I am currently looking at buying an out of state car. I am in California, car is back east... How do I know if it will meet the emissions requirements here? Some cars were equipped differently in other states vs. CA, correct? Thanks in Advance...

 

factory stock they all had to meet the same requirements i think. the only difference like you mention that i can think of is that fbodies sold in cali in 95 came with dual cats instead of single. for the rest of the country the 96 was the first year of this.

as long as the car is stock or near stock, or mods have a CARB# than it should still be emissions legal.

have them get it tested before purchase, if it meets the cali standards you should be good.

 

Well if the car is back east, how does he get it inspected in Cali?

 

get it tested in the state it's currently in, and have the results sent to him, see how they compare to the standards required by cali

i would think the tests themselves are standardized, it just some states don't require certain levels of some emissions.

 

Any car for sale in the US has to have a sticker that says where it is legal. Virtually any new car will say something like "Legal in 50 states" - which means just that. I'm not out in my garage right now, but I think the sticker is supposed to be under the hood somewhere, like on the radiator shroud. So he could validate it has that sticker is there, which may help when you take it to your smog guy here in CA. To my knowledge, all the 4th gens will be legal in 50 states.

Then of course if he's modified the car, you'd want to check to see if his mods are legal in CA.

Dave

 

I thought CA cars had extra emissions stuff on them? I could be wrong though. Easier solution: move to Florida! There are no emissions laws here, or at least none that are enforced.

 

from what I read all the 4th gen fbodys were 50 state legal, so you won't have a problem, aslo there is some kind of stipulation for Cali where you can bring in an older car and have it excepted. I can't remember the details, but I was in the same boat so i called up the DMV and they told me, so you should do that as well. I think it even says in the driving manual study guides about bringing a out of state car.
THe only problem you might have is if the car won't pass because of a bad cat or something. I would try to find one closer anyway since hte undercarage and parts will be in better condition. Even if the car isn't drivin in the winter the moister stil get in there. My old formula was not drivin in the winter in Michigan and it was still far from the car thatI have from California, plus without seeing the car its hard to judge what its like as people have different ideas of what a clean car is.

 

Thanks for all the posts.. The car is in a dry state, so its ok...