carb laws?

[crazykid3437]

Anyone know what the carb laws are in california, i see a lot of parts are carb legal, and that people have posted that you cant touch the cat on a 96 or newer car, the exhaust doesnt seem to matter as long as its not louder then 95 decibels. what else is there? how often do we really need to get our cars smogged? ive own 3 cars in my life and i dont ever really remember getting them smogged. maybe the 94 thunderbird once , but not the 2002 civic ex i had or i havent done it on my 2005 lx sedan, for a smog check do they do a visual or do they just stick your tailpipe and thats it?

[-j-]

Any car 6 years or older need smog, I believe. The every 2 years after that. You can touch the cat if it is "broken", anytime. If you put an exhaust on that is shiny or just look modified, you are fair game to the po-po. Trust me on this one. I had all legal parts for my car, still sent to the ref.

[crazykid3437]

fair game to the po po what do you mean? i mean cant they already pull you over for just looking suspicious? every 2 years, mmhh i dont remember ever getting a notice

[-j-]

Originally Posted by crazykid3437

fair game to the po po what do you mean? i mean cant they already pull you over for just looking suspicious? every 2 years, mmhh i dont remember ever getting a notice

Not only that they can, they will if your timing is right. That's why I don't want the big cans in the back of the car calling attention and give them another reason. I'm waiting for the Borla.

[maddhattery]

Originally Posted by -j-

Not only that they can, they will if your timing is right. That's why I don't want the big cans in the back of the car calling attention and give them another reason. I'm waiting for the Borla.

borla is the sh*t

[AllShowNoGo]

read your latest issue of Honda Tuning. there is an article about this by SEMA.

[Sirbelch]

Originally Posted by -j-

Any car 6 years or older need smog, I believe. The every 2 years after that. You can touch the cat if it is "broken", anytime. If you put an exhaust on that is shiny or just look modified, you are fair game to the po-po. Trust me on this one. I had all legal parts for my car, still sent to the ref.

Me too, in a 94 GSR. I did have an RT cat on there, they still pasted me because I said "it was icky and old"

Originally Posted by -j-

Not only that they can, they will if your timing is right. That's why I don't want the big cans in the back of the car calling attention and give them another reason. I'm waiting for the Borla.

Comptech. Thats the exhaust I have. All you can see is the tip. My girl says it sounds great, my friends say it sounds great, my 56 year old dad says it sounds great. You can hear the radio and talk to friends in the car at freeway speeds. I had a cop try to see if my exhaust was too loud one time. He would get on my ass then back of 50 yds, get on my ass then back off 50 yds just to see if it was too loud. It wasn't. He pulled up next to me with a mad look on his face because he didn't get to bust some punk ricer.

[Sirbelch]

Comptech is now CT Engineering. So get their exhaust.

[e60.deluxe]

i got a ticket for a 100% bone stock exhaust in a 92 325i. the 92's have deep throaty exhausts stock for some reason when 93+ didnt.

this was a few years back, i told the cop, look at that, its 12 years old, black and rusty, youve got to believe me thats its stock.

Fing A wasted 2 days in court getting it off.

since then i have been scared to do any mods like intake or exhaust that would make it louder even if it is leagal

[NitrousG35]

Originally Posted by e60.deluxe

i got a ticket for a 100% bone stock exhaust in a 92 325i. the 92's have deep throaty exhausts stock for some reason when 93+ didnt.

this was a few years back, i told the cop, look at that, its 12 years old, black and rusty, youve got to believe me thats its stock.

Fing A wasted 2 days in court getting it off.

since then i have been scared to do any mods like intake or exhaust that would make it louder even if it is leagal

Bro, sorry to hear that happened to you. I too had something kind of similar happen although I did not go to court.

The first cars with catalytic converters came out in 1975. I bought a Chevy Monza in 1975 which was an absolute dog. It had a small 2 barrel carb and it bucked like a bronco at 30-35 mph. I couldn't get rid of that car fast enough.

I then bought a 1976 Super Scirocco. VW was one of the first companies to go with fuel injection. Because of the inherent improvments that fuel injection brings, the car came without a cat, and was certified by the EPA as a smog legal car. The next year, VW had to go with a cat on the car. So, for one year, they sold Rabbits and Sciroccos without the cat.

Minnesota used to have emissions' testing. When I went to get tested, the tester was all over me because of the lack of a cat. He noted that the 1975 Scirocco had a cat [which was because it used a carb] and the 1977 Scirocco needed a cat. So, he wanted to know why my 1976 Scirocco didn't have a cat.

Fortunately, I kept all the info on my car in the glove box. I pulled out a special bulletin that was attached to the owner's manual and showed him that the car came from the factory w/o a cat. He was speechless and ended up passing me. Nothing worse than the smog nazis making our lives much more complicated.

[e60.deluxe]

yeah it was somewhat of a similar situation. the 91's had a completley different engine (as well as being E30 and not E36), and the 93's had pretty much the same engine, but with Valvetronic. so i had the only year of the newer, more powerful engine, but without valvetronic and with a louder exhaust.

i had to go to court, told my story to the judge. then he said i should go to a CHP office and have it inspected. so i had to do that, they said "we dont inspect exhausts, but you should not have been given a ticket," and he signed the ticket anyway. then i had to go back to court to show the signed ticket.

[-j-]

STI's and Evo's ran into problems with cops not knowing what are stock on the cars. Pulling cars over because they think the wing is not factory as well as exhausts since the STI's have shinny tips. They make you pop your hood, question why you have a "radiator" on top of the engine and why it has a hole on the hood. You better be carrying your owners manual to show it's all stock.

[Sirbelch]

Once again CT Engineering (formally known as Comptech) FTMFW!!!!!!! Can't beat being CARB legal and Db legal.

[-j-]

Any of the catbacks are CA legal as long as they meet the 95db rule. I just don't like the big honking hole of the single tip exhaust. It attracts too much attention. That's just me though.

[FG-JOE]

sorry to thread jack but what about high flow cats?

[-j-]

Originally Posted by FG-JOE

sorry to thread jack but what about high flow cats?

As long as you replaced a "broken" catalytic (Say you accidently rammed a screw driver into your current cat accidentally. Twice.) Which would be hard for them to prove once you have it on the car, I wouldn't think it would be a problem. Someone correct me if I am wrong.

[Sirbelch]

Originally Posted by -j-

Any of the catbacks are CA legal as long as they meet the 95db rule. I just don't like the big honking hole of the single tip exhaust. It attracts too much attention. That's just me though.

Thats why the CT engineering exhaust is the way to go. No big, ricer, shiny can of a lure to catch unwanted attention.

[e60.deluxe]

Originally Posted by Sirbelch

Thats why the CT engineering exhaust is the way to go. No big, ricer, shiny can of a lure to catch unwanted attention.

yeah, but niether is the Apexi WS2, Vibrant, GReddy SP2, or Tanabe Medallion Touring.

i do like the CT one though. deciding between it, Vibrant and WS2

[Sirbelch]

Originally Posted by e60.deluxe

yeah, but niether is the Apexi WS2, Vibrant, GReddy SP2, or Tanabe Medallion Touring.

i do like the CT one though. deciding between it, Vibrant and WS2

But non of those has CT (comptech) quality