California BAR smog referee woes

[grib]

Any updates on your inspection?

Here's the update...

I replaced:

• Exhaust (headers to back of cat) with original BMW OEM OBD-1 parts (cat was low miles, from approx 32K mile 1995 M3)
• EVAP canister with P/N 16131180886
• Intake with “magic” (CARB approved) K&N P/N 57-1000 (I’m sure this made all the difference…)

I took it to “pre-test” at a local smog station today and the NOx numbers are dramatically reduced. This is more than likely due to the aftermarket vs. factory cats, as well as me taking it for a little spin to heat up the cats/O2 sensor first (and a bottle of Guaranteed to Pass probably doesn’t hurt either). The first time the ref tested it, the car had been sitting for over an hour and I think this shows in the dramatic difference between 15 vs 25 mph tests. FWIW the smog guy took a quick look, and indicated that everything was in place and he would pass the car if he were smogging it today.

My re-test is this Thursday. I have written up a report that responds to the technician's line-by-line with P/N's, receipts, etc. (If anyone is interested in this, shoot me a PM - it gets a little tedious.) If it sits for more than 15-20 minutes prior to the test this time I will ask to take it for a quick drive before the rolling test… pray to your deities for me!


Actual numbers are posted below for everyone's info:

Original M20 numbers for reference (allows about 15-20% more than 1995)



Numbers at the ref with custom exhaust and no warm-up :oops:



Numbers from today (smog station would not give me an "official" print out, and he said something about the load being wrong which artificially increased the 25mph NOX)

[E30nate]

the problems with the cat could be because the magnaflow was a two way, and stock is a three way. the magnaflow isnt designed to reduce nox.

my brother took his turbo volvo to the ref in south sac and they passed him with a greddy type s bov.

[grib]

I returned back to the Ref the Thursday before last with documentation and receipts for all of the items he had asked for. I also had the car pre-tested as noted above… Good news – I got the magic BAR sticker! I was almost sure I wasn’t going to get it. He again spent 20-30 minutes looking under the hood this time before calling me over and asking for “additional diagrams” of the engine with part numbers. I asked what specifically he needed, and he said “the whole engine.” He also showed me a picture of the EVAP canister on an E36, and said it has to be under the rear fender with a leak detector? I’m almost sure this wasn’t the case for 1995’s. I told him I didn’t really have access to all of that information, and asked to put it on the dyno and smog it because I was confident the numbers would comply. Again, they tried to run it cold with no warm up… but those cats are huge. It passed by 1 HC ppm!!

Thanks again to everyone who offered their help and input.

[bmw320e21]

Congratulations!

[lifeiskaos]

very very nice. what'll it do to your insurance rates?

[george graves]

very very nice. what'll it do to your insurance rates?

It will reduce his rates to $0.99 a year lifeiskaos. Actually the state owes him money now. And they owe him for all the work done to the car.

lifeiskaos - You are starting to annoy me. And you know what that means...

[Danny]

Run.

Run like the wind lifeiskaos.

[lifeiskaos]

what the hell?

[george graves]

Exactly....We are just messing with ya....Oh wait...

[Herb]

Man, I really feel for you all in CA. OBDI cars just have to pass a sniff and gas cap seal test, while OBDII have to pass the computer scan in addition to the sniff and gas cap tests. If it takes more than ten minutes, its because there are two cars ahead of me. When I took my e30s52 obdI car to our testing site they could care less what was under the hood, as long as the numbers came out within spec, which in reality is all that should matter - who cares what you put under the hood as long as it isn't a nuclear reactor or something esle that if blown up would have catostrphic consequenses. I'm in TN btw.

[george graves]

Actually Herb - it's a bit different in CA. I paid and got my shell in LA - and even I registered it in a non-rolling smog zone, but I still had to make it pass the rolling CAL/SMOG dyno test.

[grib]

very very nice. what'll it do to your insurance rates?

That's an interesting question.... hopefully they are not that well integrated. To be honest by this point the car is worth so much more than book value I should probably work something out with my insurance company.

[hugh jass]

That's an interesting question.... hopefully they are not that well integrated. To be honest by this point the car is worth so much more than book value I should probably work something out with my insurance company.

congrats!
you should get the car appraised and arrange for a stated value policy or get a collector call policy. i've been meaning to do that to my swap car and haven't done it yet.

[jahnaboi]

Interesting. I should really get mine bar'd as well. Kudos to your avail! You showed those assholes. The only thing I'm missing is the evap canister and a carb exempt intake. If I have problems, i'll be asking you.

[Jean]

Grib - Congrats!

Interesting. I should really get mine bar'd as well. Kudos to your avail! You showed those assholes. The only thing I'm missing is the evap canister and a carb exempt intake. If I have problems, i'll be asking you.

Didn't you say you had a friend who can smog your car so you wouldn't have to BAR it? Or was it someone else...