Re: how did everyone pass smog with their turbo kits (TheCancer)
Hey,
I'm in CA as well and this was of concern to me as well as I'm another one of those
"soon to be turbo" project guys. What I've been told by my friend's dad who's a CHP officer (California Highway Patrol, for all you non-CA people), aftermarket turbo installation is legal in California only when the car retains all of it's emissions equipment / OBD (if so equipped) and these have to be functional. This permits the use of the turbo on a car and it can be admitted for testing; if you tamper with / remove stuff (CAT, EGR, etc), they aren't even supposed to admit you for the smog check as you are already failing the visual
Then, it still has to pass the smog at the same level as there was for the same car in its naturally aspirated form.
No idea whether your car is OK for the visual (& if it satisfies the above listed) - seems (from your signature) you've put some work into it!
I'm just piecing my turbo stuff together (got a rebuilt turbo, Cartech RR FPR, FMIC, Quaife & some other junk so far, about to build up a tranny) and I'm gonna install it in the summer after I finish other projects. My car is still NA - mind you, I've had a gutted cat for the past few years and I passed the emmissions with it (twice!).
Reason beeing... I run MSD 6A ignition box and Blaster 2 coil, thru some fat 10.6mm wires to Bosch triple coppers (turbo peeps should probably use Denso Iridiums) and a little
British-made gadget called CB-26P. This thing has been the latest rage in Europe... I got after my cousin in Europe told me how much improvement he saw on his 4dr Golf GTI VR6: better performance- cleaner burn & higher MPG - lower emissions. Here's a link to the original website:
www.ecotekplc.com - go to Reviews- a Mitsubishi Evo Lancer turbo with no cat passed the emissions with these gadgets installed. They have a handfull of reviews from every performance magazine you can think of, several VW ones including; this product also has the seal of approval of what is a British version of our Better Business Bureau.
I also have the same installed on our 4x4 Isuzu Rodeo 3.2L V6 - passed CA emissions with gutted cat last fall with flying colors plus I got 2-3 more MPG out of it (15-20%) The gutted cat casing is in for the visual purpose only as I am not polluting the air anyway, so no tree huggers would egg my car
Anyway, look it up, if you get it (about $70, MSD set-up is another $160 for 6A and the coil) - I can almost guarantee you'll pass as far as emissions go if your engine is put together right. Then, you just either have to find a garage with some old guy working there where they don't do the visual, just the "pipe sniff test" or get your stuff looking legal.
I love sharing stuff like this with all you fellow dubbers (other than my ghetto mods)
Good luck http://****************.com/smile/emthup.gif
[Modified by vw_pilot, 7:15 AM 4-11-2002]