So how do I go about getting my car smogged in this state?

What do I have to worry about? I have an AEM intake and a 3 inch exhaust with an aftermarket cat installed. Will they give me trouble at the smogging station? If yes, are there smogging stations in Orange County that won't give me problems?

Or should I just put the stock stuff back on for the test?


Thanks guys!
SC~

 

honestly it is easier to put the stock back on than deal with the hassles most smog stations have. if anyone know of a good station please let me know too.

 

Thats not what I wanted to hear. Though I have all the stuff to change it back to stock....

What kinds of hassles? I need description! huhu...since most other states inspection/emissions testing is a joke.

SC!

 

Why don't you go and find out?

 

i dont think that was the answer or response he was looking for.

But secret chimp, it depends on hassles, im sure if you pass all test with flying colors, they prob wont give you much crap at all, but if you are about to fail or do fail you will prob get tons of ****!

just its you call if you think you will pass or not, smell your exhaust, if it smells really bad like a lawm mower or go kart, then i wouldnt chance it.

hope that kind of helps you

 

Secret Chimp,

I assume you are talking about CA Smog...

Per CA DMV: Vehicles that are four model years old, or less, are exempt from the biennial smog inspection for registration renewal. These vehicle owners will pay an annual $4 fee for the first four registration years. (but this may not apply if the vehicle is registered outside of CA or if you purchased your Evo used).

I don't know of any Evo owners who have have even had to smog their vehicles yet. I do, however, know a few friends with WRXs and/or MR2s who have failed the visual inspections and had to return their cars to stock before the test stations would even test their vehicles.

And, I've been told that the testing stations make so much $ smog testing vehicles that they won't risk losing their licenses even if you are a "friend".

Unfortunately, many of the testing stations will take your money long before the visual inspection.

Good luck. Welcome to CA

 

That is normally what I would do. But I'm afraid of getting fined or something silly for messing with the emissions system. Does that happen? I do have a cat in place...just not the oem one.

bri(e)vo...do you have any regulations easily accessible that outline what a new resident has to do with his car if it is less than 4 model years old? If I don't have to be smogged, that would rock! But I have a feeling that since this is an out of state car, they'll want to sniff the tailpipe.

SC!

 

In california doing ANYTHING to the stock emissions system would be "tampering with emissions" and if the station reports it to the DMV u get some nice fines to pay. I haven't tested this out myself cuz im still stock everything except for intake. I do have friends however that suffered from this.

 

Secret Chimp,

I don't have any regulations available, but you may want to check out the CA DMV site. A quick search for "out of state" registrations on the CA DMV site shows the following:

http://www.dmv.ca.gov/vr/osreg.htm#BM2558

It appears that the 4 year and newer only applies to new cars registered here in CA.

If I were you, I'd simply replace the aftermarket cat with the Stock cat and then head down to a testing station. This will most likely cost you an hour, but save you $75+ on a failed smog test.

Good Luck.

 

I recall an earlier thread talking about Ca smog tests, and if you fail the visual and/or fail with a late model vehicle, your car will be labelled as a "gross polluter" and will have to pay a fine as well as be required to complete a smog test EVERY YEAR for the life of the vehicle. In my opinion, it's not worth risking at the test station, if you only need a few hours to chang it back. Welcome to Cali, now you need to come to the next SCLC meet.

 

hey, check this out. visual inspection is basically popping your hood and looking to see if you got some crazy shiz nit in there, if you dont have anything moddified you're good, i have personally never seen anyone look under the car for a cat etc... and even if you have an aftermarket cat its probably dirty by now (cosmetically) so those dumba$$ at the smog stations cant tell the difference anyways so, if you've got a cat, you're good to go.
the first step they do is look at your engine, if that doesnt pass visual they'll just tell you to go home and put the stock stuff back in and come back simple as that.
They put in the visual inspection part because a lot of hondas put in turbo kits etc... thus they have the visual.

Now for the sniffer, since callifornia chagned the law most recently these past couple of years, all smog stations require your car run on they dyno. However because the dynos are for only 2 wheel drives, all 4 wheel drive vehicles are exempt to go on the dyno and they are revereted back to the old way of testing, basically they place a pipe in your pipe (hahahaha). Now if you have cats in place i wouldn't even worry about it, your car will pass smog no prob. Depending on where you are i can recommend a few places. however if you're in san jose/ bay area, good luck cuz those smog stations guys dont know what the fu(k they are talking about because bay area was just converted to the new smog system this last year. They will be di(kheads to you and not smog your **** even if you comply to the law because it looks modified.

However if you're in the sacramento area, i recommend going to smog n' go, they are pretty good and wont give you $hit about most things, they are a big chain store.

Now how I know all this $hit, because i jsut went through smogging my 2G eclipse 3 months ago before i traded it in to get the Evo, i had it modded pretty standard (instake, exhuast, plug wire etcs..) also slammed to the ground, i was in san jose and not one person would smog my $hit cuz it looks modified, then i took it to sac town and they did it no prob took less than 10 mins. The only problem was that my car had .25 inches of clearing space when they put it on the dyno, they had to get a skinny guy to drive my car on the dyno because otherwise the car would bottom out hahahahaah. anyhow good luck with your smog, hope this info helps a bit.

P.S i dont think you're car needs to be smogged however i can be wrong.

 

Get an address in the High Desert... (you can use mine I don't care). We only have to pass a 2 gas test CO & total HC's I've been doing this for years...82 alfa spider..with lots of mods pass every time no prob...aftermarket cat is cool they do burn out and they can't force you to only buy from the OEM dealer... intake is cool as long as the hoses/vaccum lines that were on your stock intake are still hooked up on your new intake in aprox. the same location. If you register your car in O.C. the other posts may have mor application. Just avoid the nazies (I have a mech and a Smog Shop that can get your car passed...In LAC though)

 

Thanks for the info guys. I think I've decided to revert the car back to stock for the smog test. Eventhough my car is prob the first Evo they have seen at these smog places, I don't want to risk the possibility of failing/fines/scowling/scaldings.

It should be easy to do, since I kept all the oem stuff after doing the installs myself.

Thanks for the info guys!

SC

 

What kind of exhaust do you have?

If you can just put the stock cat converter back on then you should be fine without changing the rest of the system

 

After reading Nebolic, I remembered that you have something like a year to register your car in the new state. My friend waited 1 1/2 years after moving from Michigan (was actually registered in Wisconsin as she was a student with parents over there). So why not keep it fun for now and talk to some people until you actually have to get it done. Cops on the streets won't mess with you for a while, and even then only if you're speeding and they feel like being a jerk.