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
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!
