Have had my 2015 GSR for a few years, warranty just went off and I finally got boring of the stock experience. Once I started looking into mods, almost every performance mods I look at had some limits in california, except for exhausts. I want to have better intercooler pipings in case of future mods that may benefit, nope, no one sells to california. I want to look at intakes, well this time seems only AEM has one that is legal to sell in Cal. I don't even get mad at this point, I just chuckles at the absurdity California has. Being a gun owner as well has seen enough of the all bureaucratic crap the state has offered in the past years, certificates and exemptions, same thing all over.

I know that I can play around with exhaust, brakes and suspensions. Just want to know what other parts I have some approved freedom to mod with. Seriouly the fact that I can't change to better piping makes me really frustrating, its just pipes, wtf?

 

Hey @UNSCONI Welcome to the group. There are more than a few of us Cali men here on the boards

These kinds of questions are very common & we have seen most of them. For sure AEM is a good choice if they have CARB cert decal


Cheers, Joe

 

commifornia, the land of first world prices for a third world experience.

i'm not advocating you do anything illegal, but a big part of the game is not getting caught. every 2 years be ready to turn everything back to stock for smog, in terms of visual inspection. unless you "know a guy", then there's nothing else you can really do.

if you get pulled over and they ask you to pop the hood, make sure everything looks OEM-ish to an untrained eye; 99% of cops have no idea what they're looking at. if they send you to the state ref anyways, then have all the OEM parts ready to swap back on. for example, i had the IC pipes on my old DSM shrouded in ribbed intake piping from a Starion and 2G Eclipse. looked totally stock cause it wasn't blinged out chrome. annoying, and stupid, but there's really no other way.

and regarding firearms, so ironic that the "progressive" state, known for "car culture" is basically the antithesis of both.

 

That is classic. Love it

 

You could always drive across the border to say Arizona or Nevada? Get the work done there, then drive it back. The other option is... keep it stock. I find original Evo's right out of the box, will blitz just about 90% of every thing else on the road. I know it's tempting to ramp up the BHP... but it leads to a dark rabbit hole that will empty your bank account and consume your time and emotions. The world is changing and sadly the more you do to your cars, the more attention is drawn from the likes of emission boards and cops. The mods I did to mine were sport springs, new alloy's and PIAA silicon racing wiper blades, and replacing the seats with new 2014 Recaro's from the parts department at my local dealership, but I don't count that as modding, more returning it to its original spec as it was a 2015 car.

 

Been that way since I have lived here (80's). It just proves too the more you try to restrain people the more they will still find a way. If all these so called laws and taxes are supposed to "protect" us it sure isn't evident. People still mod cars and still have firearms. To add to your quote here is one about
the CA government.
You can find better just can't pay more!

 

 

Yeah, non CARB parts are hard to get in CA. I decided to go non-op last Dec when car was due for SMOG so that I could go full bold-ons before I build the engine some time in the future. My shop had to order parts made in Washington state from a distributer on the East coast and would only do the job on the condition that it would be a track only car. Apparently modifying anything to do with smog not even legal per the EBA (see RPM Act Recognizing the Protection of Motorsports Act of 2021 (RPM Act) | Specialty Equipment Market Association (SEMA)). If I wanted to keep driving on the streets of CA I would get CARB bolt-ons and a second ECU to tune with. That way all you have to do is swap out the ECU to pass smog.

 

damn, and I thought NY was bad. I'm sorry, I don't really have anything to contribute here besides sharing my frustration for stupid, unnecessary, political firearm restrictions and vehicle modification restrictions.

Moving to South Carolina soon, which cant come soon enough, counting down the days!!!

 

You must live in an area that has no cars made after 2005. The horsepower wars have been cooking for the last fifteen years at least and a bone stock Evo is slow compared to newer performance cars.

 

I think it depends where you live. Here in LA, everyone and their mother is drag racing around in "tuned" Challengers, Mustangs, Audis, 911s, etc. In the middle of nowhere, yeah, an Evo will be king of the jungle.

 

Well, I am not exactly in the middle of nowhere. Seattle, Bellevue etc. The majority of cars are Subaru outbacks (And yes, you wouldn't believe the owners who even Mod these just to be irritating) SUVs, a smattering of Mercedes, Range Rovers and a few 911s, the odd R8, a lot of WRX and STI's, and ton of Porsche Macan's and Audi Q7s, Q5s etc. Then we have the ever over populated pick up truck, usually ramped higher than Empire State building, billowing black diesel smoke and obnoxious exhaust systems. On the occasional drive out to Eastern Washington through Blewett Pass in the Cascades, there has been nothing, and I repeat nothing that kept pace with me in the Evo. That's not to say that some one with the correct training in a standard 911 couldn't keep up or pass me, but having had that car now 4 years, it is still a formidable transport machine.

There was one car however that did keep pace and was insanely fast... A heavily modded Evo VIII. Those guys really surprised me. Even in the snow I thought they would give up and pull back, but no... they kept coming hard. It was only as night fell and it got a lot darker they pulled back. That was a FAST car.

 

My apologies. I forgot you where the god driver.

 

You missed me, didn't you Razorlab? And yes I have had a lot of advanced training in the UK. Time, money, sweat, getting yelled at, years of practicing every thing over and over again, handling circuits, skid pans, and hundreds of miles of high speed driving across country. It's called "Roadcraft"... The UK Police driving standard. And I am by far on the lower end of the spectrum regarding skillset. I sat alongside men who were the fastest drivers, and the safest I have ever seen. Graham Biggs, Peter Dixon.. those men were astonishing. On one club event training run across the Scottish moors, Biggs blew by me in his 911 even after a 20 minute head start from the hotel at 7AM and diving deep into 3 figure speeds. The man was uncatchable.

 

"It's called "roadcraft""

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You're like a cartoon character. Next you are going to tell us you hid a watch in your *** while you crossed borders and finally, now, after all your suffering, gave it to your son.

Meanwhile, in reality, stock Evos are absolutely, not at all faster than 90% of cars on the road. Unless everyone in your town drive 1994 Toyota Camrys.