hi guys,hopefully im posting in the right spot. I bought a 91z28 with dual cats here in cali. it's a texas car.He brought here and it sat for 6 yrs.now i bought it.I called epa the person that i spoke with said that vehicles coming from other states are not held to cali. emissions, only federal standards.before i could get my next question out they said contact the referee, who is impossible to get a hold of. can anyone here tell me what that is. Thanks

 

The car must be smog before you can get registered here. All the smog equipment shall be in place before and after smogging the car. No referee needed. Since it sat for 6 years. You need to in stall 2 new California cats before going to smog it. Put a new set of plugs and make sure the timing is at *6 degrees and you should be good to go.
Good luck! What city are you in in Cali?

 

EPA guy is correct.

No need for the referee.

Just make sure it meets the specs for Federal cars (49-state), that's all you have to do. New cats and a tune-up, and it should be good to go. (assuming no other broken or missing parts... cover that when you get to it)

 

Thanks guys,I think i asked the question wrong. In texas what were you allowed to get away with(mods.) that cali cant ding me for.I wish i could just change plugs and such but unfortunately the same day i went to pickup the car the owner decided to throw a battery in it and fired it up drove it around the block.when i got there he told me what he did and i about flipped.he said it ran fine,had a slight miss.I then showed him why that was bad. i unscrewed most of the engine bolts by hand,pulled dipstick and saw traces of coolant.well now im rebuilding.

 

I dont crap about emissions please bare with me on my stupid questions,why do i need new cali cats? Is it because the car sat for so long? or because I need california ones? I'm in norcal, San Jose.

 

If the existing ones work, you don't need new ones. Sitting a long time doesn't matter. Only way to find that out, is to try to smog it.

As far as mods that will pass in CA, basically ANYTHING that is emissions related and came on it, must be present on the car, hooked up, and appear to be working. Any parts that are replaced must either be direct replacement (like you can buy at a parts store) or must have a CARB EO # accepting them as providing legally equivalent function. Things they can't see, like pistons or cams, or even head & block castings, will usually skate right on through if they don't somehow call attention to themselves, and the car passes otherwise. Things that ABSOLUTELY MUST be right include the air intake, exhaust, all "accessories" like AIR & EGR, all sensors, vacuum lines, fuel system parts. It's wise not to have any visible aftermarket parts like valve covers, mostly just to avoid calling attention to itself. The more it looks untouched, the less likely it is to get extra scrutiny.

 

If you can start the car and let it run for 5 minutes, stand behind it to see if it smell rich. If so then the cats are bad. If you smell any kind on richness, the cats are bad. If those are old cats, more than likely they won't pass. They will check under the car for the new Cali cats. The new cats will make it pass very clean like it did on my car. The Cali cats has special numbers on them and they look under the car for them. If you put them on then leave them on for ever so you won't have any problem in the future.

 

Thanks guys, Im gonna just go ahead and replace the cats. im putting the mtr back together now.and as far as keeping it stock looking, OOps!well everythings polished,but legal. The headers wont have carb tag which im ordering today from dyno don i think thats the on thing that will look out of place.If it dont pass theres always plan b.Thanks again

 

When you get the cats make sure you order 2 1/2in cats. Getting Dyno Don headers is a very smart thing to do. He does make headers for dual cats. Get a sticker from SLP for the headers.

 

yeah lon mentioined show paperwork for slp's to smog tech is what the cali. guys do. Heres another stupid question. What does that mean? call slp and say i lost the paper work can they send copies?

 

I'll add this info to this thread as it deals with an out of state car and Calif emissions.

I bought a 1989 IROC out of Oregon. The car was built in Van Nuys Ca. on order fron an Oregon dealer, but even though it didn't get all the Ca. emissions stuff it's still legal to register here. It's a 46k mile 305 5speed with 2 Cats, and it passed smog fine after a good 20 minute warm up. It was smogged on rollers with a 15mph and 25 mph test.
It was in good shape so I didn't do anything to the car prior to the smog test.

 

When I lived out there, I also registered my cars - 49-state aka "federal" ones - with no problem. They were tested to the "federal" specs and of course had to meet them. Same deal about "tampering" though; all the correct parts had to be there, hooked up, and appear to be operating, in addition to "blowing the numbers" on the dyno.

My 3rd gen had, at the time, Edelbrock TES; those had a EO #.

I lived in an "enhanced" area (with special cavity searches for all) and they didn't look at my cats, beyond making sure there was one there. Might be because it was a "federal" car. Had it been a California car, they might have checked it to make sure it was a California cat; can't say about that. The California-specific cat requirement doesn't apply to a 49-state car though.

Yes you can call SLP (at least, you used to could) and get the CARB EO # from them for their parts.

I don't know whether Don's headers have a CARB EO # or not. Getting one requires a bunch of testing, certification, and check-writing. (above all, the writing of checks) No clue whether he's done all that or not. No doubt he can tell you.

 

i would doubt that he got an OE#, cuz it costs hundreds of thousands to get one (after testing, fees, govt "lubing")... Last i heard, people are just passing them off as SLPs (so similar in design).

As for out-of-state cars, i registered an Olds originally from Wisconsin that came to me from Texas. Smogged and registered just fine as is, but if anything needed to be replaced it has to be replaced with CARB parts