No E85 stations in SF currently. Closest would be Oakland. There is a station opening in Redwood City soon.

Are you going to be living IN San Francisco? A bunch of people live in the East Bay and commute to their jobs in SF. I did that for a long time. It's very easy to do depending on where in the city you work. Downtown it's cake. Public transportation via BART/MUNI/Ferry/Bus/Casual Carpool works very well. Now I have a job in Oakland 1 mile away from my house and 2 miles away from a E85 station. I used to take the Ferry or BART into the city depending on where I was working at the time (was a agency freelance/contractor for the last 10 years or so)

You will also have a *very* hard time finding garage space in the city. It's much easier to be a "car guy" in the east bay.

For the other posters, Logic is the last person to need a "tuner" suggestion... just FYI

 

Actually did my smog a little while ago with my HKS exhaust and OE cat on and it passed no problem. You'll prob want to put the airbox back on. I've had a ticket for modified exhaust before (Helix) and that you just put your stock back on and have an officer sign the ticket off and pay your fine (can't remember how much).

I don't think they pulling people over like they used to. I the 7 years of having the Evo I've only been pulled over once. As long as your engine bay looks stock then you're ok.

Your tint should be fine as long as the fronts aren't tinted.

You'll need your front plate!

you can get more information on the locals at evoempire.org
shops, tuners and meets

 

That was my original thinking (ie. basically put the car hobby on hold for a year until the wife can move out here with me), but I'm starting to think I can save a considerable amount of money and frustration by adding a short commute to the East Bay.

Unrelated: PadMapper is probably the coolest thing ever if you're apartment hunting and happen to be 2000 miles away from where the apartments are.

Yup, I'll be right in the heart of downtown. How much of a PITA is BART between SF and Oakland during rush hour? (My frame of reference is commuting via Metra into Chicago from the western suburbs, which involved cramming myself into an overcrowded tin can and otherwise getting from point A to point B for two or three hours every day.)

Thanks for the tip about the ferry; I had no idea that was an option; that makes Alameda quite a bit more attractive.

Are you kidding? I have no idea what I'm doing.

(Which reminds me: I got kernel uploading working about eight months ago on the VIII and IX ECUs without EcuFlash, and I should probably write up the protocols at some point before I forget it all, along with the disassembly of the Mitsu kernels. I think I need to talk my wife into selling the WRX and getting a Sportback instead so I can futz around with the M32R ECUs...)

 

I take BART into the city everyday and it isn't that bad. Alameda is a pretty cool city you might want to consider the valley also San Ramon, Dublin and Pleasanton. You can get to the city in 45 minutes or less by BART. With your fleet of cars you might want to consider renting a house which is why I mentioned the valley.

 

Depending on which Oakland BART station, anywhere from 15-25 minutes. It's cake.

West Oakland BART will get you to Embarcadero BART in 12 minutes.

The Ferry from Alameda to SF Ferry Building takes 20 mins and you get a real relaxing ride and they also have a bar on the Ferry.

Alameda is a great city to be a car guy as there are much more options for garages/driveways and even on street parking is much safer/better then Oakland.

Alameda can get a little boring but it's right next to Oakland (1 mile away) and 880 is right there so you can just hop on and get anywhere. It's also literally the closest point to SF in the East Bay.

Alameda is also much safer then Oakland and much more laid back. I live two blocks from the beach, .5 mile away from a vodka distillery and 5 wineries. Alameda is flat so you can ride bikes anywhere you want with minimum fuss (if you are into that sort of thing).

 

whats up everybody. so as cali people of course you know how lame smog is here, so anyway i have most bolt ons right now and im about to go get a tune, but before i do im gonna get a Lower intercooler pipe and a fuel pump and possibly some cams, so im wondering if the car will still pass smog if i put some cams in it, not super aggressive cams just some light ones.

 

Not sure if it'll pass with "cams." Maybe. Depends on which smog station you take it to.

 

as long as it will pass the emissions i think ill have no problem, so thats all i wanna know is if the car will still pass emissions with a mild cam. like someone told me WORKS makes a 269 that might work

 

smog it before you get the cams in to be sure

 

You'll be fine with those mods IF you smog your car with the stock cat on.

 

I'm hoping that's the case. Been hearing this for years now as I've feared my impending smog. Maybe this can be our official Cali Evo smog thread.

 

well then ill just have to smog it again in 2 years and then what? lol

 

when do you have to smog yours? im curious to see if it smogs

 

I remember reading a Smog thread on Socalevo.net. Some of the guys were saying that passed with huge 272 cams on the stock cat. Don't know if it;s true or just bs, but hey maybe they can chime in.

 

Should be this year. My registration is in August.