My wife and I are going to be moving to the Phoenix area and I was wondering what you guys do about emission testing. There is no way I will pass emissions...what's the options? Last time I lived in AZ was in Flagstaff, no emission testing there.

 

If its not a daily driver and you have a second car, get collector car insurance. You do not need to have an emmision test on it then.

 

I've been reading up on that and it looks like I may just do that. I don't drive the Firebird much at all, I don't even think I put 1,000 miles a year on it now. We have 2 other cars we drive regularly.

Noticed you are in the surprise area...how do you like it? We are looking at Surprise or Wittmann.

 

I wouldn't bring a car here that doesn't pass emissions. You could get busted by the police and it's illegal to sell a car here that wont pass.

I have the collector car insurance on my 'CUDA but I wouldn't try that on a car that's supposed to have an air pump and a cat.

My Camaro aces the IM240 every time

 

Wittman is a great place to live if you like peace and quiet, the stars, and privacy. Also, due to the recession, my neighbors house (Brand new, never lived in) Is selling for around 125,000 on an acre of land. I like it because I HATE H.O.A.'s! (Something to do with having six cars....)
What is your car missing that it wont pass emissions? With collector car ins. you cannot drive the car for any other purpose other than to take it to the shows, shop, races, etc. You are not required to have any emissions equip. (So says george cook, state farm agent)

 

im sure if you brought it here there are a few members including myself that would be more than happy to help get that baby on the rollers to pass lol i had to use rubbing alcohol, i cleaned out my entire intake back when i had access to a shop and i barely failed, threw some rubbing alcohol in the tank and it passed with flying colors, whereabouts were you plannign on going? Mesa? gilbert? west side? lol

 

That's exactly what we are looking for...peace and quiet, stars and privacy...and no HOA! Don't get me started on HOA's. We are in one right now and I can't stand it. It just doesn't fit my lifestyle. The housing is very attractive also like you said. Do you know anything about the school system there? We have a 2 and 4 yr old.

The car currently doesn't have any emission equip. The cat is gone, air pump is sitting in a box, egr went bye bye when I put the mini ram on. It has a muffler though

If I just put a cat on what are the chances I would pass the emission test?

 

I moved here just over a year ago from Chicago and brought out my 88 IROC it has no emissions equipment on it and I live in northeast part of Mesa, AZ. A large phoenix suburb. I have the collector car insurance with Grundy and I do not have to test my car at all in Arizona. Arizona has an exemption for emissions testing if you have a collector car policy. I have had no problems with the state and I know of quite a few people who also use the exemption on 80's Camaros and Firebirds in Arizona with no problems. When you go to the DMV to register the car just bring a copy of your collector car insurance policy with you and they exempt your car from the test. It's that easy.

Also, I am not sure what kind of work you do but Wittman, AZ is really far from Phoenix and Scottsdale. I don't think there is very much work out there. There are a lot of NO HOA areas in the Phoenix metro area that are not so far away from civilization. I found every single one of them because when I moved here I did not want an HOA either. The part of Mesa, AZ I live in does not have one and my house is not even that old (built in 94) and I back up to the mountains, live in one of the state's top school districts, and I am only 25 minutes from downtown and Scottsdale (where all of the jobs are) If you need info on the nice neighborhoods without HOA's I still have all my research. I would be happy to help you out. I know everything that is involved in a cross country move to AZ since I just did it. I will PM you my phone number.

Thanks
Brian

 

if you can get her to pass the visual im sure between the rest of us here could get you to pass the sniffer

 

Are you still using your stock ecm? If so, we could rig up a remote egr using a v-6 egr. Wittman has the number 4 rated school district in the state. I have an 18 month old, twin 4 year olds, a 13 year old and a 15 year old. The school districts were my number 1 concern (My mother is a retired schoolteacher, so I got the inside track on the schools) True, Wittman is a little out of the way, Depending on where you work. I used to work in down-town phx. (24th street and broadway) and it only took me 35 min to get there (Wittman is right off grand ave/ US-60) I like that I am on acerage and the city dosent EVER try to tell me what to do. Mesa has a rule that if you dont have plates (Or they are expired) on your vehicle they will ticket you or even tow it out of your driveway!!! You can only have such vehicles in your garage or backyard. The eastside is nice, but I like the westside best (Just my own personal opinion).

 

burnout88 (Brian) is right about the collector car ins. I know two thirdgens (Both T/A's) that couldnt pass emissions if the inspector was blind. One has a 383 with 8;71 blower and the other has a tunnel ram setup. They are both using collector car ins.
--Jason--

 

Looks like Jason prefers the west side, and I prefer the east. There is alot of nice areas on both sides of the valley. So Greg you have no excuse to not to move to AZ. So load up the family, say goodbye to winter and hello to sunshine, mountains, and cruising that 3rd all year long.

 

LOL, you are right Brian! There is one thing we can both agree on; The weather is awesome here! I have lived here all my life, but traveled everywhere. When people ask me what is so great about arizona I tell them, " Four words: I've never shoveled snow!"
LOL
--Jason--

 

ill take the shovel before another nasty microburst though lol

 

I can't say enough thanks for all the support here, I was very worried about the emission testing! I now can see some hope! The mini ram doesn't have an egr provision, so I would not pass inspection if you have to have an egr valve. Although, the edelbrock heads have the egr crossovers in them and it is the stock ECM.

Just to give some more background. I grew up in Indy, then went to school in Flagstaff plus stayed an extra yr(97-02), then got a job in Jacksonville, FL(02-06) and then moved back to Indy. I loved AZ when I was in Flag, but it's cold there and I then got the job in Jacksonville. Well, it's time for the move to PHX best of both worlds, job and warm weather! Plus I mountain bike a lot...AZ is awesome for that!

Atleast Flagstaff didn't salt the roads though. I can't stand to even drive my DD through the salt. I'm also not a lawn guy, the lawn mower can stay with this house...I don't want it!! lol

Not sure if we'll be a eastsider or a westsider yet. I feel as though I need some land for my car projects and I definetly want to be in a good school district. Great info that Wittmann is in the 4th rated school district!!

Is there anything around wittmann besides houses? Is there atleast a pizza place and movie rental? I can't find anything on the internet.

 

They do have that racetrack there. All the best carshows and track events in arizona are there IMO

Any pizza or movies you want are down the road in Sun City. Also, Wittman is much closer to Las Vegas and Los Angeles then Gilbert or Mesa.

ON the other hand they do have some gang activity and meth labs there but I guess that's everywhere nowadays

 

yeah unless you wanna live out here in BFE you can get a big chunk of land out here for a good price though, no HOAs unless you move to like a prefabbed neighborhood

 

I have never heard of or seen any gang activity in wittman. I have heard of meth labs, though. They busted one about three streets down from me about 15 months ago (Still the talk of the town, LOL!) I guess thats bound to happen when you combine huge lots (Smallest lot in my subdivision is 1.25 acres) with seclusion and lenient building codes. As far as pizza goes, there is a Bar/resturant called the "Trackside grill and resturant" about a mile and a half away. They have excellent pizza and a large menu of all sorts of food. It is an 8 mile drive to any kind of shopping, but I like it that way. (It's a 65 mph speed limit most of the way to albertson, safeway, walmart and all kinds of shopping) Gives me some room to really open the cars up!! You would have to drill and tap your intake manifold/ runners to install an egr, but I honestly wouldnt bother. My turbocharged 383 sfi transam isnt going to have any emissions equip.

 

Oh, check out; www.speedworlddragstrip.com for more info about speedworld. It is about 3/4 of a mile from me. They have something going on almost every night of the week and never close in the wintertime. They are talking about putting in a road course in the future (What I am hearing is that it will be something similar to road atlanta.) Just a rumor right now, but the people I heard it from are pretty reliable as far as I know.
You can also pm beater79ta He has a really cool build going with an RS camaro and it has no emissions equip.
Also, check out www.arizonasfasteststreetcar.com they hold all their events at speedworld.

--Jason--

 

It looks looks you got a lot of good input on where to live. I recently moved out of Surprise and have not updated my location yet but I loved living in Surprise. I spent most of my time working in Mesa and the commute was too much so I moved into north Phoenix. Like was said, if you look around you can find non HOA's in all areas.
On the collector car insurance, there are restrictions on when and where you can drive it but if you don't drive it to work or school you are usually OK.

 

The collector car policy can be much looser than you think. My policy from State Farm states "primarily used for car shows, parades, car club activities, and limited business and personal use as required." And they don't track the mileage on the vehicle.

According to my agent, I'm covered to drive it as long as I can show the primary use is weekend car show type stuff. I mainly use these policies to cover vehicles that will pass emissions but aren't driven very much (my 79 hasn't left the property in 16 months). It allows me to not have to take the time to go to the testing station for things I don't drive much. And with 8 vehicles, any chance to avoid the trip to the testing station is worth it just to avoid the hassle.

 

I'll definetly have to call and get some quotes on collectors insurance.

If I am understanding right, the emissions test is just a visual inspec to make sure you have the components, a snifer on the tail pipe and then, from what I read, for 96+ they scan the computer. Is that right?

Hopefully my DD passes emissions also, but not nearly as worried about it. It's a 96 Grand Prix coupe but I put a 97 3.8 supercharged in it. That engine wasn't put into Grand Prix's factory until 97. But its a factory engine with all emissions, etc. It's set-up just like a factory 96 Buick Riviera since that was supercharged in 96.

Think I would have any problems when they scan the computer and see it doesn't match the vehicle? I even put the buick rivira emission sticker on the core support as the finishing touch...all vacuum lines in my car match it exactly.

I know it's not thirdgen related but any input is appreciated

 

The Grand Prix should be fine as long as you moved over everything from the donor car that was emissions related. Going to a newer motor setup is well within the rules at both the Federal Clean Air Act level and the state/local level. Going to an older setup is where you start to run into problems. Expect it to still go on the rollers like a 96 even though it is running an engine setup from a 97.

On the factory ODBII cars, they do a computer scan and if it passes with no emissions related codes, they don't normally even do a visual. Expect one on yours though since you're moving into the state and they look a little closer on those the first time.

I'm not sure what they will do with a collector car coming in from out of state. The only out of state transfers I've done were both on cars with complete emissions setups and they both passed the sniffer and visual.

The one thing I can warn you about is don't transfer your insurance to Arizona until you are ready to transfer the vehicle plates. If you don't do both within a week or so of each other, the state starts sending you a lot of mail asking for explanations as to why you moved one and not the other.

 

the computer shouldnt throw any red flags, they just look for DTC's, making sure the o2 sensors are feeding right etc, like Beater said its ok to go newer as long as its all smog legal, if anything they view it as a plus, "newer is better" in their eyes

 

My 89 IROC didn't have to go through emissions because of my collector car insurance (Rally Insurance), About $180. per year, 0 deductable, $17K value, 3K miles per year limit. I just renewed my Az. registration with no problems.

 

The grand prix doesn't have any codes. I did have to do a custom program on it for body related reasons but everything functions as it should including both O2's.

$180 a year...that's actually less than what I pay now! Now all I have to do is sell this house in this awesome economy

 

I know what you mean... Its a great time to buy, but the flip side of that is that its a bad time to sell!! LOL, Just cant win...

 

Well, my company unexpectadly laid off a bunch of people yesterday...my self included. So, I will be starting a job search in Phoenix now...not really the way I planned it, was going to transfer with the company. This makes it a bit more complicated. Just thought I'd reach out here and see if anyone knows of anyone hiring. I'd like to land an insurance adjusters position but anything auto or management related would be nice. Anyone else affected by the economy? This is my first lay off...never been fired either.

 

I am sorry to hear about that! I will keep my ears open. Do you have any experience with collision adjustment? might know someone there...

 

Oh man, if you know someone here in collision adjustment, I would definetely be interested in talking with them!! I have a ton of automotive experience! Please Please let me know!

 

I will ask him on mon. Last I heard he was hiring...