Followup:

Rocky at Rotary Performance arranged with me to send back the Bonez cat for a full refund. I shipped it early this week. Final configuration on our RX-7 is Bonez DP plus new Mazda stock cat. Since there may be an underlying problem (vacuum leak somewhere), I intend to either DIY or have done a complete R & R of all vacuum hoses with Viton 1/8 ID, 3/8 OD and 1/4 ID, 1/2 OD hose.

---- Bill

I have a sniff test soon
 

By the looks of it, I am going to have fun! My other JDM vehicles passed with no problem... but this car came with a huge intercooler, and an aftermarket ECM I think it was an F-conV? I dont know how to tune it, so i think i will be in for a lot of fun! SH!T!!!

Colorado emissions failure 93 FD
 

Ok, so after my 93 FD had been sitting for 6 years with a blown motor I finally got the money and time to put it all together. I bought a used JDM engine, trans and ECU, pulled everything out (complete drivetrain, rear end, fuel tank, brakes...everything!) replaced all fuel lines, filter, charcoal canister, fuel pump (255 lph.) plugs and misc. vac. lines that i could see where weathered and cracked. I also rewired in the connector for the jdm computer. As far as exhaust stuff goes... I have an HKS DP, new Bosch O2 sensor, new cat. converter of the universal type w/ air pump provision, and an HKS cat back.

I went down to the emissions test facility to get smog tested and failed miserably! could my new fuel pump be part of this. I have an adjustable F.P. regulator that i can use. I am planning to take the U.I.M. off and see if there are any more vac. lines i need to replace, but i wanted to know if anyone has suggestions on anything else i can do to pass!

Here are my results:

Limits: HC (gpm) 1.5000
CO (gpm) 15.000
CO2 -not limited
NOX (gpm) 3.5

Readings: HC (gpm) 3.6179 -fail
CO (gpm) 28.2388 -fail
CO2 436.3255
NOX (gpm) 0.0531 -pass

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks,
Zach

Have you checked that the air pump is engaging? New spark plugs?

Yes, air pump is working and new plugs are in

Are you running the stock FPR? Is it hooked up properly?

Are you running rich?

Are you sure the cat is big enough? Have others passed with this cat?

The cat may be your problem since its a universal type. I'm pretty sure this car needs more than your generic cat. And on top of that you have a DP which doesn't help (but in my case didn't hurt)

the car is running rich, i had a slight suspicion that the cat was not big enough but i just put a cheapo on it to get it up and running. I do have the stock FPR on and it is hooked up correctly, but i do have an adjustable FPR that i might put on it in hopes that it might allow me to lean the mixture out a little. I am wondering if i might be seeing some of these problems because it is a jdm motor and it has no egr? also maybe because I am using the jdm computer?

You need to find out why you are running rich at idle. What is your idle rpm? Is the IAT shot? (Hard to tell without a PFC.) Tuning via the FPR is pretty dangerous without a wideband.

Without a PFC and a wideband it is going to be pretty hard to figure out what is going on. If you are running rich you are going to dump hydrocarbons.

yeah it is quite frustrating trying to do this on a limited budget. I have an HKS twin honeycomb filter setup on this car and there is a tube that comes off a splitter right after the air pump that goes down by the radiator but is not connected to anything. It is not the hose from the pump to the engine though, any thoughts on this? I do have an autometer AF gauge but i do not have a wideband. Is there any budget friendly ways to go about this?

Are you 100% sure that the air pump is delivering air to the cat? If it is not, you will not pass.

What AFR does your narrowband report at idle?

if i have the hose off the front of the pump, i can feel the pump sucking against my hand and the clutch on the pump is also operational.

several people mentioned adding octane to help with emissions. wondering if there's a specific brand to go with, what rating of octane, and how much to put in to help with emissions but not cause issues... any help is appreciated!

anyone have any input on the rating of octane to use and how much (assuming a full tank of gas), for help passing smog?

After 2 years of emissions testing, I have some information to offer up. May help some, may not. I bought the car in 2005, and was living in AL. Worked on it for 3 years to get it roadworthy. On the road in 2008. No smog testing required in AL.

In 2011 I moved to the Atlanta area, begin smog checks. My initial condition was / is: I have a hodge-podge of mods carried over in part from the previous owner.

• Petitt Intake
• Down pipe, don't know the brand
• Mid-Pipe (no cat)
• A/M muffler (sounds decent)
• Power FC ECU (my addition)
• Air Pump remained in place, but not plumbed

1st year (2011)

I assumed that it would not pass with no cat, and the Power FC. So for the first test I bolted on the stock cat, which I received in the deal with the purchase of the car. I should also mention that I attached the air pump hose to the cat.

RESULT: Fail. I do not have the numbers on the first failure, but as I recall I was in the neighborhood of around 3X the allowables. In GA, you get a free 2nd test after repairs.

I went home and installed the stock ecu and retested. I should also mention, as I recall, there are 3 wires that are cut when installing the PowerFC. Seems like they were emission related, but I don't remember exactly. But I did NOT reconnect them.

RESULT: Pass. It passed very easily, about 1/5th the allowables. The guy at the testing center said that his opinion was that the ecu made most of the difference ... he said he actually thought my cat wasn't doing much.


2nd year (2011)

Based on what the guy at the test said the previous year (he thought the cat wasn't doing much), I decided to run the first test by installing the stock ecu, and not installing the cat. I did NOT connect the 3 cut wires to the ecu (again).

RESULT: Fail. It failed worse that the failure with the cat only from the 1st year. This result was like 6X the limits.

I went home a installed the stock cat, and attached the air pump hose again. Still did not connect the 3 wires. Took it back to test again.

RESULT: Pass. Again it passed nicely. About 1/5th of the limits.


Conclusion(2011)

It's apparent to me that the Japanese engineers did a very good job of tuning the ecu, cat and air pump to create really good emissions. It passed the test so easily with all 3 items operating I was really surprised. Its also notable that my opinion differs from what the guy at the emissions place said. I think the cat has more impact on emissions than the ecu. But when all 3 work together, it is very good. I have about a 25 minute ride to the place I like, which is one of the rare few places that have the rollers to do a sniffer test on (you guys know what I'm talking about cause we all have to do the sniffer test with our FDs). So the cat had plenty of time to light and burn. After pulling onto the rollers (no wait), the guy always said to leave it running (which is what I wanted to do to keep the cat hot), which I suppose is why he suggested it also. I have a fan mod in my car then when I switch on, runs the cooling fans on HIGH. I run those fans during the test. And it generally keeps the coolant less than 90°C. So, no need for hot coolant to pass the test.

Other factors: The spark plugs are probably less than 1,000 miles old. I only run 93 octane. Unfortunately I have ethanol gas in it, which may be good for emissions, but I have no idea. The only local place that doesn't have ethanol only has 90 octane, so I don't run it.

Lastly, my car is probably 75 horsepower less with all 3 working, but it does run good. It has the ~3,000 rpm stumble on the stock ecu, but idles a helluva lot better on the stock ecu. But I'll take the PowerFC, loud sound and extra 75 hp!


JyRO

Hi guys. Sorry to dredge up this thread again, but I was wonder if you all could offer some tips on how to pass the dreaded CA smog test. I just had the car tested today and it failed on both the 15mph and 25mph tests. It doesn't look like the results were too terrible so I'm hoping there's an easy fix.

First, the car's specs:
-'93 w/ about 60k miles, just recently had a thorough service so new plugs and oil. vacuum hoses should be in good shape.
-stock cat, airbox, ic
-downpipe
-PFC
-1300cc injectors, supra pump

Results from smog test (max/tested):
15mph
%CO2: 12.2
%O2: 3.5
HC: 61/58
CO: .36/.01
NO: 493/968 (fail)

25mph
%CO2: 14.5
%O2: 0.0
HC: 37/25
CO: .35/.42 (fail)
NO: 516/191

Admittedly, I'm not very knowledgeable in this area so any advise on where to start would be appreciated.
The air pump is still on the car. How do I ensure that it's operating correctly?
I believe the car is running the original cat. Any chance it's on its way out?
Guy at the shop said that the car is running rich at 15mph and lean at 25mph. That sound right? Should I adjust the PFC fuel maps to correct for this? Anything else to look into?

Thanks for the help.

One trick I used that made a HUGE difference, was to "hardwire" the airpump to run all the time. I did a search to find it on here (and have to again every two years because I forget).

I had a bunch of problems the last two times, and then each time I remember this, and it flies right through.

As someone who has spent 6 consecutive tries on a PFC fidgeting with everything from tuning the 15/25 zones to swapping in new emissions parts, I have but two words: stock ECU.

STOCK.
...
ECU.


STOCK...ECU.

STOCK ECU?
Yes. Stock ECU.

Should the ECU be stock?
It should be stock.

But what if it's like, not stock?
It should be stock

But how do I remember this hard thing to remember?
Use this jingle:
If the ECU ain't stock, I'm gonna be focked.

Is this post even serious?
I'm stocking ferious about this.

Haha thanks. The jingle helped. Really drove it home. Will the stock ecu play nice with the supra pump and 1300s?

Lol.

Should play nice enough enough to pass. It did for me anyway.