RB26 OBD II

[Capt. Raptor]

Ok before anyone flames me, yes I did a search for emissions and obd under the RB topic but sill have a few questions. Alright, according to what I found the RBs are not OBD II and thus will fail emissions, and not be able to send engine data to a tuning device or computer plugged into the OBD II port, correct? However is there a way to upgrade the RB's electronics to OBD II whether it be custom stuff or electronics yanked from a US spec Nissan engine? It that is not possible, then is there at least a way to somehow wire it to be able to send tuning data to a handheld device easily? Lastly can the OBD II port be wired to send out a B.S. emissions reading to fool the emissions testers if the OBD II can't actually be done. Thanks.
Modified by Capt. Raptor at 11:30 PM 5/16/2009

[Joe]

not possible

let me rephrase, not possible unless you or a friend is an electrical engineer.

[Sil240]

Well I'm lucky.I'm in FL, so there's no emissions testing down here.

But... like Joe said you're gonna need an electrical engineer. I know there are a couple on the Nico forums that might be able to help.

I have no idea what parameters the MD, NY etc... Emissions tests are looking for but I'm sure someone works at a shop up here.

Maybe together we could figure it out.

Or at least something that could be wired into the OBD2 port to give the tester what he's looking for.

[Bluefire]

As already mentioned don't even bother. Just cough up $200 and have the guy pass you...

[Capt. Raptor]

The saddest thing about this is that with a decent cat bolted on for test day, the engine will run plenty clean to pass a sniff test but because car is a 96 they have to do their lazy OBD II crap. So annoying, to fail just because of a stupid computer, looks like I'll have to get really good at swapping the RB and KA in and out every two years, all thanks to the socialist state of MD. Hopefully I can find a way around this though, any ideas on creating a B.S. OBD II signal?

[Joe]

again, unless you are or know an electrical engineer, you will not be creating a "bs signal"

obd2 is complicated.

[Vkoslak]

Take a look at the 96 300zx twin turbo ecu and wiring harness.

You can run a rb series motor using the older 300zx harness and a reflashed ecu.I'm not sure what the differences are in terms of any extra sensors and that kind of crap between the 95 and under, and 96 model years. I had a 94 CA emissions Z once, It had 2x the o2 sensors.I think Jim Wolf can update the 96 ecu now. The 96 didn't have VCT either.

Getting a 96 ecu and harness probably wont be cheap. You will probably need to convert to a single 300ZX MAF.

If I was going to attempt it, I would do all the research first and have a road map of what to do with the wires and sensors before buying anything and trying it.

If you figure it out, document your progress and post it.

Good luck.

[WhatsADSM]

Yea you can probably get a 300zx system up and running, wire everything up correctly so you aren't throwing know codes and you should set an ODB-II ready light.

I have contended for ages that this + all the public info about JK's crash test results and an RI would allow you to legally bring over R33 GTR-s.

As for the "faking out" the OBD-II signal. It could be done, but it would be a fairly decent effort and I'm sure HIGHLY ILLEGAL. I doubt you will find any electrical/firmware/software guy that would be willing to do that (OBD-II emulation) for you. I want no part of that myself.
Modified by WhatsADSM at 12:58 PM 5/18/2009

[Sil240]

Is Nistune available for the 96 Z32???

[roadrunr]

I've been wondering the same thing? Blazt has a converter that supposedly will convert the Consult to OBD2 and there is another called ConZult, which makes one wonder if that's all the EPA is looking for or do they want the car to be OBD2 from the factory, and if you can run an RB26 off a VG30DETT ECU, then couldn't you change over the sensers and actuators from the Z to the Skyline and have an OBD2 car? Granted its not going to be exactly that simple but could possible work, I read an article somewhere that said McKinney and Wolf were working on it at one point, maybe that tells us something right there, like it couldn't be done, and most likely because of the ATTESA and HICAS systems.

[Seishuku]

If they care about OBD2, then aren't they going to do a visual inspection?Because if they do, it's gonna fail one way or another.

[roadrunr]

that's very true, but right now nobody knows exactly what the EPA wants, personnaly I suspect all they want is for anyone to be able to pull into a garage and have the tech's be able to read OBD2 data from the car, but no one knows for sure, and it would have to be submitted to them (EPA) for an answer. apparently JB can do it, but nobody knows how there doing it, yet. I''m still wondering how Motorex got away with it, the law was in effect when they were doing the conversions.

[WhatsADSM]

I've been wondering the same thing? Blazt has a converter that supposedly will convert the Consult to OBD2 and there is another called ConZult, which makes one wonder if that's all the EPA is looking for or do they want the car to be OBD2 from the factory, and if you can run an RB26 off a VG30DETT ECU, then couldn't you change over the sensers and actuators from the Z to the Skyline and have an OBD2 car? Granted its not going to be exactly that simple but could possible work, I read an article somewhere that said McKinney and Wolf were working on it at one point, maybe that tells us something right there, like it couldn't be done, and most likely because of the ATTESA and HICAS systems.

Careful with what you are saying here... you sound a bit confused. They sell cables and software that scan the nissan OBD1 system and also stuff that scans ODB-II.

There is no such cable you can buy that will "convert" from nissan OBD1 consult to the standard OBD-II. You can't just magically plug in a cable and have OBD-II compliance.

Again, as I mentioned before. It is likely very possible to take a VG30DETT system and retrofit it to an RB26, however it wont be a plug and play ordeal and will be a lot of work. However at the end of the day, the car should be OBD-II complaint. When scanned it will say it is 300ZX, and the vehicle will be a 240sx, and the engine will be a skyline engine. If the local DOT and/or EPA say that is okay as long as it is OBD-II compliant, then you should be okay. However if they are expecting something different then even a VG30 system retrofit will not help.

OP:Also as Seishuku said some places have visual inspections where they don't allow any engines that do not have a US counterpart. In that case no matter what you do you will fail visual.

[Sil240]

In NY before I left they weren't doing any sniff tests or anything else.

They would just hook up the computer to the OBD2 port and that was it.Dunno if anything has changed up there since.

[WhatsADSM]

I''m still wondering how Motorex got away with it, the law was in effect when they were doing the conversions.

At the time Motorrex was importing it was only NHTSA blocking the importation. All they had to do was bring the vehicle up to safety standards and they the cars were given a U.S. legal VIN. Later on when the whole thing with Motorrex came crashing down, the NHTSA got sick of dealing with everything and passed it over to the EPA.... That's when all of the ODB-II stuff came into effect. However all of the vehicles which were previously legally titled were grandfathered in.

If you are really interested, there is a lot of good information in the "Tech" section of nicoclub which explains everything in more detail.
Modified by WhatsADSM at 2:43 PM 5/18/2009

[Capt. Raptor]

Interesting, anyway I've never seen a visual inspection done at the emissions place I go to. I'll try looking into using that 300zx ecu, however I know I won't be able to replace the harness. I'll shoot an email to Jim Wolf, maybe they know how to wire it.