CAlifornia BAR/SMOG/engine swap thread.

[Sean S.]

So, collectively, do those of you who have done this swap and kept it CA legal think it is doable with the 97, or would I be better off to keep looking for a 95?

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[Sean S.]

'95 is going to be the only year that is significantly easier than everything else.

That's what I thought, but is that just due to the air pump set up? I'm thinking I could relocate the battery to the trunk this giving me a place to mount the pump in the engine bay. Is there anything else that would be difficult to swap over?

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[kronus]

'95 is going to be the only year that is significantly easier than everything else.

[Sean S.]

Just as an "am I going in the right direction?" question; I am looking at a 97 M3 and can potentially make a deal for the entire car. Would this be a good candidate for a swap over to my 88 convertible? Would the extra smog shit (air pump, etc) make it more difficult than another model year of donor car?

Thanks,
Sean

[2mAn]

Maybe I haven't read enough yet, are the refs checking motor numbers to verify what the motor actually is? or can you just tell them its an M50, even though you may have an M52 in there with an m50 intake. or are they savy enough to recognize the vanos actuator on the m52.

Hmmm interesting question. Why don't you do the swap and report back with results and refs comments

2man tried to BAR his m52 swap as an m50 and it was apparently a huge pain in the ass, more of a pain in the ass than swapping back to an m52 manifold for BAR

But wasn't he using used cats....
He also never got the car passed the bar...

Hi Guys.

Let me clear this up...

I had a M52 with M50 manifold, S52 cams, 21.5# Injectors, OBD1 TRM Tune.

I started with a stock M50 downpipe with ~150k, then to a slightly modified (just to work on OBD1) S52 downpipe then finally brand new Magnaflow CA legal cats. The tune also changed a few times....

I blame 2 things for my car not passing:

#1 I shouldve listened to my mechanic and bought a WAR chip so he couldve created 2 tunes for me, a SMOG tune and a performance tune. I didnt listen and bought off the shelf chips for my modified car.

#2 The ref would let the car sit for 20-30 minutes when I would arrive, so the cats were never really warm enough, and combined with #1 this resulted in it not passing the tailpipe emissions test and No BAR sticker.


To answer your questions, he never checked the engine. I showed him the VIN sticker on the ECU and we went based off that, but your results may vary. The closer to stock the car and motor are, the easier it should be. Mine was quite a big off of what a stock M50 was so it made my life harder.

It all depends on what you are starting with and what resources you have to accomplish the swap. Parts car on hand is the most ideal start. I had none of that.

[wworm]

But wasn't he using used cats....
He also never got the car passed the bar...

paging 2man lol

[36brua]

2man tried to BAR his m52 swap as an m50 and it was apparently a huge pain in the ass, more of a pain in the ass than swapping back to an m52 manifold for BAR

But wasn't he using used cats....
He also never got the car passed the bar...

[wworm]

2man tried to BAR his m52 swap as an m50 and it was apparently a huge pain in the ass, more of a pain in the ass than swapping back to an m52 manifold for BAR

[36brua]

Maybe I haven't read enough yet, are the refs checking motor numbers to verify what the motor actually is? or can you just tell them its an M50, even though you may have an M52 in there with an m50 intake. or are they savy enough to recognize the vanos actuator on the m52.

Hmmm interesting question. Why don't you do the swap and report back with results and refs comments

[Nick610s]

Maybe I haven't read enough yet, are the refs checking motor numbers to verify what the motor actually is? or can you just tell them its an M50, even though you may have an M52 in there with an m50 intake. or are they savy enough to recognize the vanos actuator on the m52.

[wworm]

Got my sticker!

I went to Vallejo.

The guy said, hook everything up, make it look clean, new catalytic converters and you will pass.

congrats! Shouldnt be too hard right? lol famous last words

[SnowB0und]

Got my sticker!

^awesome to hear! What station did you go to?

I went to Vallejo.

The guy said, hook everything up, make it look clean, new catalytic converters and you will pass.

[kronus]

no

[E30335i]

Just to reiterate the validity of what kronus said, this is from the BAR website. Note the 95 and older model year does not require an EO, provided emissions controls are still functioning. So, don't touch anything after the MAF and you're good. If its obd2 (1996 and newer) you have to have a CARB/EO number.

So to get off topic a little bit, if your smogging your m20, would a cone filter fail?


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[TheRob]

Just to reiterate the validity of what kronus said, this is from the BAR website. Note the 95 and older model year does not require an EO, provided emissions controls are still functioning. So, don't touch anything after the MAF and you're good. If its obd2 (1996 and newer) you have to have a CARB/EO number.