Does anyone know why, exactly, are turbo illegal on smog cars, like in california? I would like to know what the law says is wrong with putting the turbo on a car with cats. Is it because the turbo takes away some of the heat that the cat needs to work properly? Is more of a visual thing, since the smog shop will see the turbo when it looks under your hood? I've heard a bunch of different excuses, just wondering what the actual reason was. Also, I heard that the turbo system made by STS that places the turbo back by the muffler on a third gen, "is" smog legal. Anybody know the "low down"?
OK, this is bugging the crap out of me, especially when you ask questions like that so I'm going to ask: do you have any affiliation with Innovative Turbo?
To answer your question, the reason that they aren't emissions legal is that no one has bothered to pay to get it certified. For a kit to be certified the maker has to pay to have it tested by either the fed or California (if you get a California EO you're good in the other 50 states… freaking BS) to prove that basically it doesn't increase emissions over the original standards that the vehicle met. This has to be done for each drivetrain/cassis that you want it to be legal for, and costs hundreds of thousands of dollars, more then most small turbo manufacturers will make as a profit for an individual turbo kit for several years, even if it was pretty popular.
As far as the STS system, it may technically be legal as per the letter of the law in many states, since in most cases you are allowed to modify the exhaust after the cats as long as it still exits in the original location or behind the rear most door opening and no under the car.
To answer your question, the reason that they aren't emissions legal is that no one has bothered to pay to get it certified. For a kit to be certified the maker has to pay to have it tested by either the fed or California (if you get a California EO you're good in the other 50 states… freaking BS) to prove that basically it doesn't increase emissions over the original standards that the vehicle met. This has to be done for each drivetrain/cassis that you want it to be legal for, and costs hundreds of thousands of dollars, more then most small turbo manufacturers will make as a profit for an individual turbo kit for several years, even if it was pretty popular.
As far as the STS system, it may technically be legal as per the letter of the law in many states, since in most cases you are allowed to modify the exhaust after the cats as long as it still exits in the original location or behind the rear most door opening and no under the car.
So what is your affiliation with Innovative?