California BAR smog referee woes

[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]

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)

[bmw320e21]

Any updates on your inspection?

[Jesse30]

I heard that there is no more ref, and that you just go to a smog station now?

ref's been back for a couple months now man...

[e30polak]

I heard that there is no more ref, and that you just go to a smog station now?

[White Nightmare]

I have done it before and it was super easy. You just have to do your homework before you go down there. The gas cap thing is super old, I think your mistaking that for the EVAP test that started December of last year. If you go to the BAR website they go into detail of what needs to be done. I'll agree that its total bullshit that any of this has to be done in the first place but at the same time it sounds like you didn't prepare yourself or do your homework prior to going there.

-Chris

[BimmerToad]

The magnaflow cat should be no problem. I used a universal 2.5" magnaflow cat and passed the CA sniffer with no problem.

If your NOx are high, maybe you're running too lean. What are your CO and HC levels? Are you failing at the 15 or 25mph test?

[Jon325i]

Have you tried contacting Alpine E30 (a.k.a. Alex - he posts on BayE30 as well). He was recently trying to sell his '89 325i sedan with M50 swap that was fully legit....right down to the referee's blessing including the tags issued. Perhaps he can lend some insight. He works at Valley Motorwerks in Rancho Cordova, CA.


Jon

[grib]

Thanks for all of the replies. Just to respond to a couple of the questions/comments…

Can’t register outside CA. I have family in Idaho and had the car registered there for many years. However the CHP stopped me in 2003 and made an issue out of it. There was actually a CHP officer working it directly, that followed me to two different residences and almost resulted in the car being impounded. I think that if I were ever stopped in CA with out-of-state plates again it would be a problem.

The numbers were not clean from the car, which is the only part that I do feel bad about. Mostly it’s the NOx levels, which are currently past gross polluter levels. Even if I had subverted the system in some other way, I would still endeavor to fix this. After doing quite a bit of reading, I think it basically comes down to the aftermarket cats being crap. I’m running a Magnaflow which I purchased new from the exhaust shop, and was supposed to be oversized for the engine and CARB compliant. From what I have read; even the best aftermarket cats don’t seem to do the job…. so why do they sell them? The quote on new OEM cats was $2,300 which is obviously out of the question. I spoke with the shop that did my exhaust originally, and they have recommended going back to stock cats. They are a reputable shop, so it’s a little disappointing that they didn’t mention the implications of using an aftermarket cat when we first started. I am trying to source a low-miles OBD-1 mid section and plan to go back to using as much of that setup and design as is practical. This should bring the numbers back into normal levels, which is a repair I have not problem making.

Really interesting to hear the different experiences in different counties. I wasn’t aware of the budget cutbacks cactusjacks mentioned – do you know when this goes into effect? My appointment was on Dec 12th at Evergreen Valley College in San Jose. If this takes effect in January, for example, it might be worth it to wait. When I make my next appointment I might see if it’s possible to visit another location, Evergreen College wasn’t really close to my place anyway. Prior to that I plan to “pre-test” the car at a smog shop so that I have something objective to compare to.

Like I said above, the numbers aren’t clean right now. But the focus of the test wasn’t getting these numbers down – it was pointing out all the other little things. For example, my PCV plumbing was failed – but looking at diagrams and my parts receipts I have the correct setup for a 95 M3. And is anyone here actually running an E36 charcoal canister? He told me that it needed to be setup and mounted EXACTLY like the E36, which is placed in the fender. There is no way I am going to stick that thing under the crowded E30 fender well. If anyone is running it I’d be curious to see a few pictures. Either way, I doubt this will do much if anything to lower the actual test numbers

The bottom line is that I really do want the car to be clean and legit. I spent a lot of money trying to build a clean, well-tuned engine (including the exhaust). One of the reasons I swapped the M20 out in the first place was that it was having some trouble passing smog.

Trent, which station did you take yours too?

Uhh, if you read I said both. Chula Vista and Miramar.

[e30serg]

Hey Kyle-did you pass? You have your s52 looking like an m50 right?

[surebimmer]

I went to get my car ref'd as well I'll post my number's and details when I get to a scaner.

[rThor432]

Man that's a bummer. I went to the inspection station with one of my cars and the guy that inspected my car had an S50 E30 with straight pipes. NC rocks for inspections I guess..

[cactusjacks1]

In CA - smog can be a very subjective experience. As the "it's swapped & passed" threads tell you, it really depends on the mood of the referee that day. Their is an explanation for the hoops they made you jump through - the mood the last 2 mos. at referee stations has been real low - they all lost their jobs due to the budget problems in CA. That's right, all CA smog referee stations are locked up - it's happened over the last two weeks. It looks like their work responsibilities will be passed down to the "test only" stations. That should make your problem easily solvable.

When someone in CA says "is it a clean engine?" they don't mean spotless as you inferred, they mean does it blow clean? or how are the emissions. What were your numbers? Post them up!!

[BimmerToad]

Sorry to hear that. I successfully had my M52 w/ S52 cams ref'd as a '95 M3 3.0L with no trouble, (once I tackled down an air leak at the 02 sensor port in the exhaust).

I'm amazed that you have to have the original exhaust configuration of a '95 M3. My car was able to pass as a '95 M3 with a single 2.5" exhaust system. Talk about variations in smog refs!

For future swaps, you might be better off passing the M/S5X as a '93 M50, since smog emission levels of a '93 engine aren't as stringent as an engine from a later date.