fatboy7

About a year ago I moved from UT to MA, along with my highly modded 85 RX-7. It'd been my daily driver for several years as I eeked through the last few years of grad school,. Given the news that MA emissions is a bear, and not wanting to risk the New England weather--not to mention the ludicrous amounts of salt they use out here, I garaged the 7 and found myself a used Audi A4 to get me through the winter .

Though the summer is now nearly over again (I got married in June--it kinda distracted me from getting my 7 back on the road), I'm trying to figure out how I'm going to get this beast back on the road.

Here's what I know about Mass. emissions tests: they suck!! I'd be a lucky man if I were to pass just a visual emissions test--there is no way I'm going to get past the rollers. As you can probably see from the avatar, I'm running a 13BT, which has been rebuit and heavily street ported, 3-in exhaust all the way to two inline mufflers (to keep the noise boarderline reasonable). The first muffler is where the cat would be (and it sort-of looks like a cat, enough that a non-decerning eye wouldn't notice the difference). All the solonoids have been removed. The engine is controlled with a Haltech e6k--which is the only saving grace--it can be tuned. It has no OMP. I premix. Even with a cat, I'd still need an airpump, and where-with-all to meter the airflow to the cat appropriately, run a strong alcohol mix, use very little premix, and tune like crazy to even stand a chance.

My question is what do all you performance 7 owners do to get past emissions here in MA?

Anyone up in NH willing to let me "reside" at your address and get my car registered up there where an 85 is completely exempt from emissions testing?

Jester94R2

iTrader: (3)

Wow, I feel lucky. MA really sucks! I'm about to (hopefully) pick up an 85 this weekend, thats totally stripped of emissions, but like you said pretty much, NH rules...

I'd say yes if I didn't live with my parents :X

Sorry bro! Goodluck! I'd love to cruise with ya sometime, thing sounds nasty!

willub and company

iTrader: (3)

ok, this is what you do..... fall on your *** miserably.

but then you have a few options..

1) find a garage that will put another car in the dyno for you, one that will pass emissions. then, find an n/a 7 that can pass emissions. in the past they used to put minivans and peaceful family cars on the dyno, but they recently updated the software so that it can identify what engine it is based on the rhythm of the exhaust pulses. thus you need another rotary engine to put on the dyno.

2) just keep failing every 2 months and pay 29 dollars every time.

3) risk it and wait til they raise the age limit for emissions exempt cars. could be a long time

4) try and get a waiver for the emissions test which lasts a couple years. it's like 200 dollars or something, but still. just write on the waiver that you car was "too low to be driven onto the testing dyne" or some bs like that.

good luck

CrackHeadMel

iTrader: (2)

Just get a PO box up here in NH ..

im kidding, dont, from what ive been seeing on the news, some mass towns (mostly nh bordering towns) have been cracking down on people registering there cars in NH even though they live in mass and been ticketing them heavly regardless

turn the boost down as low as you can go and lean the hell out of the car for the rollers?

from my experince going to get inspections with friends, the visual isnt really the problem, and if you find a station out of town, usualy the offering of some extra cash will help with the dyno

RotaMan99

If I had to go threw all that I would just put all the emmisions crap back on. Your not going to loose many ponies. From what I hear high flow cats work very well.

willub and company

iTrader: (3)

Seeing Rotaman post reminded me, maybe if you turn the AFM on it's side you can throw off the ecu to run leaner!

Hitokiri_Gensai

iTrader: (2)

remind me never to get emmissions advice from you Christian :P

fatboy7

Lol, honestly getting an address in NH still sounds like the easiest option. I'm not exactly in a "border" town--I'm practically in Boston, and besides this car is only a weekend warrior, and is otherwise parked in a garage, so I'm not too worried about tickets. It's very hard to prove that you don't spend enought time in another state to not justify a car and tag there.

It's far from a simple matter of putting on the stock stuff. This car's drive train doesn't have a stock piece on it. There never was emissions stuff on this engine--its a complete custom transplant (S5 TII). Sticking a cat on is certainly a possibility, but that's not going to cut it without a whole lot more. Especially with the port job.


#1 is a good option, but I don't have many car buddies around here--I don't know anyone with a shop, let alone someone that would slip one through. I also don't know anyone with a 7 that could help. I can count the number of 7's i've seen in the past year here on one hand.

#2 may work too, since I only drive the car in the summer--but will they really just let you keep doing this? How long really before the po-po is going to notice?

#3 There's a bill that has be proposed to make a special licence for custom cars (ie moddified cars over 25yrs old) that would exclude my car from emissions in 2 yrs(HB 3458/HB 3567), but even if it passes, that's a long time to cool my exhaust .

#4 It's my understanding that waiver's are only for car's that haven't been tampered. Don't you also have to get the $200 of work done at a "certified" repair center? Anyone out there actually doing this? More info?

Anyone out there that can hook a rotorhead up?

willub and company

iTrader: (3)

#2 will work, every failed emissions sticker has 2 months to get retested, so it's not illegal for those 2 months. on my old fd i practicall did this for one whole year until it finally passed.

foreignracer

iTrader: (2)

Hey guy, send me a PM. I might be willing to let a fellow rotary head use my address to get registered especially in a shitty state like Mass (no offence Mass guys, I am referring to laws and regs). The only problem with using my address is I plan on getting out of this hole in the NE early next summer......but that should not be a problem. Hit me up. And if you are rotary knowledgeable, I could use your help anyway......

CrackHeadMel

iTrader: (2)

FYI i run a highflow cat, it DID run great, however is slowly failing

its a randomtech 3" highflow. i run a 7 lb spring in my wastegate atm, with my cat on, and the wastegate manifold refrence unhooked, i use to make 5.5-5.8lbs @ wot, last week it was 5.0ish peak, today on my way home, 4.8... i think its clogging

willub and company

iTrader: (3)

Jacob, how much power are you making with that setup?

boriqua51371

if foreing doenst work for you hit me up with a pm i can help u out.

Rotary_Powerd

Get a highflow cat or two they might not last long under rotary conditions, but they may still get you to pass. Or else just pay every two months, you said it's a summer car only anyways. Only get new stickers during the better times of the year.

fatboy7

Thanks everybody for the suggestions. I might be giving some of you a pm in the next few weeks.

I'm still trying to make up my mind.

Just getting the stickers every two months could be a bit of a hassle, but I wouldn't be breaking any laws--there is something to be said by that.

I may look into getting a cat and an electric air pump to put in for emissions testing. I was smart enough to put the first muffler where the cat goes, and to use a separate flanged pipe to put it in, knowing that someday I might be in the position I'm currently in.

NH guys, thanks for the offers to help. I still may pursue this option, but I do feel a bit uncertain about the specifics like proving I'm a resident in NH when I'm not, how to insure it, and of course what might result if I got busted. The po would really have to watch me like a hawk to get enough observations to prove I garage it in MA (30 days worth/yr, when I only drive it on an occasional weekend, yea right), but the paper trail may be enough nail me--I dunno. I just know the fine would be around $1500, and that pays for a lot of failed emissions exams or emissions equipment

willub and company

iTrader: (3)

speaking of the electric pump route...... i know someone who runs an electric rx8 pump on his fd. it is a simple two wire pump that uses a relay to turn it on and off. of course the 7 didn't come equipped with that relay so what he does is simply plug the pump in at the last possible moment before the test and run it solely for that. if it runs any longer than that it could burn out so it is important to not run it too long. i don't know how well the fit would be on the 13bt but it is worth a shot.

CrackHeadMel

iTrader: (2)

right now? not a ton, its still a little rich and im only running 5lbs peak, no idea on actual numbers, never been on a dyno

from looking at others dyno's on this and and other forums, a stock port cosmo re with a t04s around 16-17lbs on 93 pump was making anywhere from 375 to 400 at the ground

hopefully ill turn the boost up sooner than later

willub and company

iTrader: (3)

are you tuning it your self?

CrackHeadMel

iTrader: (2)

yeah, wolf3d v4 and ussing innovate motorsports lm-1 and lma-3 (lma-3 is down though, randomly died.. off to innovate to get fixed )

RotaMan99

Running standalone?

You should still be able to run the stock air pump possibly if you have room, or use an electric one and run a high flow CAT form mazdatrix. I think racing beat may even have a highflow cat.

Can you run a ACV with a standalone?

fatboy7

Yea, its a standalone: Haltech e6k. I do have a spare output or two (I think). It wouldn't be too difficult to put in a air pump in with either a switch, or let the haltech control it. Because it's ported, it's a bit sensitive to AFR so I can only pull so fuel much before it misses badly, but if I were to run a cleaner buring fuel like E-85 or similar gas-alcohol mix I mihgt be able to tune it to where the engine burns clean enough without serious misfire.

I have no ACV to use even if I wanted to. Besides I'm looking for a solution to run only while testing. Air pump and ethanol alchohol may work, who knows.

I remember taking it to a friends emission station, and throwing it on the 2-step idle test they do in some counties in UT, and it pegged the HC meter at 9999 ppm at 900 rpm idle, and CO being near 5x-10x the limit, lol. (around 2000 ppm HC at 3k rpm, 6% CO IIRC) That's with no cat mind you, but still It's going to take a lot of work to get it down to the legal limit. The load from the rollers might actually help me with the misfire that the car often struggles with at light load, but that may just be how I've got it tuned or some other ignition problem I haven't been able to solve (endless, I tell you).

willub and company

iTrader: (3)

I think your car is just simply too bad *** for massachusetts. are you going to bring it to the rx8 meet on the 30th?

RotaMan99

Ya that shouldn't be to hard, I was thinking having you put the ACV back on and run the 2 solenoids, switching and relief solenoids with the haltech. The Airpump you should run all the time, Otherwise the cat will clog.

you don't pull any fuel for emmisions when you install emmisions equipment. Your AFR should stay the same. The EGR I think my screw with it a little but S5's don't use EGR.

NOOOOO. You would have to run a ton more fuel. E-85 from what I remember is not as explosive as gasoline at the same lb/min rating. Your fuel millage would go WAY down.
Possible I suppose, I still think it would be easier to put the emmisions crap on and not worry about it. Your not going to loose enough ponies to make you remove everything and go through all the hassel again.

I have one if you want it Its for a S4 but it will still work.

boriqua51371

easiest fix is get a po box here in nh . and vuala. if not you are welcome to use my add.

warwickben

iTrader: (1)

i live in mass and i have some info. next year 2008, there making it so 1995 and under does not have to pass any more, i have family who works for the state and they told me this info not that long ago. works out cause me and my buddy are hot roding a 84 capri (1983 is the cut off year.)

so you can do two thing for now.
frist just pay 30 bucks every time for a rejected sticker till next year.


i allso heard that if you can prove you spent x amount of dollars to make it pass they have to let it if you still cant after spending x amount of dollars trying to get it to.