rickjaffe

I took my new 04 turbo cab with 700 hp to my porsche guy and he did a computer check and only one of the 6 smog components showed up as being installed.
he thinks it's the tune and has to be retuned back to stock, the put back after the smog check and repeated every two years.
funny thing, the carfax indicated that it passed its smog test in mid november. wonder if they did the same detune, uptune or they just found a friendly smog tester who doesn't care about tunes.
my guy says they don't test the pipes anymore just the codes.
all but one of the codes showed not present or n/a. only one showed completed.
I'm from texas and I don't think it's that elaborate there and I've never had a built car before. what do you ca. guys with built cars do for the smog test?

"02996ttx50

I'm not sure what you're being told is accurate. I've been smogging a tuned tt in ca for five years. The tests are becoming more stringent a nd involve visual as well as obd readout and if ANY thing looks askance or aftermarket you are subject to "fail".
It's getting very dicey and my smog test guys get beer from me at Xmas.

rickjaffe

anyone know of a guy I can buy beer for in the davis sacramento vacaville area?

"02996ttx50

they're all ( test stations ) being "watched" and will lose their license if the play with the rules. that's the deal with these newer designation "star" test stations.

does your dmv renewal say "star" only test station required on it? i ask because our cars are defined as "high emitters" but that may just be the year of mfg. as my gti also has that designation, and albeit it's another turbo ( lol ) that one just has chipped hamsters spinning inside and STILL requires stringent visual inspection in addition to the obd testing. this as of very recently, when i renewed. i'm telling you these "newer" CARB requirements are no joke and getting "worse" for any car not fully stock.

rickjaffe

my car is california registered and has a california title, but I bought it from a nevada dealer. the car fax said it was smog tested mid nov. that's about all I know.

"02996ttx50

then i'm sure it passed. did you need to RE reg it? you shouldn't have to just to change title? that smog test is good for one year min then it's every two years here ( for now ! ) unless the title change requires a new test, but surely not if it just passed 4 months ago ( confused..)

add: not for nothing? if your car really is approaching or at 700hp? then enough stuff ( eg hitachi maf? / intake changes / fancy rainbow colored hoses etc etc ) have to have been done and are ALL red flags to anyone opening the engine lid those are enough just by themselves to get you a visual "fail". really.

rickjaffe

AAA told me that a smog test is only good for 90 days on vehicle transfer.
it's been over 100 days I think.
good point though, I'll check it out online and if necessary in person.

"02996ttx50

i can't recall the changes required on title transfer but again, be mindful of any visual mods to your car's engine comp. you do NOT want any fail in the system or god forbid you have to get a special dispensation visual inspection from the bureau of auto repairs which if successful will supercede/override any previous "fails" that are recent. kind of like the arbiter of last resort. messy at best.

btw. kudos on the 66 stingray.

rickjaffe

checked the dvm site. for some reason the smog check doesn't come up, but the law seems to require a seller to have one. car was wholesaled by car max to the nevada dealer.
I think a smogger would have to be pretty sophisticated to know about aftermarket porsche stuff especially since not much is visible from the back trunk.

my father bought the stingray in 1975, his mid life crises. my latest is the porsche but more like a later life crisis.
been fixing up the corvette. added power steering, hydraulic racing type brakes, dual chanber master cylinder of course, air conditioning. new interior, just had it painted but was damaged on the way to california and put in a modern suspension system. drives alot better than the average corvette. just a 327 300 but it has an good edelbrock carb in it and it sounds very good, like a racing car. nassau blue with black interior and teak steering wheel of course.

"02996ttx50

the split window mid 60's vette's were "the" cars of my "youth". never forget my first ride in a 65 shelby cobra either. porsches were a whole nother class though ..

the smogger can flag you with an aftermarket exhaust now, IF you don't have the papers! that came with it and serial numbers that they must enter into the "system". let alone any mods that are visible! no cats?? FAIL!.. how about billet diverter valves?? FAIL! they are now trained to look for stuff and they needn't be "smart" lol

i'm telling you. they have gone control freak crazy here. gl man.....

XR4Tim

There's a difference between "Not complete" and "Not present" when it comes to the readiness monitors. If all of your monitors are "Not present" except for one, which shows "Complete", you will pass. If more than one or two show "Not complete", you will fail due to the system not being ready to test. If any show "Failed", you will fail.
"Not present" means that the particular emissions system does not apply to that vehicle, so testing of that system is not required. Most aftermarket tunes will "tune out" catalyst readiness or other systems to prevent a Check Engine Light from coming on if the cats are removed. An emissions tech who knows what he's doing may notice that Catalyst (or another system) is showing up as "Not present" on the tester, when it really should be there. This could trigger them to visually check, and possibly fail you, but the tester won't automatically fail you on those grounds.

niche

There is one way around smogging in California. I haven't done it myself, but my understanding is to register it from an unicorporated rural area. Borrego Springs comes to mind. If you can use an address from such an area you don't need to pass smog.

PiB993

I like that idea and have heard it before. Also I thought some county's don't require every 2 years but a longer period.

Is the DMV requesting a 'star' station? My two cents is you'll want NO - check engine (duh) and all the readiness codes okay. If no cats or fewer cell count some people talk about running on pure ethanol or something. Are you still 4x4? Then it at least doesn't need to be backed up on the rollers. I think some p-car mech's can work with the car to get it to pass if it's not a star test request.

993 Turbo here known to have smog issues but stock. I had a required 'star' station test late last year and I just brought it to the sleaziest star approved station and I had no problems. They barely looked over the car. It was not the big brother investigation we often think. The first smog over 2 years ago it had readiness code issues - no star station request but a p-car mechanic worked to get the codes reset/ready and it passed.

I know of a nonstar station in the city that has a reputation for getting tricky ferrari's passed. One patron or perhaps the owner drives his F430 with the license plate upside down or flipped over! (That's not a means to pass smog!)

rickjaffe

looked up the license plate and no star station required. it also didn't show a smog test, but car fax shows it done mid november. But because of the 90 rule, it's possible that it's not showing up because it was done more than 90 days ago.

I don't have any of the paperwork about the build.
already got nailed a few hours after I drove it into california for having tinted windows. don't see how the guy drove it in ca with full limosine dark tinted windows. I get caught 3 hours after I get it back to ca.
ay
another questions:
the car is currently california registered until sept 14. other than 1. paying a fine for late registration which I'll have to do unless I get the car registered by next week which I might not be able to do anyway since it has to be deflashed, any downside to waiting?
In ca, is there some kind of registration certificate which is shown when pulled over? of course the registration is not going to match the driver's license, but then when they pulled me over in santa monica for the tinted windows, they didn't seem to care, but I explained I just bought the car.

you'd think they'd make it easier to grab my 4k in use fees/registration tax.
I have a couple cars still registered in texas and so far I haven't had any problems yet.

rickjaffe

split window was one year only, 63, the first year of the new stingray body style (retractable headlights) and I think a bigger base engine.
they didn't bring it back I think because it impaired rear visibility.
that year came with drum brakes (in the rear I think) and isn't desireable other than the highly desireable spit window.
very fun and raw car to drive, or at least to accelerate in a straight line. turns like crap off course with all the weight in the front. big rush flooring it and shifting gears, you feel like you're going 200 mph but the speedometer for some reason reads like 40 or 60, what I call the illusion of speed with out the speed, probably alot safer than my new monster, but I'm being careful with it.