for all you f/i folks, what do you do when it's time for a smog check, especially catless kits.......going the f/i route soon and just wondering about that......pm will do nicely.. thanks.

 

Yeah, it's called failing inspection. And catless you'll fail at the pipe too. It's a rough life in Cali with such mods and strict fines for crooked smog shops. The best thing you can do for passing inspection is to get a CARB exemption certificate from a CARB-exempt kit, either by owning the kit or being friends with someone who owns such a kit.

 

Carb sticker not it still has the past the tests in use at that station (scan or tailpipe) and visual inspection. It will fail if it doesn't past the tests and/or they detect that the cats are gone. The stickers value is to show that the turbo kit has passed Carb which most states accept as prove that it is a legal mod. Without the carb approval it could pass the emissions tests but fail because they see a turbo has been installed.

 

ok, so need to find friends with same f/i setup.........that will be VERY difficult as i'll need to find a black 6mt sedan w/single turbo setup in so-cal area........once they pop the hood, t60=hello!........guess i got to go underground......

 

kinda SOL......... lucky for me i dont have to smog for another 4 years.... then i'll tackle this problem then

 

curious as to how everything works with people living in cali but have out of state plates/registration

 

if you have out of state plates.... you are held to that states law..... the only thing you need to worry about is when you need to renew your plates, and they require you to have it smogged, you need to take it back to your state or you can choose to have it smogged in whichever state you're in... but the catch is you need to register your car in that state then, and then you are subject to that states law........

 

I've been surprised at the number of non-carb kits being installed when most all locations now have emisions testing. When the test dates roll around it isn't going to be pretty. Even if you sell the car before its test date your going to be liable for selling a non-compliant vehicle if the new owner decides to file suit after they find the plates cannot be renewed. Some states even require a formal pre-sale disclosure to the buyer that the vehicle is only usable for off road use. Once you fail the test your in the state records and your options are few.