Thoughts on this odd (smog legal) combo?

[PJV9126]

So I find myself in the position of moving to Southern CA and I am hoping to bring my 89 GT with me. Not looking to discuss smog policies/politics, just looking for advice on my combo as I have never had my fox smogged before. Hoping to do it correctly so that I can enjoy the sunshine while cruising in the fox!

Car is an 89 GT, currently has the following:
-Stock rebuilt short block
-AFR 165 (#1402) with EGR passages
-TMoss ported Explorer Intake with no EGR passages
-Trick Flow Stage 1 Cam
-Accufab 70mm throttle body with blank spacer
-Pro M Maf
-Stock Air Box
-O/R H Pipe
-Flowmaster Catback
-Dechipa tuned via a Quarterhorse


I already have read quite a bit and realize there is a lot on it that currently won't pass. At the minimum I know I need to do the following:

1. Put back the TAB/TAD solenoids, smog pump, head crossover tube, air injection pipe, and all vacuum lines/tubing. Luckily I kept this all and can get it back on there. Charcoal canister is already on there and has been refreshed (new valve, canister)
2. Replace O/R H pipe with Magnaflow 50 State Catted X Pipe. Ouch...my wallet is already crying from this one.
3. Replace throttle body with CA legal one with EGR provisions. Only one I have found is the BBK 65 or 70mm.

Now here is where I am looking for some help. The intake as it stands is not legal, neither is an EGR provisioned explorer/GT 40 intake. Therefore, I feel I have three options:

1. Buy a new SysteMax II for $1000 which is legal
2. Buy a used Trick Flow Street Burner (legal) or Ford Racing Tubular (legal)
3. Put the stock HO intake back on.

Spending $1000 on a new intake is not ideal but I can swing it. I am wondering how crippled my combo would be if I put the stock HO intake back on with those heads/cam. Obviously I would be leaving a good amount on the table but it should pass.

Considering the SysteMax, I know it is considered the "best" fox intake. However, I am worried about losing low end power at the expense of a top end that my combo does not have. Is this a valid concern? I know a TFS 1 and a SysteMax is not an ideal combo.

Street Burner and Tubular are about the same price as the SysteMax so not sure they make a lot of sense.

Once that is figured out I have two other concerns:

MAF - What do people do about this? Swap in a stock one? I have not come across any that are legal but maybe I am missing something. Is this overlooked if the airbox is all stock and the MAF appears stock looking

Tune - A quarterhorse all tucked in with the kick panel in place should not cause any issues (in theory). Right? Since OBD1 I assume they don't have a way to check that there is a piggyback on the ECU.

Anything else I am missing?

 

[AeroCoupe]

Can you email TMoss and see if he can port the stock upper and lower to match the airflow needs of the cam and heads?

Since you are already tuned can you not run a 94-95 Mustang 70mm MAF? I doubt that it would get noticed vs. the Pro-M but I am not familiar with (nor will I ever be) Kalifornia's laws.

 

[PJV9126]

Can you email TMoss and see if he can port the stock upper and lower to match the airflow needs of the cam and heads?

Since you are already tuned can you not run a 94-95 Mustang 70mm MAF? I doubt that it would get noticed vs. the Pro-M but I am not familiar with (nor will I ever be) Kalifornia's laws.

I had considered the TMoss route. He did port my Explorer Intake so might be worth it to have him do my Stock upper/lower. Based on my research it won't flow anywhere near an aftermarket intake but likely will get closer aligned with the heads/cam. The cam is leaving power on the table anyways so maybe it would be fine.

Great suggestion on the 94/95 MAF. I do not know much about these so will research this. I would think another OEM part would be a bit easier to get by than an aftermarket one.

 

[02 281 GT]

You could just throw the stock intake on for now, pass smog, then address that later? I see no reason to rush a decision on it if you already have a passable, if temporary, solution.

 

[Mustang5L5]

Why wouldn't an EGR provisioned explorer intake be legal? Is that just a CA thing since it's not technically stock and doesn't have CARB paperwork? A little work with a flap disk, some paint and a stock HO intake plate and it wouldn't look much different than a stock HO intake.

You don't need to swap the throttle body for EGR use. The spacer supplied can be interchanged. You can pick up a 70mm EGR spacer and use it with the accufab TB you have now.

I second using the Sn95 70MM MAF. I have it on my car. Keep in mind, you will need an adapter to use it with the stock airbox as it's a 4-bolt flanged MAF, so that would be noticable. Workaround is to use the housing off a 91-93 cougar/t-bird, BUT, use the electronics off the 94-95 Mustang. The tbird housing is the same as the Mustang except it is not flanged so it will bolt into the Mustang intake tube without an adapter. You need to swap the electronics though.

The cam. Lopey cams tend to result in a lot of HC's. Might need to swap a stock cam in

 

[General karthief]

I'd find out if you can install a pair of aftermarket cats, stock cats are expensive used, I've got a couple sets saved, but I'm in Florida, that's a trip.

 

[Mustang5L5]

I think for CA, it’s a visual thing. They will inspect the engine and components, so it’s tough to get around the visual with aftermarket parts.

 

[PJV9126]

Why wouldn't an EGR provisioned explorer intake be legal? Is that just a CA thing since it's not technically stock and doesn't have CARB paperwork? A little work with a flap disk, some paint and a stock HO intake plate and it wouldn't look much different than a stock HO intake.

You don't need to swap the throttle body for EGR use. The spacer supplied can be interchanged. You can pick up a 70mm EGR spacer and use it with the accufab TB you have now.

I second using the Sn95 70MM MAF. I have it on my car. Keep in mind, you will need an adapter to use it with the stock airbox as it's a 4-bolt flanged MAF, so that would be noticable. Workaround is to use the housing off a 91-93 cougar/t-bird, BUT, use the electronics off the 94-95 Mustang. The tbird housing is the same as the Mustang except it is not flanged so it will bolt into the Mustang intake tube without an adapter. You need to swap the electronics though.

The cam. Lopey cams tend to result in a lot of HC's. Might need to swap a stock cam in

It's not technically legal since it has no EO # and never came on the car from the factory. It might pass since it looks close and you would need a knowledgeable tech to know it is not stock. However, I don't have one so to get one, clean it up and/or port it I figure might as well get one guaranteed to pass and not risk it.

Great idea on the 70mm MAF. I will look into the adapter and I also read that if you trim the flange you can likely get the stock tubing to just slip over it. T bird housing may be the way to go. Wonder if Decipha can tune iwth the t bird electronics. Will have to ask him.

Likely going to wait and see on the cam. Once tested if the HC's are too high I would look into that. For now I will risk it since it is a bit of work to swap it.

 

[PJV9126]

I'd find out if you can install a pair of aftermarket cats, stock cats are expensive used, I've got a couple sets saved, but I'm in Florida, that's a trip.

I think for CA, it’s a visual thing. They will inspect the engine and components, so it’s tough to get around the visual with aftermarket parts.

Exactly, to be 100% legal needs to either be OEM or have an EO #, which only the Magnaflow has. Visually the aftermarket may pass but I am unsure if they would clean up the exhaust enough to actually pass the sniffer. I don't want to do it but thinking my only option is to get the (expensive) magnaflow X pipe.

 

[Mustang5L5]

What's a stock OEM H-pipe running around, out in CA?

 

[AeroCoupe]

Texas is quite a bit more forgiving than California with regards to the visual portion of getting inspected but my Coupe passed smog. I had none of the emission equip on the car and had a BBK off road x-pipe with Magnaflow cats welded into it. Biggest help was I would go run the car for an hour and get the engine up to temp and the exhaust as hot as it would get to heat up the cats. Seemed to work as it passed both years I was in Houston.

 

[Chythar]

I live here in Los Angeles, and I've swapped a 95 Cobra drivetrain into a 94 V6 chassis. Since I had a donor car, I was able to swap over all the OEM parts and pass an inspection & smog test back in 2008. The smog tests are now checking numbers on catalytic converters to see if they're OEM, so you will need OEM cats or that Magnaflow with the EO#. I used to own a 95 GT that had a Bassani X-pipe with 4 Bassani hi-flow cats, and passed smog until they started checking cats.

Oh, also be aware that you must also pass a sniffer test. You can have all the EO#'s and legal parts, but you can still fail the sniffer test.

I don't know how good they are, but Coast High Performance sells CA smog legal parts. https://www.coasthigh.com/SearchResults.asp?Search=ford+50-state

 

[bwest]

@AeroCoupe - Since it doesn't have a current CA registration, you'll prob be starting out at a ref station.

I just went through re-registering a CA car (always a CA car) that had a lapse of registration and had failed its last smog before going non-op - I had to go to a ref station per the state. Here are some things that may help based on my recent experience.

1. Get your vacuum lines in order (aligned to the sticker exactly), gives them no reason to look further.
2. Same with a clean motor that looks factoryish. Easy to verify their key check points.
3. Get your Carb EO Stickers for anything that has been swapped. Keep them under the hood or in a binder, whatever. Some will ask for the sticker, regardless of being able to read the EO number. I have a non-OE air box, but the sticker is on the intake tube and they do check it.
4. Make sure you have a working EGR valve and that the ignition timing is set at 10deg btc. Not 11, not 9. 10deg btc.
5. The ref stations seemed more forgiving (visually) than the regular independent shop, which makes sense. If an Indy shop makes a mistake, they lose their smog license + the high cost of the equipment. As for ref shops... maybe they are used to seeing such crap come through that they don't care as much? Maybe my dude DGAF. He asked didn't ask a lot of questions and appreciated things being clean/organized under the hood.

To address the intake question. The original CARB ordinance declared that many aftermarket intakes were considered 'Like-Kind repair parts' as long as they had all smog provisions, didn't require an EO number to be compliant. The Edelbrock Perf 5.0 fell under this classification (it's noted in the manual). I have that manifold, but haven't tried smogging a car with it ironically enough. On the other hand, my brother runs a ported explorer intake, and the smog guy he takes it to always gives him about it, but passes him. The point of that story is that I'm not sure if the replacement part ordinance has changed over the last 20yrs from when that Eddy manifold was cast until now. When in doubt, keep it as OEM-looking as possible (color, trim plate, etc), and if they don't know the difference in manifolds, they prob won't care. And if they do ask, point to the ford casting number.

Cats. So this is the weird one. My 93 has some old Pypes 49 state cats from 10yrs ago. No numbers on them. It passed with no questions asked. If i understand the cat converter law. the real issue is sales of non-ca converters within the state itself, not the actual cats on the physical car at time of smog cert. My brother's car has whatever cats shipped with the BBK x-pipe. Both cars have 2 (not 4) cats. Once they age out and need to be replaced, then it might be a different story.

ECU - they test to make sure it's there (throws a CEL light during the test). Make sure the bulb works.

MAF - I've passed with other MAF's (SN95, C&L, etc). I don't know that there is an EO requirement for sensors that provide a measurement - I wouldn't worry about that.

For the EGR cooling plate - I have a BBK TB/plate combo that I don't need (w/ EO numbers). You can have it for shipping if you need it.

The TLDR of all of this is to follow the golden smog rule - don't give them a reason to look any further. Being clean, no leaks and running right will go a long way to getting the car on the rollers and their head out from under the hood. Long tubes should be an auto-fail b/c they replace a federally mandated smog device by design (upper cats). You may befriend an indy shop in the future that would let it slide, but a ref shop can't let that one slide.

It's not *that* hard to smog these cars. The ref shop is new in the last 2-3yrs b/c a lot of shops only have OBD-II equipment and can't even test our cars. With that said, keep the EO stickers ready, use ford (or ford looking) parts when you can, and get the cats good and warm before pulling up to the station.

 

[manicmechanic007]

It's the CARB (California Air Research Board) you will be dealing with
When you get to Cal you will just check with them as to what needs to be done to your 49 state vehicle
Don't be surprised, if they will not give you plates, unless you spend a ton of money to bring it up to Cal I/M standards
All that Cal I/M stuff should be available
Good luck

 

[Bree]

IDK, sounds like a lot of hassle. How about this, Just don't move so you can leave your Fox the way you want it!

 

[manicmechanic007]

Around here, in UT, with an 89 you can register it as an antique vintage vehicle, and still daily drive it
You sign your own inspection, and just pay 10 bucks for the plates
State inspection is gone now, so you just go in there and get your plates
I agree, just visit Cal

 

[General karthief]

Around here, in UT, with an 89 you can register it as an antique vintage vehicle, and still daily drive it
You sign your own inspection, and just pay 10 bucks for the plates
State inspection is gone now, so you just go in there and get your plates
I agree, just visit Cal

You need to apply for a permit to visit California

 

[manicmechanic007]

Yeah, I just visit the airports anymore on the way to Hawaii
We do sneak through northern Cal on our way to the Oregon coast

 

[90sickfox]

In Maryland I got carbureted foxes to pass emissions. They didn't pop the hood, just ran them on the dyno. Also got several non catted cars to pass the sniffer. That state was pretty lax back in the early 2000s. I'm glad I live in rural VA with no emissions. I couldn't imagine living with CA laws.

 

[Rdub6]

I’m glad after all these years, there isn’t a “NY”ARB law.
My ‘86 is a safety inspection only. The shop knows I take care of this car, so it’s ten minutes in and out for my yearly inspection sticker. That’s about the only good thing I can say about NY right now (and maybe the Mets and Islanders….. but the Jets QB situation is a joke). Whoa…..got a little off track there! Lol