Passed CA Smog
Thread Starter
Melting Slicks
Joined: Mar 2008
Posts: 2,141
Likes: 76
From: Santa Maria, CA
Passed CA Smog
Had my 85 tested today and passed easily. This has always been a challenge. My cam has 221/230 duration. A few weeks ago the shop ran a sniff check and it failed badly. All I did was replace the converter with a CA legal Magnaflow. What I've learned is that Random Technology cats lose efficiency very quickly. I only had mine a few thousand miles. And even new the smog results with Random Technology were not near as good as the Magnaflow.
Race Director
Joined: Apr 2003
Posts: 17,700
Likes: 1,667
From: moraga ca
Had my 85 tested today and passed easily. This has always been a challenge. My cam has 221/230 duration. A few weeks ago the shop ran a sniff check and it failed badly. All I did was replace the converter with a CA legal Magnaflow. What I've learned is that Random Technology cats lose efficiency very quickly. I only had mine a few thousand miles. And even new the smog results with Random Technology were not near as good as the Magnaflow.
Thread Starter
Melting Slicks
Joined: Mar 2008
Posts: 2,141
Likes: 76
From: Santa Maria, CA
Congratulations. What a pain this CA smog stuff is. On my 08Z I just removed my long tube headers, high flow cats, Variram intake and tune. Everything is now stock just to pass smog. I decided to leave everything stock because I don't want to go through this every 2 years.
I'm just happy I finally have a passing combination. I think upgrading to a 165 ECM also helped. It allowed me to quickly modify the target AFR.
Melting Slicks
Joined: Mar 2002
Posts: 3,108
Likes: 126
From: S.L.C. UT
I had to swap the headers for stock exhaust. But the headers are going back on. I lost a lot of power with the stock manifolds. I'll also be changing the tune to increase timing and add some fuel. But the tune I used today will be saved for 2 years from now.
I'm just happy I finally have a passing combination. I think upgrading to a 165 ECM also helped. It allowed me to quickly modify the target AFR.
I'm just happy I finally have a passing combination. I think upgrading to a 165 ECM also helped. It allowed me to quickly modify the target AFR.
Thread Starter
Melting Slicks
Joined: Mar 2008
Posts: 2,141
Likes: 76
From: Santa Maria, CA
Safety Car
Joined: Jan 2004
Posts: 3,783
Likes: 15
From: Northern California
Congrats!...
I installed a Random Technology Cat on my 91 Camaro and it had a very hard time passing the emissions test. I finally had to replace it with a Car-Sound Cat and it finally passed!...What a lot of wasted money and time!...
I installed a Random Technology Cat on my 91 Camaro and it had a very hard time passing the emissions test. I finally had to replace it with a Car-Sound Cat and it finally passed!...What a lot of wasted money and time!...
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