CA/LA Smog

[ATB88]

Hey everyone, been too buried finishing my thesis to think about the car these last few months, but I've got a set of SSV1s with racing cats burning a hole in my apartment floor and wanted to get to it sometime this month.

Thing is, my registration's due early 2022, and it's a smog year for me (I'm in CA/Los Angeles (Pasadena)).

So, naively, if I went ahead and did the headers now, I'd just have to revert back to stock in 6 months, then reinstall right after. I also have a CSL airbox, but reverting that to stock is very easy and doing that for smog doesn't bother me. Headers are a bitch and I'd much rather do this job once than thrice, but I also wanna get those headers in ASAP so I can finally dyno tune and enjoy!

I used to know of places I could go where getting a pass wouldn't be an issue, but do not any longer. I'm wondering if anyone in the area knows a place that would pass me with SSV1 and cats (and a CSL box)? All else is stock. I'm in Pasadena but willing to go anywhere around LA, and will also be in the bay area many times between now and when smog's due, so that works too. DMs are wide open, tips extremely appreciated

[Tbonem3]

In my experience, many smog techs don't look too hard for the cats on our cars. Some do, some know exactly what it's supposed to look like.

If you've got all the trims and heat shields in place, with cats in sect 1, and post cat o2s installed and monitors are green, you'll pass as long as the tech doesn't hassle you about the larger, probably shinier pipes in sect 1. If they even know what our sect 1 is supposed to look like. Some techs just want you to have cats and pass the obd2 monitors, that's it, visual isn't as important.

I did this for a few years with euro headers/cats. It all looked and performed like stock and the tech never questioned anything. But euro parts are factory as well, so nothing out of the ordinary looks-wise, versus my ssv1 pipes, for example.

You might just have to visit different smog shops and play innocent if they happen to know what our stock sect 1 looks like or really look hard past the passenger wheel into the gap between reinforcement plate and header pipes. Can't see anything from engine bay with heat shields.

[skristedja]

None of the shops I've been to in OC in the past ten years have ever opened my hood or looked under the car for cats. My car looks fairly stock but idk, I guess I've been lucky 🤷♂️. I'll DM you the last shop I used.

[Xmetal]

None of the shops I've been to in OC in the past ten years have ever opened my hood or looked under the car for cats. My car looks fairly stock but idk, I guess I've been lucky 🤷♂️. I'll DM you the last shop I used.

I don't know - I think you're just lucked out. We're in the same Irvine area and every places that I've been to in the last 12yrs+ had looked for the cats. Some even put mirrors under my passenger wheel to inspect it

[cobra]

One of those rare cases where you want to find a shop that is really bad at their job 😆

[EthanolTurbo]

If you need a recommendation hit me up.

[siamkazi]

Subbed, need a smog guy for when my turn comes up

[Brand.one]

I have taken my M3 to Fast Smog in Costa Mesa and recommend this place to those looking for star-certified smog locations in California. I have passed with several different setups, the most similar to yours would be when my car had CPI headers, E400CAX section 1, and Scorza exhaust. No visual inspection was done underneath the car and there was a brief glance at the engine bay just to make sure nothing was out of the 'ordinary'. It is a small shop, but the perk is that it is located next to a Ferrari repair shop so you'll have some nice cars to look at while you wait. Plenty of nice restaurants around the beach as well if you want to justify the drive down to OC.

[old///MFanatic]

I don't know - I think you're just lucked out. We're in the same Irvine area and every places that I've been to in the last 12yrs+ had looked for the cats. Some even put mirrors under my passenger wheel to inspect it

This has also been my experience. EVERY shop I have been to has done an extensive visual inspection. So much so I bring the Bentley manual to show them where my cats are as they always act like I’ve removed them.
Smog testing shops don’t make a lot of money off the test, it’s from quantity. If they lose/suspend their license from passing an illegal car their business is done. And they have “spotters” that check stations are doing things legitimately.

If your car gets flagged, you’re in for even more hassles.

[Samsonite79]

https://www.bar.ca.gov/pdf/BAG/20210...d_Software.pdf It's getting more serious guys... well at least it seems like we would get a chance if they don't deem your software as completely off the charts wrong from their expectations.

BTW, my smog is due, so I'm going to revert everything back to stock including my tune and calibration... just to avoid this hassle, don't want to get flagged. I don't recall if my tune included a ews delete, but I'll soon find out.

[heinzboehmer]

Hmm, sounds like as long as you're not messing with any emissions stuff in software (SAP delete, post cat O2 sensor delete, etc.), you should be fine.

I don't think you'd fail if you did some other software mod, like turning on sports mode memory or the shift lights. At least I hope so, it would suck to get flagged for something stupid like that.

[Samsonite79]

Hmm, sounds like as long as you're not messing with any emissions stuff in software (SAP delete, post cat O2 sensor delete, etc.), you should be fine.

I don't think you'd fail if you did some other software mod, like turning on sports mode memory or the shift lights. At least I hope so, it would suck to get flagged for something stupid like that.

Based on what I've been reading so far, if the CVN (checksum) numbers don't match your program# and calibration (tune)# for your model year, they'll flag it as "Illegal Software" Prior to this new smog implementation they just check the PID count and (eVIN if applied). Of course this is all new so who knows what else or what data they are mining from us for the past decade.

[ridebikes]

Probably a dumb question, but Does this mean tunes like Hassan's could be flagged?

[oceansize]

Probably a dumb question, but Does this mean tunes like Hassan's could be flagged?

If the CAL ID and CVN do not align with their database it looks like it will fail according to the attached PDF.

Edit: And the way I interpret this is that the CAL ID is a software version (?) and the CVN is a essentially a checksum. So your software version "XXXX" will generate CVN "YYYYY".

Change engine parameters and the CVN will now differ (as it is calculated) from the what your stock CVN was based off your OE software version.

[heinzboehmer]

https://www.bar.ca.gov/pdf/BAG/20210...d_Software.pdf It's getting more serious guys... well at least it seems like we would get a chance if they don't deem your software as completely off the charts wrong from their expectations.

BTW, my smog is due, so I'm going to revert everything back to stock including my tune and calibration... just to avoid this hassle, don't want to get flagged. I don't recall if my tune included a ews delete, but I'll soon find out.

If the CAL ID and CVN do not align with their database it looks like it will fail according to the attached PDF.

Edit: And the way I interpret this is that the CAL ID is a software version (?) and the CVN is a essentially a checksum. So your software version "XXXX" will generate CVN "YYYYY".

Change engine parameters and the CVN will now differ (as it is calculated) from the what your stock CVN was based off your OE software version.

Damn it, I was hoping the CVN and CAL ID were specific to the emissions stations, but after reading some more about this, I think you guys are right. Looks like those are a checksum and software version.

Well, I guess the internal pressure reading on my DME will be wrong then (it's a converted HP with the non-HP pressure sensor still on there, so I changed the scaling for it in software). Fortunately, it wasn't too far off, but it's a bit ridiculous that even a change to make the DME behave like stock might get you flagged. Hoping that I don't get flagged for having a software version that's newer than what originally came on my car.

It also shouldn't be crazy hard to modify the program to output "stock" CVN and CAL ID values. Although that sounds super illegal and like it'll get you into a ton of trouble if you get caught. Also sounds like that would require someone who enjoys development in assembly to implement the change (not me lol).