Worth noting for future reference that the ACV check valve is still available new (PN# 1480-13-730, about $18). I replaced mine rather than cleaning the existing one (which might be overkill but I wanted to be sure).

ive lived in CA my whole life, and i've had to smog every car i've owned, plus others, at one point it was 8 cars a year.
Top Tip: go to the same smog guy for everything.

the car most clean; was either the Rx8 or a 1980 MGB tuned a bit lean,
runner up was the 99 FD that thing was squeaky clean...

funniest was the Lancia Scorpion, it was like a comedy. first try it failed badly. so i put the cat from the FC in it (its the same size), and it blew up the coolant overflow bottle on the dyno. try three melted the rear bumper (Rx7 cat works hard) and then try four it actually passed.....

I'm definitely going to stick with the same guy with my other cars as well. I don't think he will forget me and he really took his time to make sure I had the best chance at passing. He even set up a huge fan in front to provide some airflow which is something I had not seen before for smog.

My RX8 is also super clean. Probably will stay that way until the cat gets tired...

i like to go old timey, and have a good cat for Smog days and then run some beater the rest of the time. the Rx8 cats go bad and they are not cheap, in fact cats are so expensive that the OE Mazda part is probably the cheapest and its $1000

This. Have a spare ~5K mile OEM cat for smog check sitting, just in case my "daily driver" cat gives out one day.

Will having pre-mix in the gas affect emissions? Just wondering if I need to drain my gas prior to testing.

Yes it will affect the test. Make sure there are no additives in the tank to give yourself the best chance of passing. I would not drain the tank but just run it down and fill it up with premium.

My 1980 SA just failed. When I resurrected it (inherited from a deceased relative) a few years ago to get it licensed in CA, it passed just fine. Now, a few thousand miles later, not so much. I was adding some pre-mix, but ran the tank down and filled with premium before the test (with no pre-mix), no luck. Took it to my mechanic (the guys that resurrected it in the first place), they leaned it a bit, still no luck.

Any pointers of the above situation? Anybody know if / when CA will decide a 1980 vehicle no longer needs to get smogged?

Thanks.


https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx7...fe6012837a.jpg

Sorry, should have added this to the 1st Gen Forum. But the search for "CA Smog" came up here in 3rd Gen.

In any case, I'd suggest your cat is not fully doing its job. Did you make sure to get it very warm before the test by driving at highway speeds for 20 miles or so?

Yes, ran it for a good long time before the test. The mechanic that took it in for the re-test did the same. I'd say you're right, though, about the cat. They checked readings before the cat and after, essentially the same.

CO is often tied to the combustion/ignition timing. At the most basic level, check the plugs, wires and base timing.
Correction -that was meant for the original post...

a 1980 car has a Thermal Reactor, no cat

write your representative and tell them the program has been a success and they can just make it go away, please. i did and i heard back from the assembly-person before i heard back from the BAR (Bureau of Automotive Repair, which was a pretty useless phone call, they are responsible for the smog licenses and the software, and YOU are responsible for everything else)
they had a list of 3 bills that were dead, and a 4th that was probably going to be. the smog program isn't popular, so if they can get rid of it without looking like they are soft on the environment they probably don't care much.
if you don't know (i didn't) the CA govt uses an Assemblyman, which can be a woman, and a State Senator. took longer to find out who these people were than to write the email.

Hi all, new owner of 93 touring. Maybe I should start a new thread, but I figured this is kind of related. Has anyone had any luck passing CA smog with any mods? For example, stock ECU/tune, stock turbos, stock fuel system, but upgrades on both intake side and exhaust side? I was hoping to do some light upgrades and tune with PFC, but swap to stock ECU for smog.

@nmoffatt thanks for documenting your smog tips!

This has been covered quite a bit. California is a tricky state, the big thing here is that you can fail with a visual inspection in some instances - open air filters, big exhaust, etc.

For passing the sniffer test, working air pump, good stock main cat, stock ECU, good fresh plugs, good gas - that all helps a great deal.

Dale

I'd say you need to check your air pump operation.

CO and HC are high (above average according to the report), and NOx is below average. That shows you're not having enough oxidation reactions, and the air is likely not lean enough.

@DaleClark thanks I will do more searching on the subject. I’m a little bit more optimistic that passing with a few mods is not impossible :). Btw, I’ve been a lurker since 2004 and I remember reading up on your advice back then. Fast forward 18yrs, I finally have an FD and am looking forward to working with the helpful and knowledgable community on here! Lucky to have cool dudes like you.

@arghx sorry for the confusion. I hijacked OP’s thread a little. The test results are from OP, but looks like cleaning the ACV is what did it.

Dale is right, the visual gets tricky. the aggravating part is that you can follow the rules (HKS and Greddy had CARB legal stuff), but the smog guy may or may not follow them. the smog guys are, or seem to be under a lot of pressure, apparently the state has the money and time to send fake cars around or even rent the place across the street and shoot video (which is really crazy because 2/3's of the state doesn't smog cars at all). actually around here they don't really want to even smog cars older than 95 anymore, its "too much work". i would suggest finding someone and bringing the car to them, if they know you and recognize it, it helps.

anyways two stories. last time i smogged my car, which is an REW swapped FC, it passed with the Re Amemyia ecu, and the down pipe. i didn't even warm it up, he spent enough time doing the inspections that i guess it was fine.

the second one was my friends car, it had a down pipe, and a 99 spec engine, and 99 ecu. i took it to guy #1, he did the entire test, which it passed, and then says "i dont like the down pipe i can't do it" i should point out that his is fair, it should have the precat, its just frustrating because it had passed the test
shop #2, after a while there is a guy looking at something, and then two, and then 3, and after 45 minutes i walk up and ask if i can help. they say they are looking for the EGR valve, i tell them it has a code for that. they say they don't care they need to test it. i ask if they are going to tear apart the intake for 2 hours to test the valve. they say they can't do it. they ask for the full fee...
guy number 3 just did the test and the car passed for the third time

please write your representatives and tell them this program is not needed anymore :)

Yes, the CA BAR is really cracking down on shops that clean pipe or otherwise falsify the inspection. The RX7 is a high tampering vehicle, so if you live in a part of the state that requires testing you generally have to use a test only station. I have been going to the same shop for the last 3 renewals, and I bring last year's inspection report to "help" them and it does seem to give them more assurance about the car. My FD has a JDM Mazda downpipe, it is pretty old looking and with the heat shielding it looks like it belongs there. They always spend much time looking the car over from top to bottom for any illegal mods despite my history with the shop, fortunately they have not flagged the DP.

@j9fd3s and @jza80 thank you for the info. Good to know it is possible to pass with stock ECU and down pipe (assuming visual passes). Did you have any mods on intake side?

I passed with a 'cheap bastard' intake which is a modified stock airbox, a downpipe, SMIC, PFC, and Racing Beat twin tip exhaust. I even have BNR stage 3 turbos. As long as it passes the sniffer test, just make it LOOK as stock as possible and get the hell out of that smog shop if the tech guy seems like he isn't in love with the FD. I've had more than one shop "work" with me on visuals because they flat-out liked the car. :)

my car has an HKS intake (which is CARB Legal) and intercooler, so yes. i've had all kinds of crazy crap pass.
the must haves are the Air Pump and a functional ACV. the FD also wants a good O2 sensor. the factory cat also is the best one, hands down, its also the most robust part of the car too.

since new cats are basically impossible to legally get in CA, we're starting to save the good cat just for smog tests, the Sunday cat, and then we have one for the rest of the time

I have a stock airbox fed by a 99-spec air inlet. But it looks completely stock. A "cheap bastard"-style airbox is also fine if you want more airflow, the cut out bottom section can't be seen in a visual. I had one of these on my car during my smog inspection ~2 years ago, however I have since removed it. When I first installed it, I found that the air pump honking noise was way to loud, so the solution was to insert a muffler plug in the air pump outlet hose. That removed the majority of the noise, but also seemed to create backpressure that messed up the ACV system and I saw considerably increased NOx levels from the test. For this latest test about a month ago, I had the OEM uncut airbox installed and the muffler plug removed and NOx was back down to normal with no other changes to the car. I think that when I had the muffler plug installed, some surplus output from the air pump was passing ahead of the cat or otherwise entering one of the air injection pathways at inappropriate times and creating some NOx. That air pump puts out a tremendous volume of air. Having the muffler plug installed, which resolved the majority of honking noise, also severely restricted the bypass air that normally feeds into the airbox. It had to go somewhere, I guess. YMMV..

Anyway, I think intake mods will not change the test result one way or the other, as long as you can pass visual. There isn't enough airflow from the ASM test mode to make a difference. A good condition stock cat is a must, though.

Just following up on this as it was time again for a smog check. Now that the FD is being driven more regularly it passed very easily. Since the last smog check the following has changed:

1) Added HKS Twin Power
2) Added SS Downpipe.
3) Had the injectors cleaned at RC.

I went for a 1 hour drive before the test after filling up with 91 at Chevron. Also changed the oil the day before.

Here are the results. Hopefully this could help someone down the road.

https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx7...dbc5e52ac3.png

I'm assuming that means you went from stock pre catted downpipe to aftermarket stainless steel open pipe. The reason that doesn't affect your emission test result is because the test isn't meant to capture a cold start. If Mazda could have passed the EPA testing (which cold starts in a lab at 75 degrees F) without an expensive pre cat they would have. So as much as we complain about regions with stricter emissions requirements, it's still not nearly as strict was what the car had to pass when new.