Hib Halverson

Actually, in defense of those "bogus smog cheats", the way the cars were emissions certified when they were built was....on a chassis dyno with equipment which took samples of the exhaust.

But, that's the last I will defend of them.

When I/M 240 was introduced on CA in the early -00s, all ZR-1s passed easily. Then, the radical environmentalist/progressives who set air quality policy in Sacramento decided a good way to force old cars off the road an, hopefully, replace them with newer, less-polutting cars, was to incrementally tighten the standards such that all cars with emissions on the high end of the previously "legal" range would suddenly flunk. That would mean the owner would be confronted with either fixing the car (in most cases there would, of course, be no fix), scrapping it or disposing of the vehicle out of state.

That gets old cars off the road.

The people of California have no one to blame for this situation except themselves because it is they who have been voting progressives into State office for the last 50 or so years.

Zrxmax

I won't argue the statement as you classified it for the simple fact that the EPA has been more than likely using the dyno test for some time. Without checking first its pretty safe to say California was the first state

to use chassis dyno for emission testing. What year did that level of compliance take effect in California? Was it prior to 1990?

About the political side of this... The Smog Czar is appointed, not elected. CARB is 1200 plus employees and administrators that set code, policy, standards, non compliance penalties and just about

anything else we can imagine. They literally make "Billions" for this state while we get to watch how they mismanage and discriminate against certain cars that run quite well.

We don't vote on the rules as CARB enacts them... do we?

CARB doesn't have the sense to give a car that qualified to miss out on the application of the "Gas Guzzler" tax to not be exempt from stricter levels of emissions. Hell, that was probably the ZR-1s downfall...

Kali missed out on the $1000 penalty so we will just systematically eliminate them so they have to sell their car and generate more "Use Tax" by purchasing a car more in line emission wise.

I still think George Carlin drives home some pretty good points.

cv67

State could make more off a yearly "fee" as car guys would pay it gladly. The rest would take their $1500 cash for clunkers check and move on

I am hoping they pass this new bill that makes 81 and older exempt.
Ill be snapping 1 or 2 up quick and never drive an EFI car again
Shocked that after taking super good care of my 02 its unsmoggable.
Throwaway cars.

Hey oldpro I bet Marcs tweak could help you out Hib is dropping strong hints. If you got a hotter thermostat put it back in

Hope you dont have to sell if you do pm me

Z51JEFF

As stated getting a bone stock LT5 is difficult to pass, one with these types of mods,next to impossible.

Zrxmax

Its a shame I don't have JVD's description of what he understood well as a shop owner when it came to CARB.

In response to this...

When I/M 240 was introduced on CA in the early -00s, all ZR-1s passed easily. Then, the radical environmentalist/progressives who set air quality policy in Sacramento decided a good way to force old cars off the road an, hopefully, replace them with newer, less-polluting cars, was to incrementally tighten the standards such that all cars with emissions on the high end of the previously "legal" range would suddenly flunk. That would mean the owner would be confronted with either fixing the car (in most cases there would, of course, be no fix), scrapping it or disposing of the vehicle out of state.


I consider these statements above to be described as "Incrementalism". Though is not a real word you can understand what it means. In this case it show us the State's way of taking away a

citizen's car because CARB slowly and methodically creates a situation where a car is no longer "legal". I would say its another step in the direction of tyranny.

Jagdpanzer

What are the current emission limits you have to meet in Kornyfornia these days?

cv67

Exactly what it is, freedom of choice-

OP whats your plan? Called Mark?

Zrxmax

I don't know... I am registered in MN until I have the smog chip handy so I can re enter California again and test positive. Once I jump through the stupid hoops they erect to deprive car enthusiast of their

choice to pursue, life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.... all will be good again.

MN had smog laws for 9 years and cancelled it... to much of a hassle for the people.

ZR-71

My '91 just passed its smog test today. Maybe Santa Cruz county tests are not as strict as other counties. One thing is a dyno sniff test is NOT required. All test numbers were less than 20% of max. I don't see a NOX listing so maybe it's not required, only CO2, O2, HC ppm and CO.
Don't know if it helps but my car has only 29k miles and only mods are Magna Flow exhaust, and aftermarket chip with minor mods, fan temp, 1st to 4th shift delete

Z51JEFF

The one thats killing everybody are the Nox levels.Ca dropped the limits for 702 down to 502 a few years ago.

cv67

Holy smokes thats a lot.
If only the state took into consideration car guys usually own a number of them and generate more $ than the typically one car maybe 2 car family.
Not easy being a car guy in Ca anymore very hesitant about buying any non smog exempt car

Zrxmax

It makes sense that the Resto Mod business continues to chug along. Lets throw an LT5 in a C2 or C3 with all the amenities including modern suspension and your home free!

Jagdpanzer

Same as we have here in Northern Virginia.
Had to put my stock 94 motor back in with EGR and fresh cats to pass last time. Also had to reprogram the ECM to activate EGR valve at 13 mph to get through the 15 mph sniffer test. Damn hard to get below 500 Nox without good cats and EGR.

Hib Halverson

...until you find out that in California, with engine swaps, the law says emissions controls go by the model year of the engine not the model year of the car.

but then...who's going to know unless California restarts the on-road inspections it once used to do.

Hib Halverson

It is possible that Santa Cruz Co. is not in an "enhanced area" and thus, NOx emissions are not tested.

Hib Halverson

Jus' curious..where'd you get the calibration with the revised EGR enable speed?

Zrxmax

Given the nature of this government the possibility always exist that on road inspections will make a comeback.

Nokones

Ron Zimmer - That is a name from the past. If my memory serves me right, he was a Fireman doing chips/tuning on his off days. I believe he did a couple of chips for me at Performance Associates in San Dimas.

Hib Halverson

Ron started doing cal work while he still worked for the Orange County Fire Authority. Later, realizing how well he was doing selling calibration services, he retired from the OC Fired Dept., and ran Z-Industries full time.

Besides doing cal work for DIYs, he had a thriving business doing calibration work for others who then re-sold his "chips". He also did work for some of the OEs.

He was my "cal guy" for all of my magazine and Internet project work until the late-00s when I "taught" myself how to calibrate.

Hib Halverson

The current NOx limit for an MY95 ZR-1 is 483 PPM. It was 689 PPM and before that it was 988 and, then, before that 1906.

The last time the car I used to own had to pass an I/M240 was 2011 and I was at 27 PPM NOx on that 483-PPM limit using a cal with a 14-mph EGR enable speed.

When Zimmer and I developed that fix for the EGR enable speed back in '03, the difference was huge, that's for sure. Not too many tuners know about that. Marc Haibeck does because I told him about it and gave him a Zimmer cal to look at. Hopefully, he does that with all his 93-95 cals.