I'm in the process of slowing building up A TBI 350 in my car. Engine is in and running with a vortec cam and stock 193 heads, full exhaust. Next im gonna jump into computer tunning, while i decide what heads, cam, and the like im gonna run. But i still have to meet California smog. I dont have to dyno smog, but still visual and idle/2,500 RPM test. So, 2 questions. How far can i go, and still get it to pass the sniffer test, assuming a good tune? And, On EGR and AIR, is there really any way the smog guys know if the computer is acctually telling them to do anything? The truck i took my computer out of didnt even have AIR, so i dont even know if its working. And i plan to run RBOB's EBL. So, EGR and AIR will no longer work. But, would i be ok if there there, looking pretty and looking like they're hooked up? I know for the EGR, it has to function in that they pull vacume on it and listen for it to affect idle. Anyone with experiance in this?

 

The actual EGR valve will still work, just the solenoid will no longer control it.

 

I realize that. I was just veryfying my assumption, that they dont really have any way to tell without going into the computer, whether or not the computer is acctually controlling it. I even thought about gutting my smog pump, just leaving a pair of bearings there. If its not gonna be doing anything anyways.
But really, what im wondering, is how far can i go with heads and cam and intake, and still make it pass tail-pipe?

 

You can put a CARB exempt pair of AFRs on your 350, use a rather large cam 210/220* @ .050 would not be too difficult to get it past, along with tuning and you will be fine. I ran 224/224 @ .050 in my 312 and when it was on our dyno smog test, it passed with 1/6 of the allowed emissions.