Performance parts and emissions (MOT)

[Thieme]

Hello,

I have been reading here and there on this website for a while now, but i finally registered to ask a question i couldn't get an answer to on the Dutch micra forum.
I feel kinda bad this is my first post immediatly asking a question but i don't feel my car is worthy for a post atm

Anyways i have a micra with some basic mods and it barely passed MOT emissions but i want to go further with performance mods and i am wondering how they will affect my emissions and what i can do to alter those.

Current performance mods

- Janspeed manifold
- Janspeed sportcat
- Janspeed catback system
- Open air filter behind the battery
- Black 1.6 injectors
- Ga15 throttlebody

Car has been to a "chiptuner" but to be honest i have no idea what he did exactly, i know he tweaked the fueling a bit but mostly worked of timings. My car still has the original ECU. Matthew also wrapped the manifold for me in 2-3 layers of heatwrap to make sure the sportcat get's to it's working temperature with the frontcat replaced by the manifold.

So i very much like to get some cams and a lighter flywheel. Cams not to sharp because it is just a daily, i really fancy the tomei cams particularly because they are plug and play. I have a fuel pressure regulator from Matthew lying around which i still need to install as well.
So what do you guys think this will do to my emissions? and if it would go worse what would i need to do to get the emissions good enough again to pass MOT.

 

[frank]

hi thieme the cams wont do you any favours on emissions, but definitely go for the lighter flywheel

 

[Thieme]

But if i really want cams? Is there a easy solution to stay within the green with emissions testing? because sadly i got well just a right and a left hand i suppose but i am not to good at tinkering myself and since i am living in an appartment i don't have a proper place to work on the car. I don't know how feasible it is to work with a piggyback or something that can intercept some readouts i havent quite figured out how usefull something like that can be. I always end up stuck translating some of the more technical things.

 

[Low Rider]

I'll not go into emissions, as it seems I am the only person on this forum that can pass emissions with a manifold and sports cat without any issues and my view is thus only one of many.

It is worth noting that Tomei cams are only available second hand, as Tomei discontinued them.

 

[Thieme]

Well the garage said it was barely i don't know how barely, i only know they had to keep the car running for 20 minutes or so after it cooled down for approximatly 3 hours.
As for the Tomei cams i had read that more but there still seem to be quite a few people offering these, 1 on the normal ebay and a few on yahoo auctions. I was planning on ordering both cams and flywheel from another known website, but i see it is the Jun flywheel that has a wait time of 3 months :/

Anyhow regardless what you may think i would value your opinion on emissions, i just want to learn as much as i can and i don't want to do anything stupid as spending a lot of money on something that will bite me in the rear.

 

[Japi]

Hi Thieme!
Usually sporty cams increase HC (hydrocarbon) and CO (carbon monoxide) emissions. They are often hard to get into limits . I haven´t tested Micra with cams, but have seen a few other cars with them. HC will usually drop when you raise idle rpm, but there´s limits for it too at the MOT. In Finland we must have idle max 1000 rpm in these engines (and test also over 2000 rpm).

 

[Low Rider]

It's 1200rpm maximum rpm here in the UK for basic idle test and between 2000-3000rpm for fast idle.

Emissions are a problem if you modify the car and retain the standard ECU. I don't know what was done by the 'chiptuner' but K11 ECU's cannot be tuned as standard. Piggyback systems can be made to work but they are largely compromised due to the inability to be able to change the original programming which can lead to some limitations.

Cams do make things a little harder but by fitting a 4-2-1 manifold the car will fail on standard cams anyway with a mid mounted cat. Some people have managed to scrape through with an adjustable fuel reg and some clever rpms but it doesn't change the fact that the car is still poorly setup. Most end up having to revert back to standard just to pass emissions, which is backwards in my opinion.

I've been passing emissions for years with 264deg 9mm lift cams, which are pretty similar to the Tomei cams on both a Nistune setup on the standard induction system with 4-2-1 manifold and also running individual throttles and a standalone ECU.

The main limitation is one of funds. A Nistune tuned ECU will often cost more than the car here in the UK, so it puts a lot of people off from optimizing things. Hence why, for the majority, it's easy to bolt things on and remove them temporarily when it's MOT test time.

 

[frank]

nah, a nistune,d ecu is an investment dave (albeit witchcraft)

 

[Low Rider]

nah, a nistune,d ecu is an investment dave (albeit witchcraft)

hehe

I'm not expecting to have problems getting my next engine to pass emissions. However that will have the best part of £2k of EMS behind it.
Sounds like a lot on it's own, but given the build, if it saves the engine once it's paid for itself in my opinion.

 

[Thieme]

Thanks for your input

I thought Ed here can also modify the standard ECU? That is what made me go look for someone here in Holland who could do that. The guy here claims to have a special sort of harness for the ecu and what he did did sure made a change i have rollerbanktests to confirm. http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a15/thieme1989/Autodyno.png
Also do you think the position of the lambda probe has any effect? I have it on the standard slot on the manifold but that way it only detects half of the exhaust gasses. I believe i still have my standard manifold/cat/downpipe lying around so i could switch it for MOT just hoping i don't have to.

 

[skymera]

Thanks for your input

I thought Ed here can also modify the standard ECU? That is what made me go look for someone here in Holland who could do that. The guy here claims to have a special sort of harness for the ecu and what he did did sure made a change i have rollerbanktests to confirm. http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a15/thieme1989/Autodyno.png
Also do you think the position of the lambda probe has any effect? I have it on the standard slot on the manifold but that way it only detects half of the exhaust gasses. I believe i still have my standard manifold/cat/downpipe lying around so i could switch it for MOT just hoping i don't have to.

You need a Nistune daughter board for the ecu which is about £500 before it can be mapped.

I don't think moving the lambda would have any effect. Half the gases or not, its still the same percentage CO2 and HC.

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