Hi everyone. I apologize in advance if this question is extremely stupid, I am in the process of attempting to buy a car from a member here, roscoe, and have concerns about smog, and the cars ability to pass smog in California, the land of tuner haters.

The engine was built for boost, but currently is all motor. I want to make sure that the car can pass smog, or see what configuration would give it the ability to pass smog. Here are the specs

Motor has 0 miles on it I didn't even have time to tune it or break it in. It's a rebuilt block with JE pistons, BC valves, springs and retainers, vtec killer cams, Darton sleeves, arp head studs. Tranny has all new clutch, throw out bearings, etc.

He told me the car cannot run with the stock ecu because the cams are too aggressive. He also told me the car should be able to pass smog with a hondata pro, but isn't 100% confident.

BTW, the engine was built by learnerspermit, who I understand is highly respected here, and I have already pm'ed him.

I would like to know:
1. Can the car really not run the stock ecu with the current set up and vtec killer cam.

2. Will the car definitely be able to pass smog in California.

3. Would I be able to run this car with the stock cam and stock ecu, leave everything else as is, tune it, and pass smog.

4. Are there any other options, like a hondata flash or other aftermarket options to be able to tune the car, with either stock cam or vtec killer cam, and pass smog.

5. Are there any other options that would guarantee my ability to pass smog in Cali with this motor.

I am sorry if this questions are redundant, a waste of time, are very stupid. I am very new to honda, my previous cars were: turbo first gen neon dohc, a 1979 rx7 with a 1990 t2 13b, crossfire srt, mazdaspeed 3, and a 240sx with an sr20det and other goodies. I am far from new to the tuning game, have been in it since I was 15, so 14 years now, and have always loved and respected the s2000. Regardless, I will be joining your ranks as an s2000 owner eventually, but this oppurtunity showed up and pushed the schedule slightly ahead because I liked what I saw.

Thank you very much, look forward to becoming a productive member here. I will be boosting eventually, but I own my mazdaspeed3 outright, and the clutch is being replaced, so i haven't been able to sell it and fund this project yet. again, thanks. I have contributed all over before, mazdaspeedforums, zilvia.net, crossfireforums, srtforums, rx7club, etc. I am an active forum member for whatever platform I am involved with, and modify everything I own.

Thanks

 

something is amiss here generally boost motors have lower compression but vtec killer cams are high lift high rpm cams - a paradox and the least likely combo for passing smog that I have ever heard of - with hondata tuning I don't know if it will pass the sniffer on the stock cat or not, you may have to add a second cat - The idle alone would likely be a huge red flag to a test place though.

 

thats what I thought, but as I said, I know nothing of hondas. What do you think about running that built motor with stock cams and ecu though? would that be an issue? I would never run these killer cams btw, I am going to put 10-15k miles on this car a year, track maybe 6 times a year. even if I was stricly going to track it, I would never want all vtec all the time.

 

A built motor w/ stock cams and ECU should pass smog fine, assuming there aren't any issues that would have normally prevented it from passing smog. I ran a lower compression built motor NA for years and never had an issue passing smog.

 

Find some stock cams and ecu

 

stock ecu still on the car. Learnerspermit tells me he doesn't have any of the info on the engine, i can't for the life of me find the original for sale thread, and I am waiting on the guy I bought my car from to hopefully fork the specs over. I don't even know if it's low compression or high compression. If it's a motor built for turbo, expect to see the engine up for sale by next week, and I'll be looking for a stock one, and I am picking up the stock cams tuesday or wednesday. thanks guys.