Boosting in CA
 

So my situation is that I've had a home-brewed boosted NB for the past 9yrs. I moved out to Bay Area, CA right after I boosted it thanks to getting military orders. Not a huge ordeal since I was able to retain my Florida Residency while living out in CA as long as I was active duty. Problem now is that I made the choice to get out of the military and stay in the area. So now I'm trying to figure out how to still enjoy my Miata now that I'm a CA resident. The 2 options I can see are either to hot smog(not considering it) or go with the FM stage 1 CARB legal kit or some other CARB legal boost option(probably what I will do). Well, the biggest question I have since I'm new to the world of CARB legal modification is do I really need every single component from the kit to be able to get the EO sticker, or is there any way to contact FM and only purchase the components that make the kit CARB legal since I already have everything from my other set up. Any help would be great.

I could not get a straight answer about this topic from an open forum before I did my build. If you want I will IM with you and tell what I did. The bay area does require a dyno test check for certain years in certain areas where they check for HC, CO and NOX. If you have to pass the dyno test I would not have an aftermarket turbo charged car. If you only have to do a plug in (2k & later OB2) or tail pipe inspection (OBD1) then a FM1 will work well.

At one point FM was selling CARB completion kits if they could verify that you had all the other necessary components. I don't know if they still are, I would recommend calling them to ask.

--Ian

I have a 2000 NB. I would love to hear what you did, Leo. I'm sure there are lessons I don't want to learn the hard way. haha

The main challenge with the NB1s for CARB legality is in the CA emissions cars because they have to retain the pre-cat. That makes the turbo plumbing much more complicated and I don't think anyone makes the parts to do it any more. If you have a Federal/49-state emissions NB1 then that's not an issue.

--Ian

I'm fortunate enough to own a federal NB1

COVID 19 has them on a skeleton crew. Nobody is answering phones. Emails will be answered in the order they were received. I emailed them 2 weeks ago. They might still return my email but I'm not holding my breathe.

Not for long. If you're suggesting doing a reflash, I would not go down this route and expect it to continue working for much longer. The cliffnotes is that the plug in machines are starting to check cal ID checksums.
It's been in the works for years and as of last year is finally beginning to be implemented on certain cars.
If you're running something in parallel however, this would probably still work. I'm not sure if Miata people are even doing reflashes (I've never owned an NB), but everyone else is starting to run into this problem.

No re-flashing. FM has a piggyback called the Voodoo box which has an EO and works good. The NB ecu and controls are barely sophisticated enough to pass the dyno test let alone with a turbo and piggy back.

Hopefully it works better than eManage. That was a wasted attempt to save money when I first boosted.

Nobody has figured out how to flash the NB ECU.

The Voodoo box intercepts injector pulses and lengthens them, it also intercepts spark ignition signals and retards them, both driven by a MAP sensor input. It's generally looked-down upon on this board as a "band-aid" solution because it doesn't offer the fine control and tunability of a full ECU, but the flip side argument is that there's minimal tuning required to get you to an 80% solution. It's also possible to CARB-approve it in a way that you just can't do with an aftermarket ECU.

AFAIK it only works with stock injectors, that's going to limit you to something around 180-190 rwhp.

--Ian

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It's just a weekend cruiser so I think I'm just pulling the trigger on a FM Stage 1 kit. It should give me everything I need to pass Smog. Think I could get away with my bigger injectors and MS PnP? I just hate that the motor is built for big boost and I'm underwhelming it with the Stage 1 kit.

No. You could switch it back to the OE ecu and voodo box for the bi-annual smog. With The MS and bigger injectors you can still make 15psi/ 250hp+.

I really have my sights set on the 300hp mark. The GT2560R won't get me there. I'll probably have to plug a different turbo in there too after the smog.

I'm not sure what else will fit on the FM log manifold so it would most likely be a manifold & turbo. I had contemplated it but since I just built a new 5sp I'm sticking with less then 250.

You'll need to look into the details, but the FM EO probably doesn't specify which model of turbo is required for the exemption. If so, then I think it would pass using the Voodoo box, stock injectors and something like a GTX2860R gen 2, which is good for 400 rwhp and bolts up to the FM plumbing.

--Ian

It looks like it's just a standard garrett flange. I'm sure I could shop their catalog for something that will fit. I have a stock 5 speed that I plan to put to test how long it will last. I also have a spare 6 speed sitting in the garage. If I break the 5 speed, I'll just get Walter Motorsports to build it. I had 10psi on my homebrewed kit with a china charger and made 230hp to the wheels. I took everything apart to make more power and, dammit, I will. lol

Awesome! Thanks for the info. I will take a look at that turbo.

Do it and please report back! In Cali, the usual game is swapping the car back to "stock" every 2 years. The FM 1 kit sounds like the "easy button" for FI in California.