Ok, so Ive been searching around for a while now and cant seem to find an answer. I have a 2000 civic ex with the stock d16y8 and i want to go turbo. I have heard about these CARB legal kits from greddy but there a little out of my price range. What makes these kits pass emissions in the first place? i live in Wisconsin and when you go and get your emissions tested all the do is plug into your ecu and scan for codes/sensors. if anyone can point me in the right direction it would be greatly appreciated.

 

No one?

 

So is your question for living in California or for Wisconsin? Because CARB refers to California Air Resources Board, so if you are staying in Wisconsin, your car doesn't need to necessarily meet those requirements.

If you want to know about Wisconsin:

If all they do is an ECU check (no sniffer) then you only need to maintain your OBD-II setup (instead of converting to the easier to tune OBD-I) by tuning on something like e-manage or an AEM FIC. Otherwise, it'll be just like checking the stock engine, making sure you have no codes and whatnot.

Of course if there IS a sniffer test, you need to make sure that it is tuned to fall within the emissions boundaries set by the state.

About California:

What the difference really is deals with the fact that the kit has been tested and allowed by CARB. There is an exception list on the CARB website that shows all the kits/aftermarket performance parts that are allowed. Here, you can search turbocharger system:

http://www.arb.ca.gov/msprog/aftermk...es/amquery.php

You basically just need the documentation with the Greddy kit when you go to the local ref, and assuming the kit is installed and working to spec, you will get your pass sticker (from what I understand that's how it works in a nutshell, Cali dwellers chime in if I'm wrong).

One thing to note is that you definitely won't be making a lot of power on those allowed kit's if you stay within the legal boost level, among other things.

 

Thanks for the reply.
I wanted to know about Wisconsin. Basically i just want to run boost on all stock d16y8 internals which wouldn't support much more than 200 horsepower anyway form my understanding. If i went with something like e-manage or AEM FIC would this be the only thing i would need along the lines of tunning for low boost of say 5-8 psi?

 

Yes, and I believe the FIC is more popular now that some bugs have been worked out.

Now you just need to find a tuner for it.

Good luck!

 

Alright, maybe a turbo setup is going to be cheaper than i thought

 

Yeah given that you don't have to abide by any CARB-like standards you should be able to piece something together on the cheap. Especially for your power goal.

 

I contacted my local performance shop to get a quote and this is what they said.
It is possible but not with a “correct” setup. The FIC and emanage are not good tuning solutions in our experience and they have a ton of problems.

So with that said i figure with my power goal (180hp) i could also swap to an obd2 gsr engine. would this be able to pass emissions in my 2000 civic ex. what about a 2000 si engine? im looking to keep it under 2k but will go over if i have to.

 

I will admit that the FIC or e-manage is definitely not the most ideal solution, but I am surprised they just shot them down like that. Anyway though, if they said they won't tune it, well then I guess you gotta take what you can get.

As long as you keep the swap OBD-II and there are no codes, you'll be all good. Choosing which engine will be personal preference. I think you'll find the GSR or an H22 to be better all around given their higher hp AND torque. Your budget COULD get you either, though you will probably end up spending more for a solid setup.

Of course you can go for the B16 as well like you mentioned, but I don't think it's weak torque and lower hp will satisfy you.

 

I'm not surprised to hear it. Some tuners start to get sketchy when it comes to systems that don't familiarize themselves with. I'm not saying as though they may have NOT experienced it, but again, if one is not able to or not willing to be familiar with something, they'll simply shut it down...

 

you can always convert to obd1 and get tuned on hondata, neptune, etc. then swap back to stock ecu and injectors for emissions. i know lots of people do that in Maryland because you have to have a functional obd2 port for 96+ cars.

 

This is what I was thinking, because from my experience even if a shop doesn't necessarily like a system, if they can get it to work they will do it if you really want them to.

Same here in this part of Illinois. This would definitely be best for making power, though from what the OP's goals are I don't think he will want to bother going through the trouble.

 

Yeah if i would go with a swap i would want something nice and stock looking like it was supposed to be there. I wouldn't want to mess around with switching stuff back just to pass emissions.

As for the turbo, I'm good with computers. Ive seen that it is possible to tune AEM FIC via usb cable. Does anyone have experience with tunning one of these systems?

 

i was refering to simply switching the ecu and injectors in and out of your turbo d16y8 for emissions. not related to an engine swap what so ever.

 

Sorry for some reason i thought you meant swap an obd1 engine into it. it wouldn't be a bad idea i guess. would the ecu's be interchangeable without messing with the harness though? If so what would need to be done?

 

We've just had 3 turbo cars in the last two months come in to pass emissions, one was from Wisconsin and the other one was rocking a greddy kit, both passed. The customer with the greddy kit had to have a few things replaced because the kit was on there for a long period of time ( 02 sensor was reading slow and the car was also running rich and throwing a code, so we had to figure that out ) We don't prefer e-manage or an FIC because for the lack of control that you have, the only time we really use an FIC is when there is nothing else out there for that car, and a stand alone is just way out of the customers budget.

We also don't prefer the greddy kit because we feel its a little bit over priced, I'd almost suggest getting the car first to pass emissions, then convert to obd1 and piece together your own kit. Then when it comes to passing emissions again, just switch back to obd2, ( pull off junper harness ) , pull of intercooler pipe and put an air restrictor inline so you don't over spin the turbo or just pull the wastegate spring.

There's always a way to pass emissions

 

So lets say i went through with the turbo. converted to obd1. basically all i would have to change to make it pass it take off the jumper harness, switch the ecu back to stock, put the stock injectors back in, and pull the waste-gate spring. and as long as all my sensors are work properly it should pass? I just dont want to much hassle just to pass, and if anything maybe some $$$ can get me through

 

There were a few people back in NY that I knew that did that. Or you could try what I was going to do before I switched to a K-series. I bought an OBD2a-OBD2a (OBD2b-OBD2b in your case) jumper harness and an OBD1 harness with just leads on it. My plan was to figure out a way to have both ECUs running at the same time, but the OBD1 ECU controlling everything. It wouldn't have been as simple as splitting, soldering and plugging everything in, but I thought it might be worth a shot at the time.

 

Haha that would be awesome. but sounds like a lot of work. This is going to be my first BIG modification besides the I/H/E. I just cant stand the lack of power anymore....