehicles...




I seem to recall that they scan the barcode on the door sill, which goes directly into the computer.

RyanRaduechel

iTrader: (10)

Well that might just be a little harder to get away with, maybe make it look like the car has been painted and the serial number was painted over. I'm sure the barcode stickers are tamper proof so you can't take them off and reuse them.

Tim Irwin

iTrader: (1)

On my '02 salvage car, there's a sticker there that just says "void" repeatedly, so yes, they are tamper-proof.

MartinezA92

iTrader: (4)

For cars from 96-2000 I think 2 monitors can be incomplete, after 2000 its one monitor (usually ends up being evap).

gaius49

Update:

You can pass CA smog with an exintake swap, a fresh non-ca magnaflow cat, and an mp62. In fact, you will likely pass with very good numbers.

JasonC SBB

What year car?

gaius49

94.

The supercharger seems to eat cats. I burned out one cat inside 2 months and the rest of the exhaust system doesn't seem to be doing well.

EO2K

iTrader: (37)

What are you using for management? How are your AFRs? If you are running super-rich under boost or otherwise, your cat is working overtime.

gaius49

Unfortunately the car is registered in CA and that won't change. So I am limited to CA legal engine management. If I could legally do it, I would put an MS unit in and tune it. As a result, I am stuck using the kit supplied pair of piggy back units. I don't know how bad the tune is, but the blower is only spun to make about 6lb of boost, so I don't think that tune is crucial. Anyways, the rest of the exhaust is going bad as well, so I will probably toss an RB set up on there in the next few months.

Anyways, I just wanted to let folks know that the exintake swap, in combination with the MP62 can pass smog in CA with flying colors.

EO2K

iTrader: (37)

My rotrex is currently running with the supplied band-aid management, but I'm also running an AEM UEGO wideband in a second bung on my downpipe. No reason not to know whats going on, even if I can't control it. I have a stand-alone MS2 in the garage and if life would cooperate and give me some time, I'd have it installed already. Its not that hard to pull your ECU/band-aids and swap in an stand-alone on a 94. Hell, you can get a new MegaSquirtPNP MM9495 new from DIYAutoTune for under $600 right now, or less if you snag a used one from the forum classifieds for significantly less. Add a wideband and you are cooking with gas. If you are really worried about cat replacement, get yourself a full RacingBeat stainless exhaust and swap in your stock cat/ECU/band-aids for emissions testing. The big hurdle with the MS is tuning, but there are more resources here on MT or over on DIY than you can shake a stick at.

You have an underhood CARB sticker for your SC, no one is going to question your management until its test-time. No reason to keep burning up cats with band-aids.

MartinezA92

iTrader: (4)

Or find someone who is willing to ignore visual...It's a lot easier than trying to find someone who will clean pipe you.
I plan to pass smog next year with MS. It is possible to pass emissions with an MS.

Stein

iTrader: (46)

And to think, when I went to title the V8 Miata a couple of months ago, I pointed to the title at the clerks desk and said "It's silver now. It has 8 cylinders now." She made the changes and I went on my merry way. We voted out vehicle inspections back in '80 or '81. I can't remember which.

:inb4coolstorybro:

MartinezA92

iTrader: (4)

Riveting tale chap