While You're In There... CA BAR Certified S52 OBD2 Swap

[4DR_Lou]

Out of curiosity, when are you looking to sell those CABs? I am currently looking for a pair without having to purchase new/non-grinded treehouse sets.

[arch4ngel]

Thanks guys.

I won't have good pics until I get the car up on stands again this weekend.
Here are a couple in the mean time.

congrats man on getting the obd2 swapped passed by the bar

so you are able to bolt obd 2 stock manifolds and obd2 stock down pipes if you use a modified subframe from arc asylum?

Correct.
Before I was informed that denting or slightly bending the stock pipes was acceptable I had to clearance the passenger side cab holder a bit to get it all to fit.
In the near future I plan to modify the downpipe and replace the cab holder.

[FreedomM3]

Great attention to detail. Sucks you have to deal with all that un-freedomness. The engine bay looks minty and very well done!

[iwantspeed]

congrats man on getting the obd2 swapped passed by the bar

so you are able to bolt obd 2 stock manifolds and obd2 stock down pipes if you use a modified subframe from arc asylum?

[4DR_Lou]

Congrats!!! I hope to get there soon too :)

I've been following your thread and I would like to see pictures of your sub frame setup pleaseeee.

[MrGreen]

That's great news! The only real "fear" I have now is the downpipe mod situation.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[arch4ngel]

Thanks!
Unfortunately i have no answers regarding the ftps.
I ended up taking it to a shop for some diagnosis help.
When hooking it up to their computer they noticed some weird values until resetting the codes.
Since the code the code hasnt come back so I'm not too worried about it.

[MrGreen]

That is so amazing!! Congrats! How did you get the fuel tank pressure sensor fixed?

Seriously, you are my inspiration! I am finally believing I can finish this!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[arch4ngel]

Had another BAR inspection last week.
I had successfully swapped the front subframe and oil pan, secured the carbon canister and gotten rid of the check engine light.
However I went into the appointment with two unset readiness monitors (evap and sap) and was expecting to fail.

Now I'm not sure exactly what the details are, but the ref told me because the car (as opposed to the motor) is older than '96 the readiness monitors don't matter as long as they reset properly

Anyway, despite the unset monitors everything else was fine and I passed!!!

I'm still kind of in shock that this long journey is finally concluded.

There are still a ton of small things that need to be wrapped up but I'm no longer have any deadlines to worry about.

Feels a bit weird driving the car around legally now, no more temporary tags or smog coupons for me.

I'll circle back and post pics of the subframe and oil pan after I put the car up on stands again next weekend.

[arch4ngel]

I decided to go with the rear sump pan.

My original plan was to try the garagistic sway bar spacer but they never bothered to return my call asking for details

I'm pretty sure the rear sump option will work better for me anyway.
I scrape the e34 pan daily leaving my driveway and I just have a bad feeling that a nasty unseen bump will leave me stranded at some point.
After I sell my baffled e34 pan and with funds saved from not having to buy a skid plate I'm not spending much more over my original budget.
An added bonus is the reinforced engine and sway bar mounts, something I was planning to pay someone else to do in the future.

In other news, I got the car running much better over the weekend.
I finally obtained the cable needed to use the chipster.no software for flashing my ecu.
I had a feeilng my old ms41.2 ecu was having problems as the idle was hanging badly when running it. I flashed a clean ms41.2 file along with a modified 24k partial and it still idled very poorly. The weird thing was my ms41.1 ecu idled fine but didn't run as well and was throwing a vanos code.
I ended up flashing the ms41.1 with the same ms41.2 + modified partial and no more idle problems or vanos code! So it turns out the original ecu that came with the car was faulty. Oh well.

I also figured out the fuel injector code.
I probably should have read the peake code manual more closely as I found out the second digit display on the fcx-3 displays a 'b' that looks suspiciously like a '6'.
In other words my '06' fuel injector code is actually a '0b' fuel tank pressure sensor code.
You live and learn I guess.

Now I'm off to troubleshoot the code, hopefully I just mixed up some wires and don't need another $200 sensor.

I also sent off a spare subframe to arc asylum, hopefully I'll have the modified subframe back in a couple weeks.

Almost ready for my next bar appointment!

[MrGreen]

Have you figured out what you are going to do about the subframe/down pipe situation? Sounds like there is no EO number on the down pipes themselves, only on the cats. Talked to a CA Ref today and he said that you are not allowed to modify the down pipes...just like you mentioned above.

[arch4ngel]

The booster is the same part, just rotate it 180 degrees and bolt on the MC & spacer.


I am not jealous of the BAR inspection. Around here, cars made before 1991 can ditch cats when they go bad (only visual inspection anyway) so all the emissions systems except evap are gone from my car, just for simplicity/cost. I have to mess around with the catalyst heating fuel/timing/vanos settings now to stop it from trying to warm the cats up, but I think those tables are mapped out in RR anyway.

You need to run 100% stock downpipes? Could you re-bend a stock set or notch your DP in anyway? The Arc Asylum rear sump setup is worth extra internet points, but it's a lot of money just for DP clearance (FWIW, OBD1 downpipes fit pretty flawlessly with that setup and THR eyeball CABs. I'm not sure about how they fit beyond the merge, because mine transitions to 3" at that point.)

Genius, can't believe I never thought to flip it over. Oh well, I needed the iX booster for the spacer anyhow.

I could be wrong but my impression is that the downpipes can't be modified at all. I'll call the ref next week for clarification but not sure bending will work.
I already have offset cabs (from bimmerworld, should be same dimensions as treehouse) and I need the obd2 pipes to pass BAR.
The arc asylum setup isn't cheap but it does have the added benefit of more ground clearance and with selling my baffled e34 pan and not having to buy a skid plate the cost shouldn't be too bad.
That said, I may try the garagistic sway bar spacers to see if they'll give me the clearance I need. I'll know more about the needed dimensions once I mock everything up in the garage.

[Northern]

Unfortunately the iX booster's vacuum port was now very close to the shock tower.
This meant it would be nearly impossible to remove the check valve if that was necessary. Good thing the 735i booster has the port on the other side!

The booster is the same part, just rotate it 180 degrees and bolt on the MC & spacer.


I am not jealous of the BAR inspection. Around here, cars made before 1991 can ditch cats when they go bad (only visual inspection anyway) so all the emissions systems except evap are gone from my car, just for simplicity/cost. I have to mess around with the catalyst heating fuel/timing/vanos settings now to stop it from trying to warm the cats up, but I think those tables are mapped out in RR anyway.

You need to run 100% stock downpipes? Could you re-bend a stock set or notch your DP in anyway? The Arc Asylum rear sump setup is worth extra internet points, but it's a lot of money just for DP clearance (FWIW, OBD1 downpipes fit pretty flawlessly with that setup and THR eyeball CABs. I'm not sure about how they fit beyond the merge, because mine transitions to 3" at that point.)

[arch4ngel]

They looked under the car to get the cat eo numbers.

[MrGreen]

How did they know you modified your down pipes?