hmmm i just thought of something... i have a TII fuel pump in there, i would understand that it might effect emissions some, but that couldnt be my entire problem, could it?

 

FWIW, I passed California "dyno" smog with my Haltech and a Bonez Hi-Flow cat, and not much else. It works better than you may think...that cat is waaaaay cleaner than anything that came stock in '87.

 

Get a Haynes manual and do all of the diagnostic tests in there on the ACV to make sure it is functioning like it should.

I had trouble a few years ago passing emissions. My car ran fine, idled fine, was totally up to snuff on the tuneup things (new plugs, plug wires, new O2 sensor, TPS adjusted, timing set correctly, injectors cleaned, etc.), and I was WAY out on the emissions numbers. I did have a stock exhaust system though.

I took the car in to the Mazda dealership because I had no clue what was wrong with it. They told me that I needed a new ACV for $760.00. I told them that I would take the car home and maybe get a junkyard ACV and stick on it. I ended up (after about 6 hours of troubleshooting) finding out that the problem was not the ACV itself, but a fried resistor in the ECU that was in a circuit that controlled the switching selenoid for the ACV. With this not functioning as designed, it was not "piping" fresh air from the air pump back to the cat. I soldered a new resistor into the ECU, which made the switching selenoid activate the way it should have, which then made the ACV work like it is supposed to, which made me then pass emissions with flying colors.

I don't believe it is the Bonez cat either. The car should pass emissions with that installed.

Happy troubleshooting! It is worth trying to figure out yourself. You will learn alot and feel REALLY good when you figure it out!

 

yah that's true, im still gonna wait and see what mazda says...

by the way i just realized something else, i dont think that the service center where i got my car tested let it warm up at all, i think they just turned it on and tested, could that explain for the terrible idle #'s? of course that wouldnt explain for the cruising numbers, but with a rotary i was thinking that the "at least 20 minutes of warmup time and driving on the freeway before testing if at all possible" might be important for an rx7

 

Absolutely!!! The hotter the cats get (within reason) the better they work. But I think you probably do have an ACV issue too. Regardless, do about 30 minutes of highway driving first, then take it in when the car is nice and hot and aired out.

 

Dittos to what 91VERT said above. Make sure the ACV is doing/functioning like it's supposed to.
Here's a emissions test on a 87n/a converted to a turboII using a turboii fuel pump with no fuel pump resistor and using a used CATCO catalytic converter (Icemark suggests they're only good for a couple of years though).
And make sure the water temp switch is connected. It's the water temp switch on the bottom, left side of the radiator that I'm refering to. The absence of that item WILL effect the relief solenoids function. I'm not saying that switch is the end all of your problems....just that it needs some attention. Only the 86-88 had that switch there.

 

Double post. Ignore

 

And this one is from a *Normal/Stock* tuboII using the same cat a little less than a month earlier.

 

The car needs to be completely warmed up to be tested. If it is started cold and then tested, you will certainly fail...

TII fuel pump should be OK, as the stock pressure regulator should handle it. But it is completely unnecessary.

 

yah i know, but i was able to get it for cheap and its mainly in preparation for when i get a streetpot... however this makes me wonder if i get a streetport whether or not ill be able to pass emissions after that.. argh, this is all way too frustrating

 

its not how much air+fuel is going through your system, but how precisely its being burned. do you plan on upgrading your computer?

 

eventually yes, but my priority before upgrading the computer or getting some air/fuel management system is to get the streetport. So i guess my main concern after i get my car to pass emissions with no port is whether or not i can pass with a port and without any air/fuel management

 

A year later, same car. Can't help myself. Always happy to pass emissions. NOTE: the paper says it's a automatic. It ain't hardly no darn automatic.