Maintaining California California Emissions Standards

[Mixedpuppy]

Question for you guys who know about maintaining CA emissions standards. I figured California had the strictest emissions standards and being in the Military I never know where my next assignment might take me.

What long tube headers and high flow cats will still give me good HP and still maintain emissions standards?

Thanx.

[AmericanZ28]

In short, NONE! California Emissions require that the cats not be moved from their original location. So basically, the only options you have are to get shorty's, which will retain the same location of the cat. You're more likely to get away with mid-lengths than longt tubes, but theres a higher chance that they will fail the visual inspection. Some people get lucky around here as some places dont know where the cats originally belonged in to begin with. Its pretty tough, unfortunately

[Mixedpuppy]

I'm curious what they would say to people moving to Cali with the MODs in place and what they would expect them to do. I would think it would be unreasonible to get the owner to retain Stock cats or their car location vs the actual issue of emissions itself.

Is there any way of getting around CA emissions issues for those who want to modify their vehicle? WHat if it is not a daily driver?

[Mirroredshades]

Shorties are pretty much your only option if you want to comply with California regs. The way your car is programmed, it actually needs the back-pressure created by the cats.

Trying to cheat Cali isn't worth the trouble. If you are in the military, I would do the long tubes and leave the car registered in Texas. My friend's been in Texas for 6 yrs and all his vehicles are still registered in Fla.

I'm so sick and tired of emission laws I'm thinking about registering all my vehicles out of state. NC Nazis are as bad as California.

[Injuneer]

It is FEDERAL law that requires that a) cats can not be removed or relocated; b) number of cats can not be changed; c) cat can not be replaced within the warranty period unless certifed defective. California just happens to be one of the states that actually enforces the Federal law. If you bring a non-conforming vehicle from out of state, they could say you did so in violation of Federal law.

In order to select parts like headers for compliance in CA, they need to have a CARB-EO certificate and exemption number. In the case of headers, this is in the form of a metal tag welded to the headers. For other things..... I bought my car new in CA and started to mod it.... you should receive a label to attach to the car, showing the CARB exemption number. I know my MSD-6A and NOS 5176-EO nitrous kits both came with these labels. There is a CARB website that lists all the parts that have been certified.

Based on living in both NJ and CA, I find NJ is even more restrictive than CA. The emissions standards are, for the present a little looser - but this will change in 2008 when NJ has adopted the CA standards. And, it is almost impossible to find someone that will take a small donation for a sticker, since that exposes them to a 6 month prison term and $10,000 fine. Using a forged sticker is a mandatory 6 months in jail. If you make it through the inspection lane, you might think you have 2 years to play... but they have "mobile emissions stations" that they set up on the side of the highway, pull cars over and subject them to a full dyno emissions and full visual by people who are trained to know what it legal and what it not.

I no longer drive my car on the street in NJ for that reason. It was set up to pass the emissions dyno check, and did... but there is no way it could pass a visual, if only for the dual cat exhaust.