OK here is the deal I might end up stationed in san diago(going into the navy), and I have an 89 rs with no: cats, air tubes, smog pump, egr, and lots of non 50 state legal mods ect ect. Any ways I live in az and right now i don't need to go through emissions what so ever so i just want to drive my car aroung but not resgiter it an any way in carlifornia, all i want to do is drive it around from time to time, with AZ registration. Can I do this legaly in californa? If not what why?

 

You can drive it ,just watch out for the roadside smog checks. If you get busted they will impound your car and give you a real big fine. Good luck!

 

Legally, no, especially since what you run isn't even legal in AZ, but it's likely that you won't get hassled for it as long as its not so blantanly illegal that you would get pulled over based on its appearance alone. However, there are some CHP's that will pull over performance cars and give them visual inspections and tickets if stuff is missing.

 

well I have heat shields that look like cats, and I have some crap welded to my headers that look like air tubes but I don't have an air pump or an egr.

So would they look under my hood find that this thing is way not legal in cali standards

 

road side smog check, i live in sac and never ever heard or seen of one.

 

Have them here in Orange county quite often. Passed one just last week.

 

What is that? is it kind of like a dui check point?

 

Yeah,WTF.Roadside smog check?

 

It's just like a DUI check . Except they check emmissions. They also have the one where you drive through a laser and the photograph your plate, and if you fail they send you a notice in the mail to have the car checked out.

 

If you are in the service, you have the choice of registering your car in the state you are stationed in, or your home state. If you keep the plates from your home state, you have to meet the smog requirements to get it registered at home. Technically you are supposed to meet federal standards, but Pablo was out here for quite a while and running a Holley Carb on his car, so I would guess no one really checks on gi's to make sure you comply wiht federal standards.

 

Even if your car is registered out of state, you will still need a smog test in order to get a base decal to drive on military installation.

 

Even if you are stationed here, you do still have to go through a smog check to get the on base pass. SO I doub't you'll be able to drive it here. Stuff that "looks" like it, won't fly under a real inspection.

Yeah, the roadside checkpoints get setup all over. There aren't very many, so it's not like you'll see them everyday, but if you do get pulled over and they hit you for something being modified, they impound it right then and there. They are supposed to be upping the amount of these things in the next few years, so be careful. We're gonna see more and more of them.

 

Must not have read my reply.
You can drive the car on base with a temporary pass until it expires then go get another one. The question is how long will you get away with getting temporary pass. Temporary pass requires no smog check.

 

Well I Know that I can get a base pass for one of the air force bass’s out here where you don't have to get your car inspected. Then use it on SD. My buddy is doing that already. Me only thing was is what the hell are the cops in cali going to do/think when they see an 89 camaro with loud *** exhaust, a cowl hood, az plates and a young guy driving. This will not be my daily driver but more like my weekend car.

Also, my friend has a 1959 Pontiac Catalina with lots of mods on it. Is there anything they can do to you if you drive a car that old? I don't think a car that old would have to pass any kind of smog check, would it?

 

No smog checks required for cars built before 1975. No smog equipment available for any car built before 1967.

 

I have only had a cop look under my hood once, and I think he just did it to try and scare me. Cops are not educated on mechanicals or smog requirements, but the roadside smog checks have smog techs there, and they WILL impound your car if it doesn't pass smog requirements for the state that it is registered in.

 

Not exactly Russ, 1966 cars were the first year for smog pumps in California. My 66 Chevelle is from Michigan and came equipped without it.

 

Sorry about that, I knew it was mid sixties that smog came in.