Wish me luck guys...I have an appoointment to see a local referree today, in 3 hours... I currently have a stock LS set up...running non-obd..only mods to this motor is a jdm header and lightened flywheel. I even took out the chipped ecu, so it's pretty much bone stock. On the issue of the jdm header, i put the heat shield to disguise it a bit...any tips?

 

who are these referees? do they inspect your car for some reason?

 

Don't dress like a stunna...

 

yah....put a heat shield on it

 

drive around long enough to warm up the cat
run some fuel system cleaner
make sure no hoses/lines are hanging loose
and last but no least, deny that its a swapped motor!

 

Bad news...I failed...but learned a few things...and had a good laugh along the way. First off the referree asked, "where did you get your car?" I replied, this is my wife's and she bought it in 1988 in Marin County. He then says, "well, how come this badge in the door jam says, Made in Canada? Your hood says Japanese wordings and shows a B16 engine and there's nowhere to find something that says it's a US vehicle. What stupid idiots! I said, of course, these were made and few thousands of them in Canada and imported to the US, if you check the VIN numbers or call our local Honda dealer, they will explain the "made in Canada" tabs. As for the Japanese wordings, I just swapped my front end last week with a front end from Japan. He went inside his office and called someone and didnt speak a word of it again. duh...Anyway, the results says, visual inspection failed because I had a CAI for a Civic and my engine is for an Acura. What a stupid question...I replied by saying, of course, if I put one made for an Acura, it wouldn't fit, besides AEM is carb exempt, so whats the problem? He argues, if you're putting an Acura engine then all aftermarket add-ons should be for an Acura...I said, what about the exhaust? If I put one for an Acura then it wouldnt fit or match would it? Furthermore, since my engine is a 94 LS, I cannot run it non OBD, I must convert it to OBD1...what a bunch of crap...But one good news when he asked about the JDM header...I said, it came stock with the motor and thats the reason for the heat shields...he didnt argue about it...So my next step would be..is to find another referree in another county and hopefully pass the emissions test.

 

how did he know what car the CAI was for? and why the f*** does it matter? it a friggen PIPE with an air filter stuck to it! as for the OBD0 - OBD1 thing how did he know? as far as I know there is no visual difference...I could be wrong though...plus I know that you can't put an older engine but newer ones should be fine...(he didn't complain about that but I thought I would through it out)... as for the header why does it matter if its JDM? its just pipes again....all that should matter on your car should be emissions....but I dont have to deal with any of this so this all from my opinion and nothing to do with knowledge or experience (Yeah Canada...well where I live anyways No Aircare in Calgary!)

 

ahh lovable cali, damn ref's

 

He gave me a chart and the only difference that he pointed out was the heated O2 sensors. Apparently, OBD-0 has 1 wire as suppose to 4. And about the CAI, it was really stupid that he later said would accept the stock Civic intake tubing if I had it. He specifically stated that an Acura engine should have Acura intake, now how come a carb exempt aftermarket Civic made CAI won't do. I think he was just making up rules as he went along to justify failing me. Oh well...my emissions was a bit high though, it was 171 and the accepted number is 100...I wonder why when I have stock set up. I'm gonna have to experiment or something...

 

Sounds like you need to find a more honda friendly ref....what brand gas were you running? I know for Canada Shell supposedly has the least emissions....

 

I just had 87 octane...wasn't really prepared because when I called to set up an appointment, the only time they had available was that same day, in 3 hours...Anybody knows, if I'm actually stuck on getting this car to pass since they have me on their records with a swapped motor? I may decide to just f(*&(&ck the test and grease my way to some technician....

 

put on stock intake piping, take off all japanese diagrams and lettering, run premium gas, use a full bottle of "Guaranteed to Pass" emissions cheating fluid, and even try unplugging an injector in the parking lot before you go in. unplug the injector, pull the hazard fuse to reset the ECU, and your car will barely make enough exhaust to register on the emissions test. haha. tricks of the trade.

 

Thanks, I'll remember that next time I go for a recheck...Anybody here passed with a 94 and up LS motor running non-obd?

 

Hmm, I'm gonna have to go through this same deal w/ the obd0 O2 sensor.. hmmm.... Thinking....

 

you were running 87 octane on an ls/vtec? is that possible? whats the compresson ratio?

 

his motor is not an ls vtec just yet.

 

they didnt make that up....its how it is....they check the carb # on the intake....refs are **** about that kinda of crap...the last ref i talked to said that exhausts dont really matter....they dont really care about anything after the cat

 

I have two motors and I'm trying to get my stock LS pass through the referree first while my all out LS/Vtec motor's still being built. My damn motors been at my mechanics shop for 2 months now and finally spoke to him about it last week and gave him til mid July...Anybody know of Redstar Racing in Hayward? They're pretty good except they take so god damn long...It's a good thing I opted to get another motor or my car would have sat there for months...