After drowning my sorrows for a week or so, I’m finally able to post about this… I made the mistake of taking my engine swap to the California BAR Referee last week. For anyone who doesn’t live in the People’s Republic of California, the objective of this exercise is to get a certification for your car to be smogged as year/make of the engine you installed. I was presenting my engine as a 1995 M3 with documentation to support that.
The appointment was approximately 90-120 minutes. There were three technicians inspecting my car during this time. About 45-60 minutes of this time was spent researching/printing the documentation for a 1995 M3. When I first arrived the referee took my documentation (sales receipts for the engine, receipt for exhaust work, etc.) and made copies. He also had an Alldata CD for the 95 M3 which he used to make print outs of every major system. He asked for engine VIN or serial numbers (which I don’t have) but didn’t seem to require them.
The next 15-30 minutes were spent were visual inspection (engine and exhaust). The car was not on a rack for this, but it was very thorough. They seem to be looking for specific CARB EO stickers, or BMW part numbers and will flag anything that looks out of place. (For example I have a UUC Oil Center cap for my oil filter. This was one of the failure points, even though it has nothing to do with emissions controls on the engine.)
Last they do a full rolling dyno smog check. This is AFTER the hour or so your car just sat for all of the above checks, so the engine will be cold. The “warm up” they did was only a minute or so at idle. You have to pass this smog test to get the certification, (another smog test from a smog station won’t count). This includes a test even of your *gas cap* new this year, so you might want to get a new gas cap because this alone would be a silly thing to fail on alone. (Oddly enough my 21 yr old gas cap seemed to pass.)
Obviously I failed, primarily for my exhaust system. I have a custom exhaust which was professionally fabricated. It does include a CA approved Magnaflow catalyst, but because it is not in the “original configuration” (similar to OBD-1 95 M3 exhaust with dual 2” in/out cats) it failed. Other things to note… he wanted to see the Evap/charcoal canister as the 95 M3 PN in the E36 stock location (which is under the fender lining, I am running the stock E30 canister in e30 location), the original PVC plumbing (which includes a “T” back down to the oil pan – mine goes straight back to the intake boot), the oxygen sensor location and wiring (I have tapped into it for an A/F gauge) and the air intake (cone filters are not acceptable without a CARB EO number).
My advice to anyone in California who is considering this process for their engine swap is don’t. The standards that they’re measuring your car by are vague, unclear and subjective. (Essientially “must conform to 1995 M3 standard” from the forms.) If you don’t pass, you get to repeat the entire thing from the start AND your car is flagged in The System. Even if your emissions are clean, the visual inspection is WAY too picky. There are several of us in the Bay with very clean swaps, and we’re all going through the same thing. (My engine is almost clean enough to eat off of, with no exposed wires, rust, all new hoses and sensors, etc. The car runs and idles perfectly.) I subjected myself to it because I wanted to try to do the right thing, and have my car legit. The other posts on here seem to indicate that it’s a somewhat simple or forgiving process – apparently this really isn’t the case or the process is really subjective.
If anyone who has passed this test has any advice, I welcome your input.
The appointment was approximately 90-120 minutes. There were three technicians inspecting my car during this time. About 45-60 minutes of this time was spent researching/printing the documentation for a 1995 M3. When I first arrived the referee took my documentation (sales receipts for the engine, receipt for exhaust work, etc.) and made copies. He also had an Alldata CD for the 95 M3 which he used to make print outs of every major system. He asked for engine VIN or serial numbers (which I don’t have) but didn’t seem to require them.
The next 15-30 minutes were spent were visual inspection (engine and exhaust). The car was not on a rack for this, but it was very thorough. They seem to be looking for specific CARB EO stickers, or BMW part numbers and will flag anything that looks out of place. (For example I have a UUC Oil Center cap for my oil filter. This was one of the failure points, even though it has nothing to do with emissions controls on the engine.)
Last they do a full rolling dyno smog check. This is AFTER the hour or so your car just sat for all of the above checks, so the engine will be cold. The “warm up” they did was only a minute or so at idle. You have to pass this smog test to get the certification, (another smog test from a smog station won’t count). This includes a test even of your *gas cap* new this year, so you might want to get a new gas cap because this alone would be a silly thing to fail on alone. (Oddly enough my 21 yr old gas cap seemed to pass.)
Obviously I failed, primarily for my exhaust system. I have a custom exhaust which was professionally fabricated. It does include a CA approved Magnaflow catalyst, but because it is not in the “original configuration” (similar to OBD-1 95 M3 exhaust with dual 2” in/out cats) it failed. Other things to note… he wanted to see the Evap/charcoal canister as the 95 M3 PN in the E36 stock location (which is under the fender lining, I am running the stock E30 canister in e30 location), the original PVC plumbing (which includes a “T” back down to the oil pan – mine goes straight back to the intake boot), the oxygen sensor location and wiring (I have tapped into it for an A/F gauge) and the air intake (cone filters are not acceptable without a CARB EO number).
My advice to anyone in California who is considering this process for their engine swap is don’t. The standards that they’re measuring your car by are vague, unclear and subjective. (Essientially “must conform to 1995 M3 standard” from the forms.) If you don’t pass, you get to repeat the entire thing from the start AND your car is flagged in The System. Even if your emissions are clean, the visual inspection is WAY too picky. There are several of us in the Bay with very clean swaps, and we’re all going through the same thing. (My engine is almost clean enough to eat off of, with no exposed wires, rust, all new hoses and sensors, etc. The car runs and idles perfectly.) I subjected myself to it because I wanted to try to do the right thing, and have my car legit. The other posts on here seem to indicate that it’s a somewhat simple or forgiving process – apparently this really isn’t the case or the process is really subjective.
If anyone who has passed this test has any advice, I welcome your input.
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