gonzobreath

I'm looking for a 997.1 RS. I found one, but the car does not have the stock intake and exhaust - it has both an intake and exhaust manifold from a RS4.0 car. The out of state owner swears this will pass CA smog as he bought the car this way from a CA seller... which is far from definitive.

I have a bad history with CA smog, and have even taken a trip to the referees. Before plunking down cash... I'd like to know for sure that this setup is acceptable in CA. Anyone have relevant experience in CA?

-Gonzo

tq.3z

It won't pass, but if it isn't throwing a CEL and the smog technician doesn't know what OEM looks like they could pass the car unknowingly.

It's up to you from there. The stock manifolds and intake aren't *too* expensive considering the cost of the car, but it would be good to have them on hand "just in case."

jamesinger

^^^ I agree. I have been dealing with CA Smog for 30 years now. If I were in your situation, I would NOT let this deter my purchase though. I would assume that a friendly smog place that my indie referred me to would not only possibly not know the difference but would not care as long as no codes are thrown. That is just my opinion though.

Spyerx

If the tune is stock and all readiness indicators are set and not disabled you’ll pass.
Unless your smog guy does a full visual....
If the parts are oem you should be ok
aftermarket intakes can fail
the headers / cats they aren’t going to look at part numbers.
smog cops / refs will

silviaks

^^^ what others said pretty much. I think you will pass the visual for sure since all the parts are OEM. For the actual smog, you will pass unless it has a tune or throwing codes. Keep in mind, that they started checking for aftermarket tunes - https://www.bar.ca.gov/ARSC/Newslett..._Modifications

CA smog sucks, we can't buy all the cool toys from out of state.

matt33

Where in CA are you?

Find a Porsche friendly tester and my best guess is you will be fine provided no codes and the sniff test is ok. Better still have a shop that services and works on older Porsche’s take it to “their guy”.

Worst case you replace the parts and sell the 4.0 pieces. Doesn’t seem reason to not buy a car that is otherwise what you want?

my point of reference wasn’t the GT3 but a 964 turbo with aftermarket headers, sports cat, etc. Sometimes took some effort but was always able to pass it.

HenryPcar

It might pass the visual inspection if you are lucky. However, any knowledgeable smog inspector will notice the difference between stock and mods. Once he flags it as failing the inspection it would have been recorded with DMV and you would have zero chance of ever passing again without reverting everything back to stock. Even then your car would have been red-flagged and any smog inspector would take extra caution before giving you the certificate.

Robocop305

All good advice ^^^^ but the best solution would be to move out of that dictatorship state.

RAudi Driver

Agree, everyone leave here. It's terrible.

Spyerx

Based on description, I disagree. You cannot tell or see difference if the parts are exactly as described, other than the part numbers printed on them.

==========================
I'm looking for a 997.1 RS. I found one, but the car does not have the stock intake and exhaust - it has both an intake and exhaust manifold from a RS4.0 car. The out of state owner swears this will pass CA smog as he bought the car this way from a CA seller... which is far from definitive.

I have a bad history with CA smog, and have even taken a trip to the referees. Before plunking down cash... I'd like to know for sure that this setup is acceptable in CA. Anyone have relevant experience in CA?
==========================

If the INTAKE MANIFOLD is RS4.0, you won't see it
If air filter box is modded, you'll see that, but was that modded? It requires mods to the deck lid to work right
Show me a single non-porsche dealer smog tech that will know difference!
I've yet to see a smog tech ever, and I have 4 of 5 cars getting smogged... including one that needs to run on the dyno due to age / ODB1 - who is looking at part numbers

The EXHAUST MANIFOLD is the headers on these cars, the RS4.0 used a 300 cell cat but otherwise identical to the 997.2 headers, the 997.1 headers visually looked slightly different but still 400 cell cats, but i believe the .2 moved to a different material in the cat (more durable)

Anyway, OP:
tune needs to be factory
if it is simply the rs40 intake and exhaust, you'll be fine
if the airbox is modded that runs a chance of getting flagged

Regarding the BAR note on modded computer chips: I was under the impression they were checking ECU checksums for a long time. Specifically, if they see tunes with indicators turned off, that is compared to a DB for required indicators and they will fail you. This is all done automatic via the computer system... no tech involvement other than plugging in the device.

matt33

Agree with all Spyerx's points and very consistent with my experience. You would be very unlucky to get pinged on the visual (hence choose your smog shop carefully!) unless of course there is a big hole cut in the airbox/similar.

Sniff test is the non-negotiable part where even the "sensible" smog shops have no latitude.

Matty