Non-CARB devices

[HighCaliberMitch]

IN tallying up the bolt on mods for this truck, for the engine, I've come to find that catted down pipes, the charge pipes, and any intake (not just air filter) are not legal for sale or shipping in CA.

How much can these things change the smog tests?

And assuming they don't bork the smog tests... how would one in CA get a hold of any of these "restricted" items.

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[IdahoRanger]

Had many Mustang friends who would just go back to stock for smog test. I lived in an exempt county back in the day and my Mustang GT had Bassani X-pipe. Moved to a test county and always worried if it would pass the visual but never got caught on that and it would pass the sniffer test...barely.

CARB to me made sense back when smog was horrible but now with cars as clean as they are and the few who change out parts to me it is overkill...but hey I don't live there anymore and don't breath that crap.

As for getting parts, can you ship to an out of state friend and pick them up or have them ship them to you? I would ship stain for the house to my brother in AZ until I found a place that would ignore the "can't ship to zip code".

 

[Cali_Ranger]

Everything that IdahoRanger said is correct. CARB made sense back in the 70's and 80's when cars didn't require catalytic converters and guzzled that fuel ha. The emission requirements of this state are down right ridiculous and honestly unnecessary for cars nowadays (end rant).

To answer your question:
You will have to purchase the parts and have them delivered to a location outside California. The parts would then have to be trucked in. Vegas trip anyone?

 

[rang19ca]

CARB, is a royal pita. I talked to a guy who bought a new camaro from Borla. It had a full Borla wrap and he told me that a cop heard it and they sent him to the referee. He had to remove everything that was not oem. Cost him $4,000.

 

[HighCaliberMitch]

Everything that IdahoRanger said is correct. CARB made sense back in the 70's and 80's when cars didn't require catalytic converters and guzzled that fuel ha. The emission requirements of this state are down right ridiculous and honestly unnecessary for cars nowadays (end rant).

To answer your question:
You will have to purchase the parts and have them delivered to a location outside California. The parts would then have to be trucked in. Vegas trip anyone?

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[outdoorphotog]

The government in this state is a downright disaster. They are trying to be trend setters with all this emissions crap but end up increasing the cost of living for its residents for all these fake "green" initiatives and raising of the gas tax. I heard they are supposed to start monitoring emissions from restaurant stacks soon?

OK, end rant.

In good news i think new vehicles dont need smog for 8 years after initial purchase in CA now. So cut off your cats and have a blast.

 

[HighCaliberMitch]

Didn't even want to cut cats.

Part of the problem is that they've convinced the general public that emissions = CO2.

Emissions are sulfur and nitrogen compounds and carbon monoxide... The problem was smog and waterway acidification.

The irony is if an engine was 100% efficient it would make more carbon dioxide.

And, on top of that, when a vehicle in perfect working order and can't pass smog, the owner is forced to get *another car* so the next dealer can auction it off out of state and you are limited to a new car or a used car that you will have to trade off again as the restrictions get harder. if the whole country followed CARB, those cars would need to be destroyed, forcing new car purchases. Making new cars is not a "green" activity.

This is fake green wokeness.

 

[J_D]

You dont get tested for the first 5 years of ownership so do what u want untill then.

CARB, is a royal pita. I talked to a guy who bought a new camaro from Borla. It had a full Borla wrap and he told me that a cop heard it and they sent him to the referee. He had to remove everything that was not oem. Cost him $4,000.

Sounds like your friend was blowing smoke up your ass. Anything behind the cats in California is fair game as long as it doesn't break sound regulations.

 

[J_D]

Didn't even want to cut cats.

Part of the problem is that they've convinced the general public that emissions = CO2.

Emissions are sulfur and nitrogen compounds and carbon monoxide... The problem was smog and waterway acidification.

The irony is if an engine was 100% efficient it would make more carbon dioxide.

And, on top of that, when a vehicle in perfect working order and can't pass smog, the owner is forced to get *another car* so the next dealer can auction it off out of state and you are limited to a new car or a used car that you will have to trade off again as the restrictions get harder. if the whole country followed CARB, those cars would need to be destroyed, forcing new car purchases. Making new cars is not a "green" activity.

This is fake green wokeness.

Pull the cat off your truck and sit in your garage for 5 minutes with it running and tell me that your eyes are not burning.

 

[HighCaliberMitch]

Pull the cat off your truck and sit in your garage for 5 minutes with it running and tell me that your eyes are not burning.

You're missing the point.

I don't want to cut the cats. The aftermarket down pipes are catted.

They make the laws more stringent and it doesn't actually do anything new for emissions because the catalytic converter is the emissions part. Everything else is just death by a thousand cuts.

Adding charge pipes and CATTED downpipes aren't going to alter emissions other than that the engine is producing more exhaust from more power. And efficient turbo flow makes ignition more efficient at the expense of more fuel.

Restricting those two things don't help anything for emissions.

Cat converters are the only thing doing anything here.

 

[rang19ca]

You dont get tested for the first 5 years of ownership so do what u want untill then.

Sounds like your friend was blowing smoke up your ass. Anything behind the cats in California is fair game as long as it doesn't break sound regulations.

Well he had no cats, full long tube headers, an illegal supercharger and muffler deletes. I can't believe that Borla could or would sell it to him like that.

 

[Sgt_Gr8Haus]

IN tallying up the bolt on mods for this truck, for the engine, I've come to find that catted down pipes, the charge pipes, and any intake (not just air filter) are not legal for sale or shipping in CA.

How much can these things change the smog tests?

And assuming they don't bork the smog tests... how would one in CA get a hold of any of these "restricted" items.

Amazon. There’s where I got my BOV and am getting my charge pipes from too. Or, you send them to a friend/family member out of state and have them forward them to you. Easy.

 

[Dgc333]

Adding charge pipes and CATTED downpipes aren't going to alter emissions other than that the engine is producing more exhaust from more power. And efficient turbo flow makes ignition more efficient at the expense of more fuel.

Restricting those two things don't help anything for emissions.

Cat converters are the only thing doing anything here.

I would agree with you on the charge pipes not impacting emissions but they don't do anything for power on an otherwise stock vehicle either.

Catted down pipes add more power by allowing more exhaust to flow by using less restrictive cores. These less restrictive cores also do not remove pollutants as well. So, an aftermarket high performance catted down pipe does most certainly increase emissions.

 

[Fitzmotor]

I used to do the sneaky smog, no problem, then the Calif smog police started doing roadside traps, they set up smog dyno's right on the side of the road, I got caught in one in my Explorer (not the 84 Mustang with questionable equipment) I ask the guy "I'm in a hurry, I can refuse?" he said yes you can, but they have a Highway Patrol Officer who will look you over before they let you go.
If by any chance you look, smell or sound suspicious, they will pop the hood and do a visual inspection, (they actually popped my hood on my bone stock 4.0L) if there is anything beyond stock without a EO number or CARB sticker they write a citation, then you can not drive it on the street until you are cleared by the BAR, Bureau of Automotive Repair.
I sold the 84 and got a 65, hopefully the budget ran out for that program, I haven't seen one in 2-3 years, but I saw 3-4 traps before that.
I have a retired enforcement friend, he said "it's dumb, all we get is a 8 hour class on how to identify emissions violations, basically we look for anything adjustable (fuel press reg) or anything obvious, or we just cite them and let the BAR figure it out, all we care about is safety, we are not smog police" he thought it was a pain to deal with it.
So in Calif, I would be nervous about any equipment that was not stock or approved.

 

[outdoorphotog]

Glad we have no smog here, its been such a PITA to deal with all my life.

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