Hey everyone its been a b***h failing emission. I failed 2 times and the third i finally passed. If you don't already know, CA has lowered the emissions for FDs. Here is what did to pass.

Can't find the 1st one but i have the most recent ones.
What i had:
HKS Down pipe
RX7Store high flow cat
stock cat back
new plugs
fully functioning airpump
eveything else bone stock
ran the car for 40 min
(FAILED)

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What i did after failing:
Found out i had an exhaust leak (Pineapple Racing graphite gasket, turbo/mani)
replaced w/ OEM metal gasket.
Change the HKS dp to OEM pre-cat
Use the steam cleaning method w/ distilled water thinging (look it up)
Add a bottle of that Guaranteed to Pass
and ran the car for 30 min on the freeway
(Passed)

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Hope this help out a lil bit!

Good Luck!

 

thanks brotha!

 

You should not need a pre-cat. A properly running FD with a stock cat (or something equivalent) will have no trouble passing emissions in CA.

Here is my car with a stock cat (and downpipe, exhuast):

Test________CO2%__O2%______HC(PPM)________CO%_____ ____NO(PPM)______
______RPM_MEAS__MEAS__MAX_AVE_MEAS__MAX__AVE__MEAS _MAX__AVE__MEAS
15mph_1768_14.30__0.80_|_88__21___22__|_0.52__0.06__0.01_|_704__150__167
25mph_2922_14.40__0.50_|_53__13____6__|_0.50__0.05__0.24_|_738__136___87

Vs. with an SMB metallic cat:

Test________CO2%__O2%______HC(PPM)________CO%_____ ____NO(PPM)_____
_______RPM_MEAS__MEAS__MAX_AVE_MEAS__MAX__AVE__MEA S_MAX__AVE__MEAS
15mph_1771_14.69__0.16_|_88__21__120__|_0.52__0.06__0.57_|_704__150__245
25mph_2034_14.70__0.11_|_53__13__106__|_0.50__0.05__0.65_|_738__136__201

That said, they have definitely brought the passing numbers down, which I can't imagine is legal. I am sure there are lawsuits in the offing. A car should not have to be cleaner than the requirements of the year that it was manufactured.

 

this is why they lowered the emissions?

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im sure other cars are struggling too not just rx7s.

 

What is 'this'?

 

They made the emissions specific to the vehicle, rather than by class. The way they look at it is they didn't lower the emission requirements, they are saying that we've been having a free ride with inflated numbers due to the wide umbrella they had to cover every possible vehicle. These requirements are more "correct."

But yeah, its bullshit. They want older cars off of the road.

 

I was reffed and I had to deal with this big time.

Stock cat, stock dp, air pump, new plugs, and a new 02 sensor should do the trick.

i had an hks intake system with carb legal sticker and also a front mount setup. I passed no problem.

Ken

 

If they want older cars off the road maybe those a holes should be smoging muscle cars too!

 

I cant speak to the "new" emissions standards, but I had to smog in Sept, and only failed visual part due to having Bonez DP.

Emissions by itself passed with allot of headroom. but I only have 14k on my last rebuild (fresh plugs, wires, used 02 sensor). I do have a faulty egr, but interestingly it only throws a code when cruising in 5th... and only sometimes. Turning the car off, resets the code, so during the smog test itself, it never comes back on.

stock oem main cat still works well, once heated up really good. now that I have passed, I need to put on a Bonez high flow cat, and leave the oem unit put away till next smog. I also want to remove the egr and put a resistor in it's place. I don't think it actually helps with emissions passing.

 

You can just pay the bail and not deal with a ref. The system sure likes money.

 

As the previous owner of a 68 BB Mopar and many more muscle cars i detest this option, and for the sake of argument most muscles cars of classic era are driven only on weekends keeping miles down thus creating less emissions over the whole, but yes in the short by god they burn. I have to admit it would have been funny to put my charger in a smog test.

 

Hey I understand, I like the muscle, but its kinda bullshit that a brand new car that has already met current emission standards from the factory has to get tested every year or two and a car from the 60's can run around with open headers and a huge blower sticking out of the hood. I just don't understand how this makes sense logically.

 

I just remembered a funny thing my charger actually had a sticker that said it met emissions standards for its time, wish i snapped a pic of it. The only logic i can give you behind why you cant put emissions on a muscle car is that well it be a big expensive bitch. The other is political, proof of this is that when we had that clunkers program there was a reason why you couldn't turn in a car earlier than the 80's, lobbyist for classics didnt want them be junked thus ending available parts etc. Anyways do what did and find a nice crooked smog guy.

 

I forgot i changed my o2 sensor as well. Anyways these are my f*** up Pineapple Racing graphite gaskets. They probably have the best costumer service ever. They refund my money and credited it towards the OEM ones. Sick!

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This thread was particularly interesting to me. Note D Geesaman's comment at post #41, and also the original emissions testing requirements on the 1994 RX-7 in post #42.

 

I have one of those. After inspecting it, I decided to reuse my old one. The graphite one looks very flimsy and prone to blow out if you have alot of backpressure (e.g., turbocharged vehicles).

 

ya I fully agree, I hate to see them get junked any way. still no reason why a brand new car has to be smoged

 

It doesn't unless you sold it, new cars have, I think 7 year "grace period" as long as you're the original owner, if you sell it, then it has to get smogged due to sale.

 

i'm about to go smog an rx8, which is dumb, because its got a system on it that smogs itself (obd2+), so why we have to put it on the rollers is just a mystery.

or to put it another way, in CA we smog cars that BY LAW smog themselves. thereby wasting everyones time, and creating more pollution because i have to drive the thing to the smog station

 

Yup, other states just do a code read for obd II stuff.

 

I'm currently working on returning my FD to stock (highly modded Pettit engine with Greddy parts). I tried looking up the follow with no luck. Could anyone please give me a little more info on what the OP means by:

"Use the steam cleaning method w/ distilled water thinging (look it up)"

 

The CA smog restriction is definitely one of the downfalls of this state. When they used to say 49 state legal, it used to mean CA was the lone state and it wasn't a CA car. We have some of the worst auto emission laws.

 

That's too bad about your emission laws. You guys should vote Republican.

 

how else do you think they are going to bail out the car manufacturers? theoretical or not, it's pretty obvious that they are forcing older cars off the road whether you want to keep them or not.

"high emitter profile", lets make the standards more strict so they all fail!

 

Here some post:

1. https://www.rx7club.com/showthread.p...steam+cleaning
2. https://www.rx7club.com/showthread.p...ht=steam+clean