Many boosted questions (NC specific)

[BEEF]

Ok, so, I've been contemplating going boosted as I have done basically every bolt-on that is possible.

I live in North Carolina so I have to stay legal.

-Can I run a turbo with a catalytic converter?
-Does anyone know a shop in North Carolina (or southern VA) that does turbo tuning?
-Is 6psi safer than 8psi?
-Is it cheaper to tune at 6 vs 8?
-Do you have to run premium with boost? (I assume so)
-Are larger injectors a must?

My car is more a daily driver (though I don't drive it much). I don't race it or care about ridiculous numbers. I honestly think an extra 30-40 hp on top of what I have would be about right.

I am in the beginning stages of this so honestly just collecting data. Being able to pass state inspection is a deal breaker for me though.

thanks for any and all advice.

-BEEF-

[CTScott]

Most of your questions really aren't NC specific, so:

1. Catalytic converter with Turbo = Yes
2. NC specific
3. Yes, lower psi is safer than higher psi, but 6 vs 8 is a pretty minimal safety difference. If you are not tuned correctly any amount of boost could damage the engine.
4. Not really
5. Yes, unless you tune for regular, which would mean pulling a heck of a lot of timing
6. Not necessarily, but slightly larger injectors (for a 1.8L) will mean that when in boost you do not need to run the injectors at as high of a duty cycle.

[cali yaris]

+1 and I'll add that I would only, EVER run premium (91 or better) in a boosted Yaris. Even the Blitz supercharger kit recommends it.

[cali yaris]

I don't see how turbocharging a car could keep it "legal", though. Not in California, for sure!

[BEEF]

It is legal (passes emissions and not CEL's right now), I just don't want to do things to it so that it won't pass inspections.

any CEL will cause it to fail NC state inspections though emissions equipment CEL's are supposed to be the only onest that matter.

I have heard of people chopping off their cats and mangling the wires and being OK with inspections because they "know a guy". I don't know anyone for that type of hookup so I have to keep it within the legal limits of the inspection criteria.

also, Cali, since you chimed in, how much would the whole shebang run? ballpark obviously because tuning can vary.

thanks

[why?]

Isn't NC emissions very county specific? So the laws are totally different if you live in the city compared to in the middle of nowhere?

As to a good place, boosted xA was it? The dude with the drag racing car is in that area and has been boosting 1nz's for a long time. I can't find anything about him right now. weird. I think his real name was Sean. Pretty sure he has a shop in VA.

[BEEF]

It is county specific. my county is rather strict (relatively speaking). ironically, i do live in he middle of nowhere (at least i think i do).

I have talked with boosted xa though it has been a while. i want to say he's in va but closer to the dc area. there again, i probably need to revisit that.

[CTScott]

It sounds like your state's requirements are similar to CT. Here, the only visual part of the inspection is verification that the cat is still present and that the CEL is not on (and that is does light with the ignition and then go off once started). Other than that, they simply plug into the OBDII port and verify that no codes are present and that all of the "readiness monitors" are complete. The readiness monitors are for the evaporative emissions system (the automatic test that occurs 6 hours after you drive and then shut off the engine), the O2 sensors (which can only be properly tested when they are hot), etc.

In CT, as long as the car passes all of those things, it doesn't matter what else you have done modification-wise. So, my supercharged Yaris passes with no problem (other than the emissions guy tooling on me for having a supercharger on a Yaris).

For pre-OBDII cars (like my 92 Celica GT) they do the tailpipe gas analysis instead of the OBDII communications.

[BEEF]

Ok, yea, that sounds exactly like ours (pre 1996 just has a visual inspection though)

Does anyone know a practical budget? is $3500 reasonable or am i looking at closer to $5k? (For everything)

[CTScott]

Ok, yea, that sounds exactly like ours (pre 1996 just has a visual inspection though)

Does anyone know a practical budget? is $3500 reasonable or am i looking at closer to $5k? (For everything)

$3500 should be doable if you go with a kit, like the Micro Image Zage kit, which would run just shy of $2500 with the AEM FIC and Boomslang harness. That would leave you $1000 for install and tuning.

http://shop.microimageonline.com/searchquick-submit.sc?keywords=zage

[BEEF]

I can do the install myself. i worry more about the tuning side.

[cali yaris]

$3500 should be doable if you go with a kit, like the Micro Image Zage kit, which would run just shy of $2500 with the AEM FIC and Boomslang harness. That would leave you $1000 for install and tuning.

Yep! I would add a couple of gauges for sure, air/fuel and oil pressure at least. Otherwise, you're good.

[coheed]

If you are willing to make the drive BRE Motorsports does very good tuning jobs. They are in Concord. You're in Winston aren't you?

[BEEF]

I am close to greensboro but i know concord. i assume they have a website.

[fnkngrv]

So is the CEL in NC just a visual check? This stuff could be critical for me since NC is on our short list of places to move in the upcoming year or so.

[fnkngrv]

I believe Carlos had said that 4-5psi of boost with his turbo setup ended up being in the mid 140hp range. Granted the setup was somewhat different than the Zage, but that would give you an idea. As for running premium my tuner said that you would typically lose 10% or so hp/tq if tuned for regular. This would mean that if you wanted to look at that option you would really need a serious personal cost/benefit analysis. As for injectors you can do fine at even up to 8psi using 1zz injectors. This convo could get really long. :-)

[BEEF]

North Carolina is county by county. The county I live in (Rockingham County) requires the visual inspection of emissions equipment along with an obd2 test where it has to be in the "ready" state. The next county over (Caswell County) just does the visual inspection.

I'd say, if you had a choice, South Carolina has no annual inspections.