California Smog

Hello all, What engine mods are Californians doing for power that are smog legal? What are the results? Thanks in advance.

No engine mods are smog-legal unless they are CARB certified. Most aftermarket stuff is not CARB-certified because the certification process is prohibitively expensive. If you're considering a specific power-adder, ask the manufacturer if it's CARB certified. Once they say "no," you can determine if you're going to install it anyway. If the smog tech can't tell a part is aftermarket and the emissions tests are within range, your car will pass the smog test - but it still won't be "legal" without the CARB sticker.

5CHN3LL is correct. Unless you have a CARB sticker on your parts, it is a visual fail. Even the air intake is a fail. I went to school in Bay Area, and the only way to get around this was to get a "friend" at the smog station in the bad area of town. Friendship costs between $250-$500. For $500, you don't even have to bring the car in. If you get stopped by the cops and they see the mods, tell them they were installed after the smog to cover you tech. Then you will have to go back to stock and take the car for the official inspection.

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For maximum gain & concealment, do them internally. This adds 20ft/lbs & lowers emmissions.

This is what I was fearing. Thank you for the replies. I thought for sure that adding a Vortech would be legal, but I guess the required intake isn't certified. So much to learn...

None of this means you shouldn't DO it...it just means that you need to be willing to be a bit more creative with your biennial inspection.

Why are you wanting to waste your $$$ on engine mods. What are you trying to do?

He said in post #5 he wanted a Vortech, so it appears that what he's trying to do is make his car go faster.

(This is generally where someone makes a smug comment about how you need to go to performance driving school / "spend time at the track" if you want your Porsche to go faster. That line apparently never gets old...)

I have all of the engine mods listed in my signature. With the addition of a "guaranteed to pass" fuel additive, my car passes CA smog. The smog techs do good to figure out where the engine is located. They have yet to figure out that the engine is not stock. I have always been happy with the engine mods that I have done. The Vortech represents better bang for the buck....but would be a ton of work to remove, if the smog techs figured out that it was not stock.

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The Vortech unit should have a CARB number on it, but they could figure out that some of the supporting parts don't. Thank you for the info. I have the option of registering the car at my dad's house in Healdsburg where they don't have to smog to register. I'm leaning that way. btw, I see you're in El Dorado Hills. My wife and I own a bar in East Roseville, you should bring your car by and have a beer. Final Gravity (<- shameless plug)

I also have all the mods in my signature and had no trouble passing smog last week.

There are two types of smog centers. The regular one is one that pays little attention under engine bay lid other than to make sure the cats are there. Then there are these Gold centers. They are much more rigorous in looking around. My car was taken to one of these Gold centers and the tester was hunting around the engine bay for a solid 15 minutes with a flash light to make sure everything was on the up and up. The DMV may require you to go to these Gold centers randomly FYI, so there's greater scrutiny possible. I would just concentrate on the suspension personally because the engine mods being not a good value proposition IMHO. Unless you are already having the engine apart due to some extenuating circumstances.

Register the car in a state that doesn't require smog? Mod up the wazoo....

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It could complicate insuring the vehicle and it could arise if the car was insured under fraudulent circumstances the insurance may not cover the vehicle. Also in CA anyhow the neighbors might turn one in. Seems they get a bit testy when they have to pay the CA registration while a neighbor registers his car in OR or NV but of course actually lives in CA.

Theconductor, here is my contact information.... [email removed] if you would like to drive my car and see how you like the different mods, I would be happy to meet you so you can take it for a spin. I have a friend who owns a local shop (Foreign Autohaus). He loves to mod our cars, if you are unable to do the mods yourself. He is a dealer for Vortech and for Raby's products. Thanks for the invite to your bar.....I may take you up on it in the future.

This irritates me. As of yet, I've no modifications and I am going through the same crap (albeit at a lesser level) here in Atlanta. I swear, I should form a holding company somewhere where there are no smog/emissions requirements and solicit shareholders as "... permissive users" in some sort of co-op. You buy into an umbrella liability policy for the fleet and drive away. Title is held by the holding company... In WEST TEXAS or some other lawless part of the Country. I mean, I get it if the car is running dirty and you need to repair it, but mine runs pretty darn clean and I see idiots riding along in (... insert your redneck car or truck here) with aplomb and nary a care in the World. JKC

Sorry. Color me tired and cranky pants tonight.

Live in Florida, no smog/car test here so you can do whatever you want. Of course it also means you have to get very adept at avoiding 20 year old broken down cars with bald tires, rusty mufflers spewing oil smoke down the road for miles, family vans with low bald tires broken down or careening off the road on the interstate, yahoos in jacked up pickups that could literally drive over your car and blind you from behind, jealous diesel pickup owners that plant their exhaust next to your window and rev it up, teenagers in souped up little sedans that want to race you at every traffic light..... I understand the desire to "modify", but my dear old reliable 99 C2 has all the power I need as a daily driver on public roadways. I also remember the 60's and 70's in San Diego and LA where the smog was so thick you could cut it with a knife....just my two cents. Apologies to all, but if JCreasy can be a cranky pants...well then....buy a race prepped car and take it to the track to satisfy the need for speed!

Another option is to register the vehicle in a less populated county that does not require smog. Many Bay Area folks have vacation homes in Placer county (Tahoe) that does not require testing

[QUOTE=FlatSix911;10704064]Another option is to register the vehicle in a less populated county that does not require smog. Many Bay Area folks have vacation homes in Placer county (Tahoe) that does not require testing [/QUOTE This surprises me since I thought that smog requirements were set by the state and not by counties I would double check that info

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Here is the DMV information ... http://www.dmv.ca.gov/vr/smogfaq.htm#BM2539 http://smogcheck.ca.gov/80_BARResour...rogram_Map.pdf

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Thank you! I would love a ride in your car. Before the beer of course As I said, my father lives in Healdsburg and there are no smog requirements.

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Particularly if you have to park your car on the street, like I do. I see luxury cars all over town with solid black window tint...no front plate...but obviously they are wealthy enough to garage their cars away from nosy eyes. The other day I came out to see damned ticket on my window for no front plate. That stuff really irks me.

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I live in LA, and I understand that everybody can't drive porsches, but what irks me is how there are SO many cars/trucks that would obviously fail a smog test. They are all over the place, sitting there smoking while idling. These are definitely not vacation homeowners, they obviously came in from somewhere outside of Beverly Hills to work. Somewhere, these folks have found shops that will just rubber stamp the certification. Yet like the previous poster says...I had to pay $60 for the Gold star tech to inspect my non-smoking porsche with a fine tooth comb for aftermarket equipment. By the way...when they give you the smog numbers...and it says...average value of PASSING vehicles....does that include the average for ALL vehicles tested...or JUST all Porsches? That got me very curious...because it shows I'm running higher than average on NOx...which would tend to lead me to believe that something is causing high temps, such as leaking vacuum lines...bad cat, bad egr, bad O2 sensor...maybe even worn rings, causing oil to burn. However, it doesn't burn oil more than any other car I've had, so I just don't know. It's the same old struggle I am familiar with...and I really hate it...I have a car that is definitely NOT smoking, has NO performance issues. This really makes me look further into avoiding the regulations and registering it elsewhere. Anyhoo...I could go on and on, but I'll stop here.