[16859]

Have been trying to smog my car forever, this new California smog system is a beast to tangle with. I have decided to convert back to the stock turbo this weekend so I can get it smogged giving up the battle with California and the EPA. I can't believe it has finally come to this but I knew it all along if I was planning on going big I would have to play this part swapping game.

After I get everything running again with the KO3, smogged, and legal. I am going to consider selling the T-28 system and possibly even parting out the car back to stock or at least near stock form, so you vultures out there lookin for parts keep this on your radar. :wink:

I have some serious thinking to do about all this until then. :???:
Any thoughts from anyone on whether I should put the T-28 back on after I get it smogged??

 

[schmove]

Just curious, is it because the car won't pass the emissions part? Or is it because of the visual inspection part?

 

[______TJ______]

bro, Have you tried all the tricks?

I know Cali is a bitch, but damn...

I assume you are failing a sniff style test?

if it's obd-2 based what are the issues?

If it is a sniff test then:

Here's what I would try if you want to give it one more go with the T-28

First wire the cooling fan constant, just jump the thermal switch to on all the time.

step up the heat range on the plug just for the test.

run your tank down to nada and put in a shitload of dry-gas..


I would run the stock ECU and inectors and just "get there"


if you run a high flo cat, at least swap that to stock to cut down the emissions

I mean I have had cars that make your eyes water, and passed with these tricks..

but Cali is rough...

PM me:
Give me more details of the failure...




TJ

 

[Macabre]

The sniffer is pretty easy to fool as long as you've got working cat(s), as is the OBDII scan. It's the visual. The guys aren't dumb. The goernment does run stings on them, especially in "Enhanced" testing areas like the bay area. Yet grandma can run down the street with her 73 caddy dumping a quart of particulates into the atmosphere by crankshaft rotation. Yada yada yada. Oh, and that's just the start, now they're doing smog checkpoints on the highways.

 

[16859]

The car runs clean, we ran a pre-test and it passes the sniffer test fine. The problem is the secondary air pump is completely removed along with the EGR valve as I have a block off plate installed in the cylinder head where it was installed. Both pipes coming from the engine are routed into the catch can.

With the air pump being gone the car fails the "readiness" test in OBDII smog diagnostics pointing to several items in the overall OBDII system which are failing from components basically cross checking each other. Worse, the system also electronically identifies your VIN number so you cant even swap for a similar car which has everything installed to sniff it. A car in CA is now officially electronically unique and the only way to resolve it is to convert physically back to stock.

Converting it back sucks but is not that hard, I can do it in one day if I had all the stock parts available. My issue is whether I should convert it back after passing smog. My lead foot would be mediated, I could pay off a nice hunk of debt, my car would run consistently and also have better gas mileage. I would lose the thrill of insane horsepower as compared to the car's original power, but that is what I am tossing back and forth right now as the scale is leaning toward the KO3.

 

[b5-turbonium]

no shady shops in norcal? you could always register the car in some other state where smog is not required.

 

[16859]

no shady shops in norcal? you could always register the car in some other state where smog is not required.

There are shady shops up here, money can blur people's vision but when it comes to the smog machine you can't flash green backs at it to change it's mind... :wink:

 

[julianfang]

Chalon - how about getting another car to be smogged (similar make/model) while the computer is hooked up to your car? The greenback might "blur" their vision enough to not notice the other car...

 

[b5-turbonium]

yeah, does the obd tool read the vin?

 

[16859]

Chalon - how about getting another car to be smogged (similar make/model) while the computer is hooked up to your car? The greenback might "blur" their vision enough to not notice the other car...

The computer being hooked up to my car is the problem. It reads every sensor in the OBDII system and two elements are missing on mine. Since my VIN is in the OBDII scan I cannot substitute for any other car as I need to pass the readiness test with my own electronic VIN.

 

[julianfang]

the solution to this just gets more complicated...

purchase a stock ECU have it loaded with your info (stock programming), then shove it into someone else's stock car to have smogged and obd'ed at the same time.

OR have Pes/GIAC write a chip that forces a pass...but then again, this is PES we're talking about :roll:

None of the options are convenient or easy. Sorry man.

 

[Macabre]

And you still have to pay off the smog guy to make that work. Reverting to stock for a couple weeks to get a ready state code is much more reasonable.

 

[1ReclusiveOrc]

Would reinstalling the air pump and have it looking like it is connected solve the readyness problem? I mean the secondary air pump only runs for a short time with a cold engine.

 

[Gat_B5]

Once in Sacto about 10 years back, me and my friend went to smog his 65 Mustang. It didn't pass. After the smog an undercover cop pulled us over and asked if my friend would take $100 back to the smog joint and try to bribe the guy that just failed him. I guess he wanted to bust the place. My friend said no and got his ride smogged at another location and it passed.

man that story is weak

Anyway, I had a chipped VR6 GTI, with Neuspeed cat back exhaust and an intake and it passed everytime. I Don't know if those mods would fail a car though...??

 

[D.Passat00]

well, he removed his secondary air pump, which is a definate fail right there.

 

[ericpeterman]

California green legislation is definitely draconian and designed to emasculate all expressions of assertiveness and if they had their way we'd all be driving tan toyota Tercels with 155 x 13 tires and they would burn hemp oil. We'd also go to testosterone management classes and get in touch with our inner child. It's not about smog control really. It's about control and uniformity.

OTOH, when I see SUV after SUV on hwy 101 with one person driving (or creeping more like it) to work I have to think there's something wrong with the picture. California is a really mixed up place.

 

[16859]

Would reinstalling the air pump and have it looking like it is connected solve the readyness problem? I mean the secondary air pump only runs for a short time with a cold engine.

This could possibly resolve the problem. I would have to design a new system connecting the air pump into the catch can lines with high pressure fittings to match the rest of the system. I don't really want to go to that extent since I know stock will resolve the problem too. Plus I am thinking about staying with the stock system afterward anyway.

 

[1ReclusiveOrc]

I didn't say that the air pump had to be connected to the system. It just has to look like it is.

 

[16859]

I didn't say that the air pump had to be connected to the system. It just has to look like it is.

It definitely has to be electrically plugged in for the readiness test to pass.

 

[Scuba2001]

Well I would hate to see you revert back to stock after all of the work. And even with the engine being bored out .1L, can the stock programming even be used to keep the car from running lean? Not really sure about that though.

I would at least try and reconnect the electrical parts that are missing and see if you can maybe even short them out so they can read a signal. Dunno any other way to do it. But if you went back to stock, thats money to have it swapped in and out again, and Im sure you know this. Just DO NOT SELL or part out that car... what a shame it would be to see it being parted.

Steve