So a friend is bringing his '02 sedan over from the east coast, and it has basically an old school Vishnu setup including the non-sig TBE, header, TMIC (drool), VF23, and I think the ECU piggyback (XEDE?). It also has Perrin fuel rails, Samco hoses (including intake hose) and some other misc. It is tuned for 93-95 octane. The exhaust system has 1 cat in it, but none in the downpipe.

So - any hope of getting it to smog with some of these pieces? I assume the fuel related items need to go, the header, and it probably needs a cat in the downpipe. What about the VF23 and the TMIC?

It also needs a clutch, and we'll probably end up going with either ACT or Exedy. I "had a bad experience" with an Exedy clutch in my RS, and love my ACT in my Toyota, but as far as I knew Exedy makes a good clutch. Any thoughts on this? Most likely keeping the stock flywheel, machining it of course. Will be buying parts in the next couple weeks.

Also - we are doing brakes on it. Thinking either the full 4pot/2pot setup or just doing up pads/rotors for now depending on what getting it legal costs. If it's just pads/rotors it will be my old track setup of blank rotors and Porterfield R4-S pads (leaning toward the LGT setup with the same pads).

And the big question... Where to go for a tune? I know there are many places around but this is serious business and there's no time/money for sillyness. Anyone running happy at least 10k miles or so on a local Bay Area tune want to PM me their thoughts?

I want a bugeye again soooo bad... This car has me falling in love all over again. The sound of this car really gets me, the classic boxer rumble piped through the Vishnu exhaust...

 

Can anyone comment on the smoggability of a VF23 equipped WRX? Do the Samco hoses need to be pulled for it to be legal? Can someone suggest a tuner they had/have a good experience with? Bueller?

 

I'm not entirely sure how this opinion will be taken around here, but trying to comply with CARB is going to be neigh impossible AND Prohibitively expensive to try and do. A friendly smog shop should be able to secure you a pass as-is for around 150-200 bucks. If you don't want to go that route, a good local shop will always work with you and tell you what they need done to give you a passing grade. In the end you're going to have to deal with them and the shop you choose can choose to pass/fail you based on specific and personal interpretation of regulations.

I'm partial to ACT clutches myself and as far as a tune, LIC Motorsports and GST Motorsports are both highly acclaimed for their tuning. I have no direct experience as I go to a shop in SAC but have heard a lot of praise about them both.

 

Thank you for your post. I agree with the CARB stuff, but was wondering if anyone had passed a sniff test with a VF23, and if anyone had gotten through a visual with any of the parts on this car. I am sure the Samco hoses are out, but that is a PITA to change, and the TMIC is sooooo purdy...

The "right" and "lawful" thing to do would be to take it back to 100% stock, but since AWD cars do not need to ride the dyno for a smog, I wasn't sure if people had gotten cars to sniff clean with a few of these items...

Thanks again for the comments. As far as the tune, I need to talk to someone that has a considerable amount of boom-free miles on their tune before selecting a tuner. The car will sit until that happens if need be. It's not a new engine, it's a 45k mile stock '02 WRX powerplant.

 

Is there a better place to ask this? I looked in the engine management forums and it's dead as dead. Sort of shocked I guess that no one has anything to say, and not one comment from someone who has had a local tune.

I am asking this because whenever something happens there are always a bunch of folks that post up "oh you shoulda gone to ______" and such. So here's the chance to share that knowledge when it will actually be useful...

TIA!

 

I don't really see what Samco hoses have to do with emissions. Some cop, somewhere, would probably give you grief simply because they're brightly colored and aftermarket, but they really won't affect what's coming out the tailpipe of the car.

Also, the turbo itself really shouldn't have too much of an effect on emissions. It's all about the cats and the tune. I've heard stories of some WRXs passing emissions with just the cat in the up pipe because the they were tuned to do it (I also read somewhere about a WRX that passed completely catless, but I have my doubts about the legality of that particular scenario).

 

Where do you need to take it to smog?
If you need to take it to a referee station then I think the chances of you passing would be almost zero. At the ref station, you pretty much have to be stock.
On the other hand, if you can take it to any smog/test only center, then it really depends on the tech doing the smog test. Some are going to be more strict than others. Try not to take it to a test only center if you can help it.
Basically, your goal would be to make it appear as stock as possible so you can pass the visual because as long as you have the stock downpipe, the sniffer test should be no problem.
The header needs to go unless you can hide it to make it look stock. The fuel rail might be ok depending on how obvious it is.
The TMIC is kind of iffy since it will look obvious that it is not stock.
The Samco intake hose needs to go unless you can get a CARB sticker for it.
Does it also have the Samco turbo inlet hose? If so, that will probably need to go too.

As far as the tune goes, I don't think anyone in the bay area is tuning with the XEDE piggyback any more. Most places tune using the accessport.
As far as shops in the bay area, the shops that I know of are
1) EQ Tuning in Fairfield(they are the only shop in the bay area that does open source tuning as far as I know. they also tune using cobb accessport. also, Ed does road tunes vs dyno tunes at all the other shops I listed)
2) GST in Hayward
3) DBTune(Paul) in Roseville/Sacramento
4) FLI in Santa Rosa.
My personal opinion is that you really can't go wrong with any of these shops, just depends on where you are located and how far you are willing to drive and whether you have a preference of dyno vs. road tune.