New Smog Laws???

Somebody told me that they are started new smog laws Oct. 1, is this true? What is new about them? Because i'm gonna be doing the AS&M single cat conversion to my car and i'll be able to pass the sniffer but not the visual. Thanks.

thanks for the warning that something might be coming up. I guess I should wait to put on the heads/cam I got until I know more about this.

Yes, from what I hear there is something coming... :death:

If you guys are going to do new mods to your cars I would suggest you wait before you decide to do anything. I recently had to get my car smogged and one of my cats went out. So I called up random technology and I had a new one sent to me. I then proceeded to my local muffler shops and not a single one would touch the dame thing. New regulations have required all the aftermarket manufacturers to resubmit their products to the smog police. Supposidly there was going to be a couple companies with new cats out that would be CA legal in the middle to end of October but nobody knew for sure. After market cats only get rid or dicipate 2 to 3 kinds of gasses from our car. Stock OEM cats get rid of 4. Secondly all car smog places are having to be switched over to a dyno run setup. All OBDII cars will have their computers hooked up to Sacramento's main frame. The computers can tell what size injectors, fuel ratios and all other kinds of crap. I have been told if you have bigger tires, injectors, heads, cams, fuel pressure regulators, different gears or even a gas cap that does not secure tightly to the pipe your call will not pass SMOG in CA. So be carefull and wait like I am doing. I have 3k in parts sitting in my room for my motor that I do not know if I can install.

thanks for the heads up z28racn. I noticed earlier this past week my smog guy had to buy a new Machine, and damn I was wondering why he had to pull the gas cap for part of the smog test. What sucks is the fact that in out Smog Nazi State (CA), that now our cars have to be smogged with OBDII connected to our diagnostic ports and sniffer. My vote is leaning more and more towards a smog exempt car or truck to play with even more. I wonder if my Z will be able to pass after I put long tubes on it.. I guess I just have to wait and see if this new smog machine will even detect any changes besides, cats, tires, gear ratios and even gas caps.

Charlie

Damn...It's stuff like this that pisses me off about liveing in Cali. If it becomes to tough to pass smog even with a really good tune then i may start to think about selling my car. I hate to say it but if it can detect different cams, or can find out that much detail about the cars then your not gonna be able to do much at all. A new Turbo car is gonna have to be the way to go if you wanna get good power. Because you can just raise the boost for more hp, but it won't effect emissions.

Here is a couple of places you guys can contact. Everything that I have told you has been passed onto me has been from my mechanics and a fwe local smog shops by word of mouth. I struggled to find a place that would smog my car but as long as you can find somone to pass a visual I do not think there will be too much of a problem unless you have modded your motor alot. If you are interested you can contact:

Smog Referee 1(800) 622-7733
or
Autorepair.ca.gov
I have not personally had the time to contact them but I am sure between the two places they should be able to answer most of our questions. It sucks that California is pretty much forcing the people to have to smog their cars illegally. Its rediculous we have to abide by these strict guidelines while other states are allowing blown 402 and Nitrous injected LT1's and Twin Turbo 422 LS1's. Oh well I guess you have to pay to play. Here is a little secret I learned from a guy when I was buying car parts. I was told you could theoretically buy a Post Office Box in Florida, and try to take a trip there to get a valid Florida Liscense. That way when it comes smog time you can abide by Florida's rules instead of Cali since you are a resident. Then the SMOG cannot bug you at all since your car would be liscensed by another state. Have a good one guys.
By the way where is everyone from. Im in the bay area. ;)

I'm from Fairfield. Do you know where it is?

The long tubes will not pass in Cali. They move your O2 Sensors back which will cause your system to run lean, so they'll tell the PCM to richen the mixture, you'll score high on HCs.

The cap has always been a test. I run a Stant with a Key lock. But smog time, I throw the stock cap on. I has to withstand 2 lbs of pull.

The OBD-II test ports run through the K-Line and basically test for DTCs. This system you're describing sounds like it is reading Current Data... like a Flight Record. I'm not sure if they are going that far and it is worth while to look into that answer. Other states do log into the K-Line but only check for Diagnostic Trouble Codes (DTCs), they don't analyze.

I wouldn't be surprised... Kalifornia is really hurting me with the taxes, overpopulation, politics, highest fuel prices, insurance, and stuck-up gold-digging women (there are a few keepers out there but the rest should be tossed back into the pond). Vent...

why go all the way to florida for your PO box?? why not just go to nevada or arizona, alot closer and i dont think they have terrible smog laws like california. not too mention, you wont have to pay 3 times the registration fee at other states

Don't forget, you'll have to go to the DMV in those states to get a driver's license and you will have to prove residence. It is possible...........

For those members who are located in the Los Angeles area and are worried about not passing smog..........DON"T WORRY. I've got a smog friendly "Test Only" (meaning he's only got the pass or fail equipment and has absolutely no tools whatsoever to fix a car) who will hook you up. My "contact" has passed/approved several board members with no problems whatsoever. I've dealt with him personally for quite some time now and he's legit. If you're located in the L.A. area and need to get your vehicle smogged just email me and let me know.

Good to know! I'll contact you in under 2 years... :)

I just returned from a mandatory "Test Only" inspection with my '95 Firehawk. I couldn't see anything done or measured differently than the previous inspection two years ago. The gas cap was checked and approved as stock. The roller emissions test was passed with so little concern that I wonder what it would take to fail it. My car registered 10 PPM of HydroCarbons at 25 MPH when the maximum allowable was 52. The % of CO2 measured at .01 with a maximum allowable of .5. The NO maximum was 733 and my car was measured at 264. All this with 76K miles on the original plugs, wires, opti. If the car ran badly I'd mess with it but it still smokes just about anything that I run across on my way to Starbuck's every morning and looks just fine doing it.

I believe that the biggest challenge to passing with an LT1 would be the visual test. The technician was fairly conscientious about the visual, even going so far as to shine a flashlight into the hood scoop openings to see if they'd been modified. If a non-modified LT1 runs marginally well, it would seem to be an easy test to pass.

Good luck to all.

Originally posted by CSULAZ28
For those members who are located in the Los Angeles area and are worried about not passing smog..........DON"T WORRY. I've got a smog friendly "Test Only" (meaning he's only got the pass or fail equipment and has absolutely no tools whatsoever to fix a car) who will hook you up. My "contact" has passed/approved several board members with no problems whatsoever. I've dealt with him personally for quite some time now and he's legit. If you're located in the L.A. area and need to get your vehicle smogged just email me and let me know.

what if the car is modified with headers and a cam?? i plan on putting in a new cam, nothing rediculious, but it might change the idle a bit. if it still passes will your "guy" check on EO numbers and say my headers arent good enough?

I always change the oil right before the test,and sit in the parking lot and idle till the car gets real hot.Seems the smog test likes a real hot(temp) motor.(Can't people with headers use O2 heaters ,to help pass smog,I dunno,anybody?).

Originally posted by lt1hatesme
what if the car is modified with headers and a cam?? i plan on putting in a new cam, nothing rediculious, but it might change the idle a bit. if it still passes will your "guy" check on EO numbers and say my headers arent good enough?

Don't worry about it. You could have a full nitrous setup in your car and you'll still get hooked up. a cam with LT headers is absolutely fine. EVen if you had no cats, you'll be all right.

Originally posted by cnorton
The technician was fairly conscientious about the visual, even going so far as to shine a flashlight into the hood scoop openings to see if they'd been modified.

Your technician was a moron. What on earth do modified hood scoop openings have to do with emissions?

My '97 passed with no problem, and my technician 'saw' that I had two cats on the car. Passed visual with no problem. I was asked if the parts visible had EO #'s and I replied "Of course."

Originally posted by Fatdog
I always change the oil right before the test,and sit in the parking lot and idle till the car gets real hot.Seems the smog test likes a real hot(temp) motor.(Can't people with headers use O2 heaters ,to help pass smog,I dunno,anybody?).
I have never heard of O2 heaters before. Anybody else know about these things. I could definetly use any information on how to pass smog with a cam and LT headers on.

I think he is referring to Heated O2 Sensors. The heated O2 sensors have 4 wires going to the connector. Mine is a 1995 and has only 2 wires. It could be an OBD-II requirement after 1996.

Originally posted by drewstealth
Somebody told me that they are started new smog laws Oct. 1, is this true? What is new about them? Because i'm gonna be doing the AS&M single cat conversion to my car and i'll be able to pass the sniffer but not the visual. Thanks.

Those AS&M headers wouldn't pass under the current smog laws anyway. Under the current laws, you cannot remove a cat, relocate a cat, or even change one out to an aftermarket one in the stock location. I was able to get away with my Random Tech Y-pipe because it still had two cats because they didn't know that the drivers side cat was moved further back from stock. Technically though, it's illegal.

Yeah i know it is technically illegal but it will still pass the emissions part of it. Do you think they will know if its supposed to have 2 cats?

Some check the cars some don't... hit and miss. Technically, any modification is considered tampering. Moving Cat-Converters is a bad thing in Cali even though it passes smog. Ask the politicians what is important, clean running cars or equipment location.:rolleyes:

Originally posted by drewstealth
Yeah i know it is technically illegal but it will still pass the emissions part of it. Do you think they will know if its supposed to have 2 cats?

They may not memorize the exact location of where the cat should be, but I'm sure they have a spec sheet that will tell them the number of cats a vehicle should have. I'd go with some smog-legal headers and a good y-pipe. Headers are just too obvious of an external mod to not draw attention to them.

Well i don't really wanna get the shorties made for my car because i have heard the gains aren't much on dual cat shorties. I think i will definetly be screwed with lt's but with mids i think i will be able to get by hopefully. The as&m's from what i hear are the best headers besides lt's.

Have you considered MACs for Mid-lengths?

yes but they are only 1 5/8's and the as&m's are 1 3/4's. I know there isn't to much of a difference but i'm sure it does matter and i rather do it right the very first time.

You'll appreciate the 1 3/4 if you go with boost too. Ok, you've done your homework. :) A+

Yeah i have done a lot of researching on headers before i decided on the as&m for sure. I was about to order them tomarrow but since my SLP clutch went out after 5,000 miles i now have to spend $800 or more on a new mcleod clutch setup. Just the single disc though. I don't feel like replacing my rear end right now.

I purchased from thunder racing about 3 years ago an arizona speed and marine equal length shorty headers with a random tech y pipe and dual cats. I love the setup and I have had no probs at all until I had a cat go out on me. If you are interested in full length headers on a car that is basically a race car that still passes smog check out this characters web page. It is probably one of the best LT1 sites on the web, http://para.noid.org/~lj/
Anyways got any question about my cats and exhaust you can e-mail me if you like. I have posted once before a number you can contact to try to get more info about what we can and cannot do to our hot rods.
In case you are wondering here it is 800-622-7733.