will running a colder plug cause any problems?

 

The heat range has more to do with how long the plugs last and how well they burn off contaminants. Colder plugs should not hurt you on your smog test. If I move my plug gap from .050 to .035 I lose three miles per gallon with my smallish cam. The idea is to use as wide a gap as you can without misfiring. .060 is not out of the question. Your opti and wires had better be in good shape though. Also your wires will wear out quicker at .060.

 

What is your idle speed and how many In Hg do you have at idle (vacuum)?

 

I'm pulling 14 inches of vacuum at idle, Idle is 875rpm according to datamaster. I was having some problems getting the blms to lock at idle but figured out what was going on so I'll give it another try this week, I'm locking the AFR at 16:1 at idle and go get the tailpipe sniffed.Fortunately I have a smog guy that will work with me and check hc's and Co before I start the test so I don't have to go down the Gross Polluter road with DMV.

 

yeah, how does all that work. how many times can you fail smog. whats the process?

 

As for using alcohol, I have usually used 72-96oz per half tank. I just went and bought 6-9 bottles of dry gas. I think my old roommate used denatured alcohol that he bought by the gallon at napa. I think it only helps lower HC and CO is uneffected.

I was wondering what your idle was set at when I was at work yesterday, I see its good and vacuum is good. I usually run though at 900. I also have 14 inches at idle. As for spark plugs, Mine are gapped at .030, blowers dont like big gaps. I dont know if a vacuum leak will help, wont it raise the fuel pressure? My guess is that its more mechanical than tuning, good luck and keep us updated.

 

dam you failed allot, if i were you i'd go look for a small smog shop and try to work out a deal $$$ to smog the car good luck!

 

but you gotta go to a "test only" some time......

have you tried a new cat?

jeremy

 

Did you ever check the cat?

You have to do this first!!

I would go back to stock pcm programming with the exception of idle speed. Set idle to 900 rpm. If you have bigger injectors, set the injector constant.

 

i felt stupid asking that, but sometimes the basics are over looked.

my brother in law works at a gm dealership and said that a car can run dirty as hell, and you put a new cat on it....your 99% sure to pass, regardless of anything else. as long as you arent throwing a code for something.

 

hey RCF....have you smogged since you had your motor built?

im wondering if running a larger ring gap for the blower causes any problems....

 

I just received a tune for my idle from Bryan at PCMforless. I figure your MAF afgs needs to be in the 6's at idle to pass, Mine has been around 10. After uploading Bryans tune it's around high 7's low 8's which is better but may not be enough. His tune didn't lower my BLM's at all so I'm going to have it sniffed again this week and find out where I'm at. If and when Ipass I will post what I did to pass, I think I'll get there but this is getting a little frustrating.

 

There are a few other "tricks" you are forgetting about or not mentioning at least when you lock the BLMs.

What you need to do next is limit the integrators to 128 with tunercat because while the LTerms(BLMs) are 128, the Sterms(short term BLMs) are still active and adding fuel. Next in the % TPS to enable PE mode table you set the value to "0" so that you are running PE mode while the motor idles. At this point you are ready to lean out the idle which should drop the HCs and I suspect the CO as well since its another byproduct. Basically you find the PE table and start lowering the value in that same RPM range the motor idles in until you pass. It would be nice if you could find a shop that would allow you some trial and error runs.

Now a word of caution. When the integrators are set to a min and max of 128, the computer will not be able to add/subract fuel.. basically its learning ability will be disabled but youll still be in closed loop. So Id suggest you only run the motor this way for the test.

 

I passed today on the first try. Scored 150 HC and 3.2 CO. Tune was fans 218-224, timing at idle was 10* advanced, idle was 1000. The temp ousde was only 70 and the temp gauge was only at 200ish, I thought I would fail but it didnt. I also use six 10 oz bottles of dry gas and I have a gutted cat and no emissons equipment.

 

What is "dry gas?"