I've been researching the next swap I want to do and think I've settled on a J32A2 from a 01-03 TL-S into an EG, but I want to do a fully legal build to keep the cops happy. Has anyone ever seen or heard of a BAR'd J swap? I think it's possible but I've never heard of it being done before. I called the ref hotline and have an appointment for the local ref to give me a call back with some info so we'll see what they say. The main things I'm worried about are the gas tank and dual exhaust. The TL-S has a dual exhaust and I have no idea where all that's going to fit under the EG. I'm also pretty sure they won't allow reducing it down to a single exhaust setup. From what I've read OBD2 also uses a few more fuel lines to the gas tank so those will have to be put somewhere under the car. For the gas tank I'm not sure if it'd be easier to add the OBD2 stuff to the EG tank or if I'd be easier to modify the TL-S tank to fit under the EG. Or maybe even an OBD2 tank from an EK would fit and allow me to get all the smog stuff working properly. Another concern might be the gas pedal since I think the J32A2 is drive by wire. I might need to swap the whole pedal assembly or figure out how to modify the EG pedal to work with the drive by wire system. If you guys can think of any other potential issues let me know.

 

What is BAR?
Is this any kind of environmetal friendly law of California?

A lot of trouble with unnecesary things. Good luck!

 

You made the right choice by calling the Referee.

They should point you in the right direction.

As far as the dual exhaust, as long as the OEM or carb equivalent headers are on, and the catalytic converter(s?) are in the factory positions, anything after the cat is a moot point. You can neck it down into a single exhaust just fine.

The placement of the headers/cat(s) will be your biggest issue.

Also, you'll need a factory/CARB equivalent intake.

Any gas tank sensors will need to be in place and functioning.

Factory ECU will need to be in place and the gauges/CEL will need to work properly.

If there is an immobilizer you may run into an issue with that.

Are you using an auto or manual transmission?

 

I thought you had to keep the mufflers the same too, but if not then that's great news.

The TL has three cats total and two of them are on the headers. As far as I know people usually use stock headers when doing J swaps so I'll only need to find room for one cat under the car, which shouldn't be too much of a problem.

I've been looking for an intake and it looks like an AEM Intake might be able to fit and they're carb compliant. Probably going to try that first.

I still haven't looked much into the gas tank, but I'm thinking this might be the most difficult part. I think the OBD2 EVAP system has an additional fuel return line to the gas tank that OBD1 cars don't have. Need to do more research on this.

As far as the ecu and immobilizer go I'm planning on buying a running or totaled, but complete TL-S so I can use the stock ecu and as much of the stock wiring as possible. Wiring is going to be a nightmare I'm sure, but I think this would be the best way to do it. That'll also mean I'll have the TL-S gauge cluster to wire in. Right now I have an AP2 cluster in my EG so I might try to use that again with the J swap.

I'm also planning on using a manual transmission. I've been reading mixed information about the manual transmissions you can use though. It looks like Honda started putting manual transmissions in the TL-S in 2003 but most places I've looked say you can only use 2004 and up transmissions. This doesn't seem to make sense. Can you really not use the 2003 manual transmission? For what reason?

 

Found this CARB legal intake today. It looks small enough it may fit. If not, I might be able to cut the side that mates with the intake manifold a little shorter without the refs noticing.

 

So I talked to the ref today. He said he's never had anyone come through and try to get a J swap BAR'd, but he also said that it's absolutely possible. He confirmed my suspicion that the EVAP system was going to give me the most trouble. His recommendation was to try and modify the TL tank to fit under the EG. According to him the EVAP system is the same one used by the K engines. I have read up some on getting K swaps BAR'd and there's some info out there about swapping the EVAP system into older cars. He also confirmed that anything after the last catalytic converter doesn't matter at all. He said they'd pass it with a straight pipe as long as all cats and everything else were in order haha. So that's good news. I was unaware of this. I thought there was a max decibel law, and apparently there is, but according to the ref that law is separate from smog rules. Which means you can get pulled over and ticketed for a loud exhaust, but as long as it passes emissions then the smog places won't care. He also made it a point to tell me that they check pretty carefully for people who cut down CARB legal aftermarket air intakes to make them fit better, so it looks like I'm going to have to find one that fits. This could be a real problem if I can get everything else swapped in but in the end can't find an intake that will fit. What an annoying way to ruin a legal swap.

 

I found some diagrams of the TL EVAP system.

Yep, definitely going to be a bitch. I'm committed now though. Started the hunt today for a 01-03 TL Type S that meets my criteria. Really hoping I can find a 2003 manual without breaking the bank. I'm in no hurry to get this done so I'm going to take my time and do this right and as cheaply as possible. Might start a build thread when I actually get the swap going.

 

That thing looks HUGE.

If you were to delete the rear spare tire area, maybe you could fit the tank after some custom fabbing, and then that evap canister can be fit into the rear tank space on the EG.

Unless that's not to spec and it's exaggerated for clarity. (going off of the injector size in relation to the hood size)

 

Or you can modify the factory tank to fit the vapor control valve, and then figure out where to fit that evap canister.

 

I think that is to scale, I've looked at a few pictures of the actual EVAP canister and it looks pretty big. I'm thinking similar to you. I could probably use the spare tire compartment to house the fuel tank and make room for the canister, or I could just put the canister where the spare tire would go. Another option would be to fab a custom fuel tank or modify the EG tank with a cut out to make space for the EVAP canister, but then you lose some fuel storage. That might not be that big of a deal though. I'd like to keep the spare tire compartment if possible as I like to go on roadtrips and being without a spare tire could be troublesome.

 

If I may say so, and this is based on no evidence or personal experience, but going over it in my head it just seems like it'd be easier to modify the EG fuel tank. There isn't nearly as much extra fabbing as with a custom tank or adapting the TL tank. :thumbsup: on a pretty cool idea

 

Yeah, that was my thinking too, but the ref seemed to disagree. He thought it'd be better to modify the TL gas tank to fit in the EG. His reasoning was that it'd be easier to make the TL tank fit than it would be to add all the extra sensors to the EG tank. I'm not sure I agree with him, but we'll see. I'm hoping to get a TL S in my driveway within the next few months so I can drop the tank and compare it side by side with an EG tank.

 

I just learned a bit about CA BAR & CARB rules & regulations. Hope you're progressing toward your goal, b/c my goal is very similar. If there are any updates, then that'd be cool.