Beating Smog test with performance mods

[x98boardwell]

I own 87 Turbo.

A few questions,

1) How can i upgrade exhaust in CA? Will the headers need to had CARB # for approval in CA?
2) Turbo. Same questions as above.
3) Chip or altering CIS system to mirror euro version?

If these things are finished, will I pass smog.

How does one go about purchasing upgrades with special # for CA. on the part?

Thanks. Please direct me to other threads if this one has been answered. I could not find what I was looking for in search.

Bryan

[Chuck Jones]

I bought an 87 930 that the PO told me had gone thru smog only months earlier and had the sheets to prove it. He must have known the smog guys kuz when I took it in, it flunked. It had no cat and an aftermarket muffler. I ended up having to find and buy a factory cat and muffler....put it back to stock, then run it thru and finally passed smog. The guys who have the cars that are 25 years old and older are exempt...but you have to get it thru.

If you are having a bad time getting it to pass, give me a shout and I'll loan you my factory muffler and cat to get you through the hard part....then you dont' have to worry for two years.

Chet (wonderful 930S guy who died earlier this year) did me the same favor, so I'm passing on the favor. I see you're in Fresno....I''m in Elk Grove....just south of Sacto'.

Chuck























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[x98boardwell]

Chuck,

I appreciate the offer and that could turn out to be valuable later on.

Currently, this is a bone stock 930 with no modifications and should pass smog just fine.

I was curious about the upgrades that are approved and still would offer more performance. With the stock exhaust, inter-cooler and turbo it seems doggy at times. I know they like to breath.

In the future, your exhaust may come in handy if I make the mods and then need to go back for smog. That is very nice of you.

Do you know anyone or have any resources of people that have added these type items and passed? Can you go in running lean and then adjust after you pass?

I just moved here less than a year ago from MI so smog is a new thing for me entirely.

Thanks again,

Bryan

[gumba]

My '79 passes with the following up grades, 3.5, twin plug, SC cams, CIS, K27 turbo, 3/4 bay intercooler, SSI's w/DP muffler, putting out 390 fwhp @ .9 bar. It still has the air pump and all plumbing hooked up, and the other smog stuff in place.
When I had the motor rebuilt at the end of last year I told the shop it needed to pass smog and I didn't want to be swapping a bunch of parts out every 2 years. Or, be looking for a special type of smog station. My only concern were the SSI's, but it turned out not to be a problem.
Harold
'79 930/DP935

[x98boardwell]

Well,

I failed smog today with it being bone stock. 96k is hurting it a little. They said I am running rich. It passed 6 months ago, but it looks like the guy may have fibbed a little. I will lean it out a bit and then go back and try after the first.

I appreciate the input. I will be doing exhaust, turbo and inter-cooler for the time being until the engine gets tired. And then, a rebuild.

Do your parts have that CARB # so that they are approved in CA? How does that combination work. My apologies on my terminology, but what does SSI mean. Stainless Steel, Headers.. what?

I may have some additional questions for you later. If you don't mind you can send your number by private message.

Bryan

[gumba]

No carb #'s.
You may want to take it to a Porsche mechanic to lean it out to get it to pass, and have him take it to a smog station for the test. He will probably need to re-adjust it after the test. He would also make sure all the smog stuff is on the car to pass the visual. You would want to check everything with a CO meter.
SSI's are stainless steel head exchangers, the name of the company is SSI.

[BMAN]

I got a two year waiver for being to low

[x98boardwell]

Too low to the ground, or too low on your readings?

If it's too low to the ground, in CA they would just fail you if they cannot perform... I would imagine anyways.

Bry

[930gt-40r]

HAHA Bman- what did you do?
I got my C4 with the 930 motor to pass by doing the following-
1 install cat
2 adjust the fuel mixture to ALMOST lean misfire
3 had MSD 6AL with blaster coil to fire the leaner mixture
4 bombarded the fuel mixture with dry gas (alcohol) on a low tank of gas.

In the end the car didnt drive very well to the test but when it was done I took the cat off, fattened up the mixture and drove worry free for the next 2 years.
If I could get a CIS motor to pass in the C4's body that was meant to have sequential injection with twin plug, anyone can do it.

[JFairman]

Back when they used to have emission testing in Florida during the 90's, I used to get out the 3mm CIS allen wrench, pop the hood while waiting in line in the parking lot and lean it out till it idles a little rough then go through and pass their annoying test, then drive out the other side pop open the hood again and richen it back up a little till it idled smooth and drove off. . .

The brain dead kooks running the testing station had no idea what i was doing anyway.

[x98boardwell]

I posted another thread on the this issue. So, on a turbo I can adjust until it idles a little rough and then take the test?

It seems too simple... if that is the only thing wrong.

Thanks,
Bryan

[930gt-40r]

JFairman, I agree they are brainless- I was pulling injector wires and lowering fuel pressure while waiting for my appointment. I was asked "why is it idling so rough?" I replied with racing cams, overlap is reallll good for a turbo car.... Ha ha

[JFairman]

In '82 I worked at a place that federalized grey market Porsches and Mercedes.
They all had CIS then and along with installing BMW cats and aftermarket lambda systems on the CIS head and temporarily leaning the piss out of it and disconnecting the cold start injector wiring they would pass the EPA engine running part of the test test so they could be registered here.
Sometimes we had to disconnect 2 injectors and on the Mercedes V8's and plug them and run them on 6 cylinders to get them to pass emissions.

There was also fuel evaporitive emissions testing and all the USA DOT headlight, turn signal, and the door and bumper bracing (the porsche post '74 aluminum bumpers didn't need any extra bracing)) crap that had to pass visually too.

...I always wondered where all the beautiful euro spec Mercedes and Porsche Bosch headlights, Hella turnsignal and taillights we removed and replaced with crappy DOT spec units ended up.

[JFairman]

Originally Posted by x98boardwell

I posted another thread on the this issue. So, on a turbo I can adjust until it idles a little rough and then take the test?

It seems too simple... if that is the only thing wrong.

Thanks,
Bryan

It seems it would help, but I think you'll need the air pump hooked up and running to pass with a 930.
My car lived in Tennesee and N. Carolina before I bought it and the previous owner was able to pass with the air pump and lambda system working but there was no cat.
It had/has the B&B headers and single out muffler on it and still passed emissions in those states.

Thankfully Florida ditched emissions testing years ago because almost everyone was driving newer cars that all passed here and everyone felt it was just a scam to collect money for the state so it was dropped.

[carmad]

I got mine to pass with only the cat and stock muffler on the car air injectors removed, it had the smog pump on and,I did plumb the air pump directly into the cat. This pumps fresh air directly into the cat. Passed with flying colors the tech said it ran very clean.
Make sure you get the cat hot, drive hard for about 30 minutes, also I ran fuel level down and used lower octane 87.
Hope this helps.

[Noah930]

My stock (other than a disconnected, but still present air pump and O2 sensor) '87 passed last week. I wasn't too worried about the emissions/sniffer part, as the car has passed smog in 2 other states while I've owned it. It's not as simple as pulling plugs to get the motor to run on less than its full complement of 6 cylinders, as that's something they checked during the test. But California also has a visual test. So, depending on the knowledge base of who you take your car to to get smogged, you may or may not have a hard time. The mechanic standing next to me (not doing the test--just shootin' the breeze about cars with me) noticed the disconnected smog pump pretty quickly, and mentioned it to me quietly. The guy doing the test didn't seem to find that problem; at least he made no mention of it, despite taking a flashlight into every crevice of the engine bay. (FWIW, a PO had disconnected the air pump--not me.)

In California, supposedly anything you change from OEM is not legal. Either on the intake side, or the exhaust. Whether or not it has anything to do with emissions. But, to be considered a legal part, it has to have a CARB (California Air Resources Board) sticker exempting it. I think that process must be quite tedious and expensive. Hence, it's pretty rare to find an aftermarket part that has a CARB exemption. Again, whether or not you're caught on that will depend upon the acuity of the guy doing the visual test.

I made an effort to go for a longish drive (about 30-45 minutes) prior to my test, to get the motor nice and hot. The one time I didn't pass smog (in Oregon), was due to a coldish motor. That time, I took the car back out, gave it a few full-throttle full-boost runs up and down a street in a local industrial district, and retested successfully.

[x98boardwell]

Thanks for the info.

You would think that some aftermarket companies offer an exhaust with a carb #. It seems that they would get some great business if they offered a competitive product.

Regarding the test, the guy did look over everything. He was recommended to me by the Porsche mechanic here in town, but when I arrived at the shop (Christmas Eve), the guy in questions was not there so someone else that works there did it.

I have the air box off and am thinking about leaning it out a touch before I take the next test.

Question, does anyone know how many times you can take the test before there is some consequence (ie. taking it to a shop and documenting what was wrong/fixed) before you can take it again?

Thanks again,

Bryan

[Noah930]

Originally Posted by x98boardwell

Question, does anyone know how many times you can take the test before there is some consequence (ie. taking it to a shop and documenting what was wrong/fixed) before you can take it again?

No idea about that one. I've never heard about any sort of limit. All the smog places seem to advertise that you can re-test for free if you fail. I'd imagine that if there was some limit to the number of failures you can rack up, then it would be publicized some place, either in the smog shop's literature, or on the DMV website (and I've tried looking these past couple weeks, before I took my own cars in). FWIW, that dynamometer is directly hooked up to the DMV computer, so once they input your VIN, the computer can pull up all those past successes/failures.

[Craig 930 RS]

Isn't CA a state where you must pass a visual?

aka: good luck on any headers/no catalyst?

[Chuck Jones]

Yes...Calif uses a visual inspection in conjunction with the actual emissions test. They thought the Stainless Borla muffler I had on it was the cat and passed it on visual....but because I didnt' have a cat, it flunked the emissions part. I bought a practically new cat and muffler, retro'd it to stock and passed.

The problem with the older 930's is that there are very few smog guys who know what they're looking at.....they look for a cat and muffler....if there are obvious blingy things in there and no CARB certification sticker (I have a CARB sticker on there for the MSD unit and they looked at it hard and read the sticker language) they'll flunk it on the visual.

Best of luck to you...Chuck