Gabe624

iTrader: (1)

I know, I know... Its been asked a million times before, Ive searched and read through countless threads and nothing seems concrete. Officially the law is no jdm swaps, but its been done before. It seems sometimes bar refs are stick strictly to the law, and sometimes they're lax about it. The bar refs strictness seems to change from time to time, a lot of these threads are old. I want to know about peoples experience with it in recent times.
Its tax season, and Ive finally saved up for a JDM b18c gsr (the car its going into is a 97 civic ex). I want to know how many of you Ca members actually have a jdm swap (ideally a non direct replacement) in your usdm car, when was it Bar'd, and how difficult was it to do so. Any additional info/tips to me are appreciated.

Trbodynamx

I BAR'd mine about a year and a half ago. jdm b18c, usdm p72 computer, S2 IM, jdm exhaust manifold, aftermarket cat, usdm throttle body as well, stock air box. Process was easy for me overall. Schedule visit, go there, visual inspection for all smog equipment, smog test, sticker. YMMV. Best bet would be to find usdm everything for no issue.

Gabe624

iTrader: (1)

Thanks for the reply, continuing on this note. My latest idea being, buy and metal stamp and stamp a 1 on the end, so that it appears as a usdm b18c1. I do understand that when you do pass a jdm engine, you need all the usdm emissions parts. Can someone give me a run down of what those are? Even though it would appear I have a usdm engine, what emission parts would I be missing?

nemo909

WHAT IF I JUST STAMP MY OWN NUMBER..??

HAHAHA

idk man but fom my personal experience
i tried to bar a jdm swap to my 99 civic si in 2010.
i swapped a blown b16a2 longblock with a 00 b16b kept it obd2 so i can "bar it." also kept stock ecu, intake, header, cat, and exhaust. with no check eng light. etc. but when i actually went to the inspection place which happened to be Valley Community College in So Cal. They run the engine serial number to make sure it is clean and not stolen. my jdm motor serial # wont come up the system. the guy said no jdm motors can be bard in cali. or at least not the block i guess cus thats the number he ran. he said to bar honda motors in cali make sure the engine is usdm with a clean vin if they run the serial number on the block, the vin will come up. and make sure the motor year is newer than the year your vehicle. make sure all your emission **** is up to par, check out the diagram under your hood, all that has to be in order. plus stock cat piping intake ecu etc etc..
there was no convincing this guy to bar my ride, he knew the ropes. maybe if you know an "inside person" you can make this happen. but other than that i dont know man.
i said **** it and just started putting all types of other non cali highway emission friendly **** on my ride. ahahahahaha

holmesnmanny

First of all, it's not a law, it's a rule that they completely come up with at will.

With that said, the only things they care about is that the ecu has to be usdm. Technically it should be L11 or L10 etc etc instead of A11 or A10 but I don't think that's going to matter. It just needs to be usdm. The exhaust manifold has to be either oem or dc sports with the sticker to help them verify it's carb legal, the cat has to be either a cal cat or usdm, technically the emissions are supposed to be for the car that you're turning it into but for mines, my ref didn't even really trip of it since I had my accord intake and egr components etc etc. And of course timing has to be on, no check engine lights and you should be good to go.

If for some reason your ref says he can't bar a jdm engine, just go somewhere else. Most know what they're doing and any jdm engine is a "japanese replacement" engine and technically according to the rules spelled out at the BAR website are completely and totally able to be swapped and bar'ed. The replacement just needs to be "functionally the same" as its usdm counterpart that you are turning it into.

The only thing is that that you can't go down from obd2 to obd1 at all.

Cali_Accord

Nice thread.. Im thinking about dropping a H22 in my 96 accord.. Even tho my F22b was rebuilt less than a year ago :p

93hatchtyper

iTrader: (1)

it can be done, i have done it myself. Smog stuff needs to be US spec and they mainly care about ecu so you need to be running a US spec ecu. if your running an obd1 ecu make sure you have obd1 injectors and distributor. I have seen people go in with obd2 injectors wired in on an obd1 harness because the plugs are so much easier to deal with and failed because of the visual on it. So obd1 ecu have obd1 stuff on motor, obd2 ecu have obd2 stuff on the motor. Also make sure the purge solenoid is hooked up and all vacuum lines are run properly to the charcoal canister and what not. Usually need a US spec throttle body and intake manifold although i was able to get mine done with the jdm manifold and throttle body. I did buy a brand new OEM cat so it passed emissions with flying colors and that along with the ecu and supporting obd1 stuff is what they mainly seemed to care about. Good luck if you do it. Mine was done pretty recently also.