Moving soon??

[spyderdrifter]

My wife is from the Sacramento area and she's wanting us to move there by the end of next summer. I know my spyder will not pass CA emissions, and there's no emission regulations here in Colorado Springs. So, if I were to attempt to get my spyder to CA standards, what all would I need to add to my car for testing? I know I'd need factory exhaust probably, and definitely a catalytic convertor, but what other emission parts would be required?

 

[Ludachris]

All of them... did you strip out any of it? And everything under the hood has to look completely stock. PM me if you need some options.

 

[josh408]

Ludachris is right. You need all your emissions, from the solenoids on the firewall, stock bcs, charcoal canister. Egr, etc. Or just know someone.

 

[spyderdrifter]

All of them... did you strip out any of it? And everything under the hood has to look completely stock. PM me if you need some options.

Don't CA cars have more emissions crap under the the hood than none-CA cars? I do still have it all there, although I'm sure due to age, some may need replacement.

How do you guys even deal with emissions inspection, yet keep a modified car? Just swap things out for the inspection and then risk being seen when unfortunately pulled over?

 

[josh408]

It's basically this diagram, plus a cat, plus all monitors being ready and of course if they really want to be strict ifor you have a k&n filter must have a carb legal stamp...and that goes for anything that was modified. Or...again. just know someone with the plug. And some of us Uninstall our smog stuff yea we may or may not get pulled over and hood popped and or state ref'd. It's a risk. A good start would be to know your rights because you might get pulled over for a tail light out and he wants to pop your hood. And if you do. You're screwed just know you don't completely have to but they will give you a hard time sometimes. Again. This is worst case scenario.

 

[Ludachris]

You basically either swap everything back to stock appearing every two years, find a shop that doesn't care about some of the aftermarket parts so long as it passes (though you still need the OEM emissions equipment), or you get a good connection. No matter what you choose it will be either a lot of work or expensive, and in some cases both.

 

[spyderdrifter]

Good to know it's every two years. I thought it was every year. Thanks for the diagram, that's a good start. However, it looks just like my vacuum diagram. Shouldnt a CA diagram be different from mine?

 

[95REGF150]

Don't have to go all the way stock of you know how to work the system. I use ecu flash with a blackbox ecu instead of DSMlink that way I can retain all the OBD2 but turn off the emissions I'm not using. I can also look up on the CARB EO# database and find the aftermarket part numbers for our cars that are legal and use those. The only thing your really not getting around is having a California approved catalytic converter on the car. I have passed my car through smog at your average smog and go station here in Sac with evo 3 I take manifold, No EGR valve, FP green turbo, PR FMIC, 272 cams and a wideband in my rear O2 Bung. The main thing is that you can pass the numbers. And if your AWD that isn't as bad since it's just a 2 speed test and not dyno. I was over by about 200 on the NOX last time I believe due to the cams so I dropped 5 degrees of timing across the board on the tune and the car had no power but passed with flying colors.

Also you are only responsible for the emissions your car came with. If it was a federal emmisions equipped vehicle from the factory then you only have to meet that when bringing the car to CA from out of state. However for our cars I don't believe there is much difference between the CA cars and federal. All had EGR and Cat. It is still against federal emmisions in any state to modify your vehicle the ways that we do. It's just that California actually checks to make sure your not doing it

 

[spyderdrifter]

Don't have to go all the way stock of you know how to work the system. I use ecu flash with a blackbox ecu instead of DSMlink that way I can retain all the OBD2 but turn off the emissions I'm not using. I can also look up on the CARB EO# database and find the aftermarket part numbers for our cars that are legal and use those. The only thing your really not getting around is having a California approved catalytic converter on the car. I have passed my car through smog at your average smog and go station here in Sac with evo 3 I take manifold, No EGR valve, FP green turbo, PR FMIC, 272 cams and a wideband in my rear O2 Bung. The main thing is that you can pass the numbers. And if your AWD that isn't as bad since it's just a 2 speed test and not dyno. I was over by about 200 on the NOX last time I believe due to the cams so I dropped 5 degrees of timing across the board on the tune and the car had no power but passed with flying colors.

Also you are only responsible for the emissions your car came with. If it was a federal emmisions equipped vehicle from the factory then you only have to meet that when bringing the car to CA from out of state. However for our cars I don't believe there is much difference between the CA cars and federal. All had EGR and Cat. It is still against federal emmisions in any state to modify your vehicle the ways that we do. It's just that California actually checks to make sure your not doing it

Sweet. So in theory, I could return my emissions to oem spec and go to Denver (where they do have emissions testing) and if I pass there, I "should" pass in CA since it'd only be what my car had from the factory?

 

[95REGF150]

Yes they should be using the same max levels for the test as the station in California will use. The numbers are not hard to pass for a motor in decent shape with a good cat. However their visual inspection will be far less strenuous than here. Here they go over my car with a flashlight and look everywhere. As stated previously, anything not stock either needs to be well hidden or you better have a CARB EO# for it. FMIC and hard intercooler pipes being the only exception. Those are allowed to be upgraded without an EO# but things like BOV and turbo should have one. Also adjustable FPR are a no-no. I reinstall my factory FPR for the test and just let my 255 overrun on it. I also got away with a 16G turbo before without an EO# because it is a factory mitusbishi part and can go unnoticed to somebody unfamiliar with these cars. For my FP green I use a Greddy EO# and a custom tag.

 

[spyderdrifter]

Are the EO stickers something you have to get from the manufacturer of the part, or from somewhere else?

 

[95REGF150]

Ya they are something for a specific part that the manufacturer (like Greddy when these cars were new) paid money to have the CARB test and approve it as not changing the emissions of the car in any way. But there is a database of these numbers that smog shops use to look them up and see if the number applies to your car or not. However the information on that database has no pictures. So if you make custom stickers/tags using those numbers and attach them to parts from manufacturers that did not pay for the testing then you can get them through. Mind you this is not strictly legal. However, these parts would have passed the testing because you can still pass the emmisions numbers with them on. It's just that manufacturers like FP are not going to spend the money on testing and getting an EO# just so they can sell more turbos in one state.

I have played the smog game for many years in this state. Done a lot of motor swaps and been through the BAR Rep process quite a few times. This state is by far the worst for modifying cars but not as bad as most people make out if you use these certain techniques.

 

[spyderdrifter]

Sounds like you'd be a good person to get help from. I'm still considering keeping my CO registration when this move happens, since my parents live here and might let me use their address for it, but if all else fails, I'd still want to keep my car legal enough to pass.

 

[josh408]

Ya they are something for a specific part that the manufacturer (like Greddy when these cars were new) paid money to have the CARB test and approve it as not changing the emissions of the car in any way. But there is a database of these numbers that smog shops use to look them up and see if the number applies to your car or not. However the information on that database has no pictures. So if you make custom stickers/tags using those numbers and attach them to parts from manufacturers that did not pay for the testing then you can get them through. Mind you this is not strictly legal. However, these parts would have passed the testing because you can still pass the emmisions numbers with them on. It's just that manufacturers like FP are not going to spend the money on testing and getting an EO# just so they can sell more turbos in one state.

I have played the smog game for many years in this state. Done a lot of motor swaps and been through the BAR Rep process quite a few times. This state is by far the worst for modifying cars but not as bad as most people make out if you use these certain techniques.

You can find the Executive Orderdirector all through the BAR website. That's where I printed all the ones the pertained to me. But sounds like you're describing stare ref testing. Which is worse case scenario but good to know if your car passes that you will be golden.

 

[josh408]

Sounds like you'd be a good person to get help from. I'm still considering keeping my CO registration when this move happens, since my parents live here and might let me use their address for it, but if all else fails, I'd still want to keep my car legal enough to pass.

Hey just out of curiosity. I have a friend moving back to Colorado Springs next week or so....if I wanted him to register my car over there would the car need to be present? I'm pretty darn sick of these CA regulations. It's preventing me from comfortably driving my car and wanting to delete stuff to make it clean. Lol

 

[spyderdrifter]

No, your car does not need to be present. However, since it's currently an out of state car, you may nees to bring it for a one time VIN verification, in which it would need to be present. I had to do that when I moved back here while in the army and had tibhave it done to my first spyder. I'd have to ask the dmv for a definite answer though, just to be absolutely sure.

 

[spyderdrifter]

Here's another question. I'm sure this is just paranoia, but if I were to get my spyder tagged there, they'd only be concerned with emission testing and not even ask about why my car is awd swapped right?

 

[95REGF150]

Actually thats not paranoia, you gotta look at all the details here in Cali. And you never mentioned before that it was AWD swapped. That will change things entirely for you. In most counties here in Cali you are required to do smog check 2. Which means if your car is 1999 or older it is to be put on a 2WD Dyno while doing the test. Now the only exceptions to this are vehicles that came AWD from the factory or vehicles deemed too large to fit on dyno's (RV's, box trucks,etc). This all goes by VIN to determine whether your car goes on the Dyno or not.

With your AWD swap you are kinda screwed they will read the VIN which says it was FWD from the factory and go to put it on the Dyno. At which point you will yell at them Hey that car is AWD! Then they will politely tell you that your car fails because the smog test since it cannot be completed according to the rules. Your only option is either swap over to an AWD VIN and registration or go in for the test as FWD. Or finally, live in one of the few counties in this state with a population low enough that only smog check 1 is required (not Sacramento County). Smog check 1 is just a 2 speed engine test and no dyno is required. This is the test that factory AWD cars recieve for smog check 2.

 

[spyderdrifter]

Holy sh!t. I guess I'll be doing everything I can to keep Colorado registration. That's retarded. I'm glad I asked that question.

 

[josh408]

Crazy idea, you can take off the transfer case for the test .

 

[spyderdrifter]

But because of the oem differentials, the car won't move since it won't be transfering power. I wish I could do it that way.

 

[spyderdrifter]

After the resent knowledge of the dyno being used for CA testing, I did finally get a 100% confirmation of an address I can use to keep my CO tags. So f#&k CA emissions. However, does CA still require any kind of testing for out of state vehicles?

 

[josh408]

No. Just be careful. If law enforcement recognizes your car has been around alot they might get you. I believe there's like a 90 day rule if a car is here for any longer than that it'll need to be transferred to CA tags. But don't quote me on that.

 

[spyderdrifter]

To avoid that, I do plan on getting a DD there that already passes CA crap, preferably another DSM. My spyder will be an occasion sort of car, in addition to getting a full rebuild.

 

[95REGF150]

Ya I know quite a few people that do that with dirt bike's around here. Register them out of state because you can't register them for the street in Cali. How they will get you is if the registration is in your name in Colorado but you will be required to get a California driver's license when you move here. So then if they ever pull you over for something and see you are a California resident but the registration is from Colorado then they will decide how much of the book to throw at you. It can be as small as a fix-it for getting your car registered here or a big fine. The way around that is to have the car in someone else's name who is still in Colorado and carry a signed declaration with you that you are allowed to drive it.