California LS1 280Z (smog legal)

[Briguy280Z]

FYI to all California Zcars owners 93->newer

 

25 year smog law changes to 30 this year so nothing changes for another few years.

 

First of all I wouldn't recommend doing it.

 

I found out the hard way. I thought i had it made with a out of state car but I was truly wrong!

 

I called up the referee a few days ago and had a little talk with him. I told him i had a non-california car and was planning to put an 98 LS1 engine into the car. After this and that I got the low down on what I would get away with. (Nothing) I can't get away with nothing in this state. I tried to give all the excueses that JTR stated in the manual....He didnt care because it is an OBDII system.

 

OBDII inclued not only the standard emmissions but anything that can cause a code on the on board diagnostic.

 

1 Fuel Tank pressure sensor/ Fuel Tank level sensor so replaceing the tank with a camero tank it the best bet. Not so bad since I was going to have to buy a new pump and fuel regulator

 

2 Evap/ Vent Valve/ canister / canister valve

So wile your at the auto yard go ahead and save as much as you can wile taking out the fuel tank

 

3 Catalytic converters/ 4 O2 sensors/ air pump/ air sensor Which is very expensive since there are no such aftermarket to replace oem cats and dealer wants $500 a piece for them. Oh by the way you cant buy them at a junk yard...used cats are illegal to sell!

 

4 Referee also told me that i would have to put wheel speed sensors at all four wheels...That was not true, ABS is not apart of the OBDII setup so it is not required at least with the camero.

 

I could go on and on but if anyone needs some info on this swap let me know...I have put too much money and removed too much stuff now that I cant change to an LT-1.

 

LT1 is the choice for California 93->newer Zcars

 

Once you enter into the OBDII setup it becomes a lot harder and cost is substancial. I think i will be the first California LS1 280Z

Thanks for everyones help so far

[randy 77zt]

i am a california licensed smog tech.i live in modesto-not too far.if you need help email me.my 77 has a certified 81 zxt swap and i did a 84 el camino/87 tpi motor for my chiropractor.if you are doing a 280you can tap the ftp into the oem tank evap system and put purge flow valve and carbon canister on oem tank vent line.as for cats the ref was wrong-cats are to be positioned where original cat was because of heat shielding.a big random technologies cat will work in oem datsun position.you just need to install all o2 sensors including cat monitors.best to get gm shop manual for the motor/car the motor was from.it will explain all of the wiring.most of the gm used a pulse generator on trans output shaft.the whee sped sensors were used for traction control.problem with obd 2 is deleted sensors=trouble codes=no pass =no cert.i am workin on a 66nova/94 lt1 install now.

[Tim240z]

Could you not just program out the trouble codes from the LS1 PCM? That way when they hook up the reader it will show no trouble codes.

Just a thought. I'm not to sure about the OBDII PCMs, but with my LT1 I disabled several trouble codes (air pump, A/C, EGR etc and set the EGR to only activate at 6700 RPM).

 

Tim

[jeromio]

Yes! What Tim said. Just mail your PCM to John at Speartech and have him do the swapper reprog on it.

 

The inspectors have to hook into the diag. port, so you'll also need to get one of those, which I think John sells.

 

But, as long as the car throws no codes, you should be golden. You won't need the 2ndary O2 EGR, etc. So therefore your "cat" could potentially be, let's just call it a "hi performance", low restriction model .

 

There are lots of people in Cali doing LS1 swaps. You might try bringing up this issue on the conversions board at LS1tech.com.

[Mudge]

Originally posted by Tim240Z:

Could you not just program out the trouble codes from the LS1 PCM? That way when they hook up the reader it will show no trouble codes.

Some states are now checking the PCM for tampering (byte for byte comparison), although I have likewise heard for now, some people are getting off with a shrug from the tech.