[MR2] Mk 1 - worth the effort?

[William Brandt]

Hi Aaron - just to show you how silly this law (CA Smog)  is years ago I 
took a friend's Toyota pickup to a test only station.

It had a carburetor and sometime during it's life the carb (lower case) had 
a vacuum line that was no longer connected. It didn't affect the running of 
the truck, and it passed the smog test.

However the tech noticed a hole at the carb with no tube and failed the 
test.

So I went to an AutoZone, got a T fitting and vacuum line, and connected the 
totally useless connection.

The tech was happy, truck didn't know the difference and it was passed.

In general if they can see it (and headers would scream out) unless you have 
a document stating it is CARB certified you are SOL.

I had heard years ago TRD was working on getting their headers CARB 
certified for the 4AGE but never heard anything more.

I did hear form the ebay sellers; they said (no surprise) they aren't 
certified - for "off road use only" heh heh

So any chump buying these in CA will be failed at test time...

Bill
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Aaron Willis" <AWillis at lithia.com>
To: "William Brandt" <wbrandt1 at sbcglobal.net>; "MR2 List" <mr2 at mr2.com>
Sent: Thursday, May 28, 2009 10:24 AM
Subject: RE: [MR2] Mk 1 - worth the effort?


Bill, you're correct - technically.  In practice, some guys get an
aftermarket header through a California smog test just fine, depending
on how discrete it looks and whether the EGR is hooked up and
functioning properly, etc.  Similarly, typical MegaSquirt installs on a
16V AW11 use a plug-and-play harness to connect to the car in place of
the factory ECU inside the trunk, and as such, are invisible when
complete.  It does not require you to modify anything inside the engine
compartment other than the addition of one inconspicuous vacuum hose
running into the trunk.  If you can trick it into lighting the CEL when
the ignition is switched on and engine not running, there will be little
or no visible evidence of modification.  It's very much a stealth
install.

I'm not saying this is a practical approach for everyone, but it is very
possible and may be useful for some.


Aaron Willis, Parts Dept. - Lithia Toyota Scion of Springfield, OR
541.736.3221 (direct) - 800.888.6305 (toll free) - 541.747.4174 (fax)
Official vendor: www.mr2oc.com and www.mr2.com

-----Original Message-----
From: mr2-bounces at mr2.com [mailto:mr2-bounces at mr2.com] On Behalf Of
William Brandt
Sent: Thursday, May 28, 2009 9:50 AM
To: MR2 List
Subject: [MR2] Mk 1 - worth the effort?

On the plus side Steve there probably isn't more than 5 of you in the
country who would be interested in the car at this point. You could give
him
a low ball offer and see what he says.

On the ?Megasquirt" - it is just like these headers I saw for sale in
ebay -
and sold from CA.

"Are they CARB certified" I emailed last night?

Meaning are they approved by the California Air Resources Board?

If they aren't and you go in for a test only smog they will fail the car

right there.

I don't expect to hear from them ;-)

I've had my mr2 for 20 years now - bought it when it was 3 years old and

36,000 miles. Never thought I'd keep a car that long but I never tire of

driving it.

Bill


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