I finally got the chance to take my car to the CA Bureau of Air Resources (BAR) Referee Station at the Cuesta Community College campus here in SLO a couple weeks ago. Similar to when I initially swapped in the M52, the referee passed me on visual and sniffer tests. However, a new BAR requirement is that a dealer has to sign-off that the ECU (DME in our case) has not been altered from the factory settings. I guess they're trying to weed out software flashes like Conforti's Shark programming.

So I took it to Coast BMW here in SLO, which is where I buy most of my parts (they match most on-line prices, and I don't have to pay shipping!). The tech was actually really cool -- he liked my swap and the other things I've done to my car. It ended up costing me $200 (less than the $300 estimate), but that included a wash -- and whatever wheel cleaner they used made my DS-IIs look like brand new! I need to call them to see what they use; the stuff from Maguiar's is useless even if you scrub like a madman :mad:

I took my car back to the BAR referee this morning, and it passed with flying colors. The local referee (Frank R.) is fair, and he is pretty good at hiding that he's a hotrod enthusiast; you can tell by some of his off-handed comments about other juiced-up cars he encounters in his job.

As of 10AM this morning, my S52-swapped car is now officially registered here in CA. I'm so happy I wanna smear my rear tires all over the pavement in a big ol' cloud of smoke! :biggrin:

Wish I would have seen this earlier! I’m at German Auto in SLO today just finishing tuning in this 3.5L Turbo E12. Nice town, gonna have to road trip my ti up here one of these days, since I’m driving this car back to LA I flew up this time.

Cool, I'll stop by German Auto today to see if one the guys there will let me see your car. There are some great roads here in SLO. For a fun little detour on the way home, take SR227 from SLO to Arroyo Grande; it gets fun just south of the dump for about a mile and will only add 10 minutes to your trip home to LA. It'll dump you right back onto US101 in Arroyo Grande. Of course, the roads up by Ojai are also fun...

Now that my car is done, I'm considering selling it to fund my next project (a 1985 BMW 524td that'll get an Chevy LS swap -- no smog req'd for a diesel chassis!). Given all that I've done to the car, I'm considering an asking price of $9k. Am I out in left field?

love the cali diesel trick. I’m working on a 6.3 AMG swap into a W123 chassis right now. Can you post pics of the completed build of your 318?

My car is officially listed in the Cars for Sale section. It is also listed in San Luis Obispo (CA) Craigslist. I'm not open to trades, but I hope it goes to a real 318ti nut! I've listed it for $8,500 here on 318ti.org, but I listed it for $9k on CL. C'mon, you know you want it!!! :biggrin:
Geoff