California Smog and engine conversions, a "How to" [Archive]

Adam McLaughlin

Dec 04 2004, 11:30pm

A California smog story:

“Generally, usually and possibly”. What do these words mean to you? To me, they mean opportunity, flexibility and maybe even a hint of the ability to think, to learn and to do something different than the average bear. An open ended situation. A positive outlook. This is California, a positive outlook, the frontier for thinking and education. Don Henley said it when he was in the Eagles, and the great Mario Savio spoke about it well against the regents in 1964.

So begins a California engine swap. These words above are mentioned in the pamphlet published by the BAR describing the laws regarding a smog legal engine swap. It says that an engine change is _generally_legal_, if the donor engine keeps all of its smog equipment, as well as passing emissions through the tailpipe. Your actions will be examined by a referee, who will be making the call whether it is acceptable or not. He will use his knowledge to make the call.

That’s it, that’s all. This pamphlet is very short, maybe two leafs at most. It does not say anything more, except to state these three facts; A car engine may be installed into a truck, an engine swap must be for a newer year engine, and you may not cross the emissions line between heavy duty and light duty.

So, what does this mean? It means that a 460 swap into anything that is not under 8600 pounds GVWR is not legal, so no big block mustangs, no EFI 460 Rangers, even though I already did one and sold it when I was in high school. It also means you can put the mustang engine and transmission into a ranger so long as the mustang engine is newer than the year of the truck. You can’t go backwards. No swapping in a 1993 5.0 into your 1995 Ranger, etc.

That being said, my 1995 351 set to swap into my 1992 Ranger should be a piece of cake. I have done these swaps before, and this one was really not a challenge at all for me. So, pull the truck in Friday night, and Monday morning I drive it to the exhaust shop to have the pipes welded up and I would be on my way. Nice and easy, just like I have done many a time before.

So, I make an appointment for the smog referee to look at my truck, and I’m confident that everything will go well. After I all, I have done my homework and prepared everything, it runs and drives well with no check engine codes, so I’m confident.

Well, the first appointment didn’t go well. At all. The referee was totally confused about me having a Mass Air System on the truck, when he claims the 351 was speed density for that year. I argued that since the pamphlet leaves the conditions open ended, I should be able to run whatever I want if the tail pipe burns clean, and the emissions equipment is all there.

He doesn’t buy it, doesn’t support it. He fails me, and tells me that I need to put in an oxygen sensor, as well as a charcoal box where he can see it. No more mounting it above the gas tank, put it on the frame rail or in the engine compartment where ford did. Okay… I can see the charcoal canister being an issue, and why do I have to add an O2 sensor? The one I have in there is working just fine, I have it fed to my C3W computer, and there are no complaints.

That was the first appointment.

He also complains that since I used an air box from a 1996, there is an ACT sensor in the box, and since this is not listed on his list of sensors and actuators, I should fail right then and there because there is something disconnected. I have to beat it out of him, but his assistant finally volunteers that I need to pull out that ACT sensor and patch it with something else. Okay, I can do that, but it seems rather silly that I have to strip this down to make it pass smog. Does the ACT sensor make smog? How about the auxiliary O2 sensors I installed to watch the system flex between rich and lean? Do they help pollute the air?

So, I think about it a minute, and reflect on the past referee appointments I have made. All of these refs were willing to answer questions, as well as help a guy out when he needs to know what they were thinking. Actually, I have never had one fail me until I met this guy.

So, I call up and make another appointment with the next closest smog station, this one is in Alameda. No problem for me, I go to Cal so Alameda is just a little ways down the highway from me. The smog place is at the Alameda JC, so I don’t even need a map to find it. I can negotiate bay area traffic reasonably well. So, I make an appointment for 9.00AM, cross my fingers I can find someone who is willing to pass the truck based on its engine performance as well as its component check.

I add the O2 sensor, and install the missing charcoal box.

I do leave the house by six AM, and I arrive in Alameda by Ten AM, it took me four hours to go 70 miles. Hmmm….

Anyway, the ref there, Michael sees me anyway, and I spend an hour in the shop with him. He fails me because I am missing a sensor to monitor the EGR Temp, or something like that. My 1995 4.0 has one on the driver side, but not the 351. I argue with him that this is not a component of the system, look, there is no check engine code or anything like that for this, so I think it doesn’t need it. It is not shown on the Helms wiring diagram, I think I don’t need this. I brought the Helms along for proof.

He doesn’t pass me, and I waste half a day running around, about $40 on 91 octane gas, and get nowhere. Interestingly enough, the 351 has the same tailpipe emissions as before.

CO2, 0.00%, HC 000 and NOXX 15.

Under both conditions, 15 MPH and 25 MPH.

That was episode number two.

I did write a letter to the governor, as well as the BAR boss, whose name appears at the bottom of every one of my receipts for smogs I have been buying but not passing. Schwarzenegger writes back, but only in a form letter, and I never did hear from the BAR guy.

I go back to the ref in my town, in Santa Rosa now, this time with the ACT sensor removed and plugged, the extra O2 added, and the charcoal canister installed. This time I bring along the page from the Ford Catalog stating that the mass air conversion is legit for their trucks, since the Ref wanted to see it. He said that he wouldn’t allow it if he couldn’t see a CARB number, or something on his computer software. He also sees what Michael, the last ref sees, and so HE goes over all of this stuff, all of the complaints that Michael listed, etc. I discover that Michael knows less than Rick at Santa Rosa. Hmmm… This does not look good.

We’re there for another three hours, he fails me on a Tampered charge, and I go home and think about what to do next.

That was episode number three.

So, I start to think “What could be the easiest way out of this?”, so I re-install the speed density system from Ford, original to that year truck and engine. I have to buy a stick shift computer for $350, since the one I have is for an E4OD and I am running an AOD. Any kind of computer trouble code, and you fail, immediately. So, I have to go the distance. Just get it done, I tell myself.

I make another appointment for the Ref, and I go back there. This time, I fail on a tampered charge again, he never did get my truck on the dyno. Seems that I have one more O2 sensor than I should. This is the same O2 sensor that he had me install!

I’m a patient fellow, so I think I should do as he asks, it’s his gig to do what he feels is right… Correct? I can’t leave the O2 sensor in there, since that would be a sensor left installed, and disconnected, which would be a failure too. He says I have to weld it up.

That was episode number four.

So, I go back to major muffler, and I have Vic give me a plug for the Ford O2 sensor. I pull the O2 sensor, and then I make an appointment for the next week.

The next week rolls around, and I finally get to reach the dyno stage!

I bring the truck in, I pass the visual, and he proceeds to check the timing, where I fail. He says that my spout is unresponsive to his pulling it or re-inserting it. Says I need to make the TFI react to the spout. Hmmm… Okay. Since when did that happen?

I take the truck back outside of the test bay, and a close examination reveals that he swapped the spout connector with one of the dummy plugs ford sent with their mass air conversion kits. I wonder how long I had been driving around without that in the circuit. Sheesh.

That was episode five.

So, I go home and swap out the Spout connector with the dummy, and I make another appointment for the Referee. Crossing my fingers, I go the next week. I jokingly tell the ref that we are the breakfast club, since we always come up at 7 AM to meet each other to smog my truck.

Well, I get on the dyno but disaster strikes. This time I burn clean by the HC and the CO standards, but the NOXX is through the roof. I think I passed 1000 ppm on that count.

What’s wrong? What could possible have happened to throw this motor so far out of calibration that it is now failing smog by such a drastic margin?

I think about it for a minute, and I decide that the high compression is becoming evident right here, which was hidden before. Hmmm… EGR not opening? Too much timing? What could be the culprit?

I think about the cheap gas I bought for it last week, and I surmise that this is the problem. So, I buy a bottle of 104 and toss it in the tank, then hope for next week.

That was episode six.

Same routing, but nothing was different, not by one PPM. Yep, that 104 was crap. Wish I never bought it.

So, I pull the thermostat, and I install an adjustable fuel pressure regulator to crank it up. I think the Extreme Energy Camshaft is being rather visible at this power band, so I want to richen things up to hide it.

I get to the smog place the next week, and I get failed on the “tamper” for the Kirban fuel pressure regulator.

That was episode seven.

Okay, so pull the regulator, toss in a bottle of Guaranteed to pass, and then replace the original regulator.

This time everything runs within spec, but the ref claims to find a code on his scanner for the VSS. What? Where did this come from? I have the VSS circuit wired up just fine. It has never thrown me any codes before, always been reliable and smooth. I know you fail if your check engine light is on, but where did this come from? I wonder if he pulled this out of his tail…

I am relieved to find out that the truck is burning within spec, although still much higher than with mass air. I think the NOXX counts were about 650 at this point. Anyway, it was deemed acceptable through the system, so I press on.

That was episode eight.

I recheck all of the wiring, I put both the square wave signal generator, and I diddle the VSS by hand, I see the volt meter respond on pin 3 of the computer, so I make another appointment.

Can’t find anything wrong. So, I arrive at the smog place, and I dump the computer right outside of the building, just to make sure there is no pending code I can’t see or foresee coming.

So, I go back to the smog stall yet again, I see Rick, again. And he is busy. There is a Porsche right next to me in the stall, and I try to talk him into racing my ranger down the road. He declines, but while I am there I finally discover that my truck has passed smog. Rick could find nothing wrong this time, and the tail pipe is acceptable by the smog regulations.

That was episode nine.

So, I have this square, 3” x 4” white sticker on the firewall of the truck, with my Vin number, and the engine displacement on it. Best looking 5.8 I ever saw.

First thing I did when I got home was to replace the thermostat, as well as the MAF conversion stuff. Future smog checks won’t be so detailed, they just open the hood for the tach signal and check the tailpipe. I’ll never need to put Speed Density back in it. I will also never see the ref again, since I am now delegated to regular joe schmo smogs.

Never give up, and never say die. For that is the eye of the tiger.

I did get hot with the guys once. I did tell them that they’re stepping on creativity, and original thinking. I asked: “if the system burned clean, and everything was there, why would you need such ridiculous guidelines?” They told me that “The guidelines are there to make sure that everything works like it should.”

It is people and laws like this that hinder the engineer who wished to make a contribution to the automotive community, as well as to make things better.

It is also very hard to debate something with someone who has proudly passed four ASE tests, especially from the point of view of someone who is an up and coming professor from Cal, and who also has done the EECS program there, rated “best in the world”. How can I hope to change this person’s mind? I may know worlds more than he, but what does that mean? He doesn’t respect or even acknowledge it.

The job of the Smog ref is to interpret what he sees, and make a judgment call. In his very essence, he is a referee, able to make judgment on something he really doesn’t understand all that well. Just able to pass four ASE tests.

The Refs also may not tell you a recommendation, or provide you with hints. It took a few visits for him to start to tell me WHY I had failed. They are very unhelpful, to say the least.

Rick did tell me I was a persistent S.O.B. I just grinned. For this is the cream of the fight, to rise up to the challenge, and to emerge victorious.

It did take a while, though. I will say that. In the words to Shakespeare’s Hamlet, “Forever and a Day”. Act Two, Scene One.