[SammYyYyY]

Originally Posted by SoCal Smith

California has some difficult smog, but I was running ARH catless long tubes! (I have a set for sale lmk!)

How the hell did you manage that with CA smog??? We don’t have a sniffers test here, just a visual inspection and an OBD-II scan, and despite that I have not talked to anyone that has managed to pass visual inspection here while catless unless they have fake cats.

[SFV1LE]

Originally Posted by SammYyYyY

This is fantastic news, and seems well worth the money to me assuming warranty is not a factor (I’m out of warranty anyway, so there’s that.)

Since this is Dexos approved, it should alleviate the worries about burning up the cats too?

I just ordered a case of the M1 5w50 Dexos R (which supersedes Dexos 2).

I've been occasionally topping off the 15w50 in my 2018 ZLE with M1 standard (Rally Formula?) 5w50 from the same case for the last 4-5 years. I rarely add any, my ZLE consumes zero oil on track but then randomly consumes ~4 oz after a few long sunday drives in the canyons, so I've only added 2-3 quarts max in 5 years and it's time to replace the un-opened quarts that are 5 years old.

[SFV1LE]

Originally Posted by SammYyYyY

How the hell did you manage that with CA smog??? We don’t have a sniffers test here, just a visual inspection and an OBD-II scan, and despite that I have not talked to anyone that has managed to pass visual inspection here while catless unless they have fake cats.

It's getting harder every year in CA, but I hear there are still places you can pay to pass you. I don't recommend it.

Alternative is only having mods you can easily swap out for the test, but that really restricts what you can do to maybe just catback exhaust, RF intake, E85 tune.

[SFV1LE]

Originally Posted by SammYyYyY

Since this is Dexos approved, it should alleviate the worries about burning up the cats too?

Yes good point, no long term cat issues... And if it's good enough for daily/track and all-temp use in the high strung C8 Z06 it's good enough for the burly LT4.

But maybe the old school extra thick 15w50 is somehow better at protecting the ZLE on track. I'll wait to see if GM approves it for ZLE track use, CA tracks are open year round there are some cold mornings at Buttonwillow in Jan/Feb where there is frost on my windshield in the morning.

[clg82]

Originally Posted by SFV1LE

It's getting harder every year in CA, but I hear there are still places you can pay to pass you. I don't recommend it.

Alternative is only having mods you can easily swap out for the test, but that really restricts what you can do to maybe just catback exhaust, RF intake, E85 tune.

Catback exhausts are not illegal here in Cali (yet) a RF intake won't get you much, and E85 will def require a tune and in Cali that is an immediate fail.

[SFV1LE]

Originally Posted by clg82

Catback exhausts are not illegal here in Cali (yet) a RF intake won't get you much, and E85 will def require a tune and in Cali that is an immediate fail.

In CA a ZL1 catback will fail if it's like most I've seen and is louder than the stocker, so it seems like most fail the sound level test. An RF fails the ref because they fail anything that's related/connected to emissions system (incl the PCV to intake) that isn't stock including a non-OEM open filter intake, I was told they've been doing that for years. That's why I assume you'd want to swap out both, relatively easy, before visiting the ref. Once that's done, easy to return tune to stock, and you have a stock car that should pass. And not hard to put these 3 things back to mod form.

[2023_ZL1-AUTO]

Originally Posted by SoCal Smith

I didn't drive my car a lot when I was between track days and kept the 15w-50 in it. I warmed it up and drove it normally on the street to the local car show. i think GM moved to the 0-40 for EPA/fuel economy probably for "daily" usage.

I did read somewhere that the heavier-weight oil could burn out the cats faster but idk if that was true or not. (didn't have them anyways)

Your car has "CAT's" !!!! HEHE JK !!!!

This link talks about race prep and oil as well...

https://www.chevrolet.com/content/da...ackPREP-R3.pdf

[clg82]

Originally Posted by SFV1LE

In CA a ZL1 catback will fail if it's like most I've seen and is louder than the stocker, so it seems like most fail the sound level test. An RF fails the ref because they fail anything that's related/connected to emissions system (incl the PCV to intake) that isn't stock including a non-OEM open filter intake, I was told they've been doing that for years. That's why I assume you'd want to swap out both, relatively easy, before visiting the ref. Once that's done, easy to return tune to stock, and you have a stock car that should pass. And not hard to put these 3 things back to mod form.

They are able to check to see how many times the ECM has been flashed....

[SFV1LE]

Originally Posted by clg82

They are able to check to see how many times the ECM has been flashed....

Yes that's true but I don't think the CA Ref fails you for that, for CARB Ref testing it's just a matter of the car having the OEM tune at the time of test so that it's in a fully CARB compliant/legal state during the check.

Otherwise any car that has its ECU re-flashed/updated, even for maintenance purposes by the factory/dealer, would be considered illegal in CA for all time after that just for what had been done to it in the past. That wouldn't make sense.

A reflashed ECU does void your GM warranty forever even if it's in stock tune form when they check it, unless GM has a record that they did it themselves for maintenance or repair.

[clg82]

Originally Posted by SFV1LE

Yes that's true but I don't think the CA Ref fails you for that, for CARB Ref testing it's just a matter of the car having the OEM tune at the time of test so that it's in a fully CARB compliant/legal state during the check.

Hmm interesting.

[LT4Greg]

Glad I don’t live in California but mine is stock with the exception of a RotoFab intake.

[CalgaryZL1]

Originally Posted by LT4Greg

Glad I don’t live in California but mine is stock with the exception of a RotoFab intake.

^^
This

[SFV1LE]

Originally Posted by LT4Greg

Glad I don’t live in California but mine is stock with the exception of a RotoFab intake.

Yeah I might feel that way about CA if not for the following, not necessarily in this order:

Best selection of race tracks all running year round: Laguna, Sonoma, Thunderhill, Buttonwillow, Willow Springs, Chuckwalla

Some of the best skiing and DEEP snow

Best surfing in continental US

You can ski and surf and drive at Willow Springs in the same day... I need to do that hat-trick some day--so far I've only done the skiing and surfing in same day thing

Other than that, I know so many communists... but wait, also largest GDP of any state by almost 2x how is that possible with all communists? :-)

I know, homeless everywhere and all the feces, so much human feces, it's awful don't come here

[Wontspeak]