sounds like this is the perfect time to "know a guy"

 

Yep!

 

His may not be the guinea pig, er, test case we need. If the car fails a visual inspection we may not find out anything about the ECU scan portion of the process.

Separately, getting used cats may prove difficult from anything other than private parties. I believe they cannot be bought or sold in states that adhere to CARB rules, and businesses in other states can't ship to them.

In any case, good luck. I'm sure you'll let us know how it goes.

 

Quoted from Above: "California is just ahead of what's going to happen for everyone, so it's a bit short sighted to take angry swings at a single state. CA car decisions move the needle for the entire industry, and with all the weather events around us, it's obvious this would have happened eventually, everywhere."

If that's the case, then most of the United States will be engulfed in forest fires before long. Their policies have a fantastic way of producing a myriad unintended consequences.

 

Please stick to the topic at hand, lest this thread get locked as others have.

 

I lived in LA for 8 years in the 80's, and in the summer it was like living under a brown dome. Visibility was maybe 3 or 4 miles max. It was horrible, would not have lived there if not for being in the film industry. When folks here in CA complain about smog reduction compliance I remind them, if they were here then, how bad it used to be, and they often say "Yeah, I guess you have a point".

If you travel you've seen how really nasty the air quality is in many parts of Asia, Africa, Latin America, and the Middle East where there is little or no effort to curb pollution. This is what LA and many other US cities would be like today without the regulations we have in place.

Our smog reduction efforts are not perfect, but nothing is. IMHO they are well worth the cost.

 

I too travel all over the world and agree with your comment about the air quality here vs. the rest of the world (particularly India, China and Mexico). However the US at now at the point of diminishing returns in increasing emissions regulations. All they are doing now is costing more and more money and increased regulation for very, very little additional return.

 

That is a valid point. The returns are diminishing. However, the number of people and cars continues to rise. So the way I look at it, we have to keep reducing the per car and per person emissions in order to just maintain our current air/water/food quality and avoid backsliding. ICE emissions are only part of the "global" problem, but they are the biggest contributor to urban smog we have to breath in our cities.

It could be argued that the cost of keeping pollution from getting worse again is too high, but I'm not ready to agree with that.

If we were expanding the use of public transportation enough to keep the number of miles being driven from rising I'd be comfortable with freezing the regs where they are, but that isn't happening.

What do you think is the best way to prevent more miles being driven causing worsening pollution?

 

Well, here in L.A. County, the current efforts for public transportation, just won't work, IMO. The County covers too many Sq Mi, we love our cars and independence and the current efforts are decades behind. Example, the expansion of the 405 Fwy, West LA to the SF Valley was 20 years late and did not include provisions for a Metro Train. We aren't configured like NY or Amsterdam. Perhaps, had we built on the existing Rail System from the 1950's and not allowed The Big 3 Auto Mfr's to shut it down, we would be up to date with the demand and/or built a consistent infrastructure with Public Transportation in mind.

 

No I just drive up, pay the money, get my smog cert and go. I've never modified the cats on a car; however, I have friends with Velocity 200 Cats on their Aston Martins and they did pass Smog with them. They didn't just pass, they passed by a lot.

 

It really boils down to the Certifiers comfort level and how close in appearance. Fines and stings are wild right now and photos of OE equipment are being accessed to verify by Certifiers, due to the $5k fines. I had to take a 90's Bronco to several shops before finding someone to certify it. The issue was one of the two cats had a scrape on the Carb Serial#, making 2 digits illegible. Yet, they are sold in pairs and the first Cat's Serial number matched and all but the last 2-digits of the second. My e28 M5 has had AM Cats since I purchased it in '07 and has never come close to failing the sniff test, yet this year the tech crawled underneath to verify CARB sticker.
Very different experiences recently. Wish you well.

 

Not a gamble I'm willing to take. In my 20's? Yeah, sure, but that was a different time in so many ways. I could get my '77 firebird through smog with a 6 pack.

 

Well if I can't get it to pass, idk what I'm going to do. I'm really not wanting to pay for used cats just to put on for a short time, especially considering I don't have much time. I'd have to wait on shipping, then try to wait on a shop to put them on. My stock cats went bad, thats why I went with VAP in the first place. Stock is way more expensive to buy than aftermarket...which I find weird.
Wonder if I can register in a different state? Or **** it, I'll just ride around illegal like everyone else lol

 

Don't lose too much sleep over it. You'll have up to 5 months to correct the issue, if it even comes to it. My issues were earlier in the year and that may noty even be a focus now. Just make sure you pay the Registration fees on time. I always pay well before the test.

 

Good times!!!!

 

Back when I had my 1978 Datsun 280Z at my parents' house in California, getting it to pass smog every other year was an adventure. When the cats needed replacing I could easily find cats that were 49-state legal and would be a direct fit, but no California-legal ones. Makes sense that manufacturers aren't especially keen on regularly getting niche parts recertified by CARB... My choices were:
- Modify a CARB-certified universal cat (by literally sawing off the flanges on either end to make it fit, which is technically still illegal because it's an unapproved exhaust modification)
- "Know a guy"
- Move the car out of state

I went with option 1 but shipped the car to my house in New York soon after, since it spent most of the year just sitting in the garage and the smog ordeal was just too much of a hassle.

 

In southern Nevada we avoided Calif. cars like the plague. You could usually tell by the front license mounting which we don't do here. Now we are 50 state compliant.

 

Lossking,
Did your car pass the smog test? Inquiring minds want to know what's in store for us. If not what have you done to fix it?
Thanks, Wayne B.

 

Wow I forgot about this thread. Yes and no. The tune and exhaust is fine and passed with flying colors. The cats will fail you though because CA doesn't want you modding that portion of the car. With the right person, they may let you slide, otherwise, pop the stock cats back on

 

Does that mean you successfully passed your emissions test? Did you score some stock cats to replace your damaged ones? Separately, and to the point of the thread, what was your state of tune during inspection?