How do I deal with California smog laws ?

What is the " h.a.m.b.er perferred " way around California smog laws.

If the vehicle registration is for a 29 ford, how new of a motor can I use and still be smog exempt?

Are there other hoops you have to jump thru for the dmv or chp ?

Someone told me something about " gross poluter " what the hell is that?

do you do it in the bathroom?

Thanks

 

they go by what the car is registered as. i believe its anything pre-75 now. registration normally goes by what the car closely resembles. if your in ca, you can put any year as long as its newer than the car. like a 60 engine in a 59. does that make sense?

 

Thanks

What about exaust?
I saw a lot of straight pipes and license plates. Do the cops just kind of look the other way cause its a hot rod?

 

If it's a pre '73 motor, you're golden. Smog cutoff is '73 and older, I believe. But chances are you can get away with something newer, as long as it looks older. CHP just wants to make sure it's got lights and a horn and stuff like that. DMV just wants to make sure the ***le is clean, and that it p***es CHP. I lucked out, Had a pink and bill of sale, just had to have the VIN verified by a peace officer, and vehicle weighed at a legit scale. It was funny when the lady at th DMV asked me why the truck was 1000lb lighter than what was on the pink. I told her it was because I replaced the old drive train with a more modern one, when the truth is that half the truck is gone!

 

a muffler doesnt do anything for smogs, thats the catalytic converter. the muffler muffles sound. if your engine is within a certain amount of decibals then you can runn no mufflers. just depends on how loud it is. cops will pull you over if your doing something stupid or they need to fill there quota.

 

I just think it's cause the cops are younger now and like hot rods. Ive been running one plate, open headers, body lower than rim, and no fenders (supposed to be under 1600lb or something) for over a year now and have'nt recieved any tickets, at least not for vehicle infractions...yet. Knock on wood!
I probably just jinxed myself.

 

How long have you lived in California?
These are questions that always raised a red flag when I was into the imports and on the message boards. It was always recomended that any discussion about the "man's" smog laws be in pm's so that it was a one on one conversation. It is too easy to stick your foot in your mouth and ruin our smog exempt status that we have right now. The B.A.R. is always trying to find damaging evidence to make their case. It will only be a matter of time before they start making laws to require us to conform. I got into the vintage stuff to get away from all the crazyness that is ***ociated with the post '75 crowd.
Stick to the facts when you are posting to the public, leave the other ******** stuff we do for around the beer keg.

 

I have lived in california all my life

I guess I could have worded that different. I know how to cheat the system and that is not what I want to do. I was interested in knowing how to do things legally.

I got my answer.

Dont sweat our exempt status. I got my california smog certificate when I got out of High school in 72 and from the sounds of it things havnt changed a bit.

I dont drink beer and these are not imports.

 

Wow, for a guy that got his smog licence back in '72, you sure asked a couple of stupid questions that any smog tech, from current even to one certified in '72, should have known.

 

Move To Texas!!!!!!!!

 

Move......................

 

Don't come to Nevada!! Thier cut-off is 69'!!! I have to smog the elky! Probably the first time ever!!! God ,this place ****s!!AL

 

I have to crawl under my desk now. I hear the black helicopters coming....

 

Any vehicle that is 73 or older is smog exempt. Period. You're done.

The only number that matters is the year of the vehicle, not the motor. Since your car is 29 you are free to do what you want.

Put any motor in the thing you want. Don't worry about mufflers or straight pipes. Just do it. Cops pretty much look the other way when it comes to old cars as long as you are not driving like an ***.

Mike

 

Pre-whatever is exempt from annual or semi-anual inspections ONLY. But if your car becomes a "gross polluter", whereby it winds up tripping the remote sniffer-sensors that are floating around out there (wherebver they stick them), then you will have big problems.

 

this it to my knowledge:
Any gasoline powered vehicle manufactured BY A MANUFATURER (ie: not owner built) made after 1975 is required to have regular smog checks performed, UNLESS, it is registered in low population area (ie: the wilderness of the sierras). so ANYTHING before that is smog exempt period.
Gross Poluter is any vehicle that is obviously spewing gas out the tail pipe or oil smoke and is subject to fine/refusal of registration/inspection. (no vehicle (except a 2-stroke) should do that, regrdless of how old it is.)
There are other hoops:
Special construction: Means that the body/frame/ch***is/ are home made or have been specially constructed/manufactured for one car only.
If you have no ***le, and no past registration, and no other proof it was manufactured by a car company (ie VIN code or body or frame ID tag), then I would put money them reqiuring you to have it inspected by CHP before they let you register it because it has no history
IF that happens, then you might run into a smog problem, because special construction means it was built after 1975 (unless you pulled some miracle **** out of a barn in north dakota, which is unlikely)

As far as engine swaps go the specifics are that you can put any engine in any car REGARDLES of year of manufacture AS LONG AS the engine that is going in
-producess LESS CO2 than the old engine's spec
-all of the sensors/dash lights/guages/ODB are hooked up and functioning properly AND scan properly
-and the exhaust for the new engine uses the OEM style exhaust installed on the CAR (not the engine) (you cant convert it to true dual exhaust if the car came from the manufacturer with a two to one. or if you put a v8 in a car the originally had an inline it then has to go to a two to one.)


I knew a guy who was able to put a 95 ford 4.6 in a 92 volvo wagon because he followed these rules.
edit: typos

 

Baron Von Mike hit it. As far as the DMV/State is concerned my '35 sedan is just an old exempt car, they never bother to open the hood or even inquire. Flower's roadster is registered as a 1930 A truck because that's what ch***is it is built on, once again the motor isn't an issue. By the way, the flathead headers are uncorked from time to time and never have raised an eyebrow.

 

Dirtyhands - you the man. Thanks.

And thanks to all the other hambers who posted.

A ton of good info.

I knew all this once a long time ago and its all comming back.

thanks again

 

is this even true!?! I have always heard them talking about those sensors but I dont know of anyone who has ever gotten a letter in the mail...
I got a fix-it ticket once when i first got my chevy like 8 years ago. I knew i had to rebuild the motor because the rings were gone and it was smoking, but i couldn't resist the temptation to drive it. I didn't have the motor in by the time I was supposed to go to court, but i had reciepts for the motor/machine work and the judge dismissed it with a small fine.
As for the exhaust, If they want to be strict, they can give you a fix-it ticket. You would have to put on some mufflers and go to a CHP or sherriff inspection station and get it signed off, then pay like $15 in fines.
I have heard of some dudes stuffing steel wool in the tips, to p*** inspection

 

Actually, dirty_hands did...it's 1975 and older. I'm still curious, though (this is directed to the original post maker), what would make you inquire about these specifics given your age and whatever you meant by "smog license in '72"? Is your '29 Ford currently ***led in CA?

 

OK so I missed the year. It used to be a 20 year sliding window where only cars made in the last 20 years need to get smogged. Then they locked it down to 75 and older permanently.

Anyway, I think you get the main point: Don't worry about it.

 

Actually, it was 30 (ha ha!). The main reason I know this is because I drive a '75 Chevy truck every day, and potential smogging has always been in the back of my mind, because, well, there isn't any piece of smog equipment left on the truck.

 

Let me explain -

I went to school for smog, brake, and lights after high school, then joined the air force, did that then built houses for 20 years, never using any to that information . Use it or loose it and I lost most of it. It all sounds familiar, but I thought, as things go, that the laws have gotten tougher. Sounds like the havn't. It seems to be just the way I kinda remember it.

As for the 29 ford, I am attempting to trade my harley ( also exempt ) for the ford and dont want to end up with something that cant be legal. I have done that before. You know, jump off the edge, and then think about it.

This will be my first vehicle that I intend to seriously chop. Also one of, only a few, vehicles I have owned that is older than the smog laws, cept for a couple 55 chevys, a 56 buick special and a 60 willys and that was 28 yrs ago.

for 28 years I have had a warrentee and 24hr road service on what I have been driving.

Makes sense to me.

 

its 75' and older. You register it and put any motor you want in it. If its a noticeable smoker or smog screen maker....pull it and rebuilt. Otherwise...dont worry about it.

straight pipes, mufflers, its your choice.

As for being har***ed by police, if you build a "Rat Rod" POS car that looks like it will fall apart...you will be pulled over. With my experience, I get more thumbs up w/ my rides (traditional)...and i run straight pipes. I run it in moderation around the cops; floor it when they are not around

There is alot on this topic that can get you a ticket....

Just do like Milner says, if you get a ticket, "file it under CS!"

 

http://www.dmv.ca.gov/vr/smogfaq.htm#BM2536

Does my vehicle qualify for a smog exemption?
Smog inspections are required unless your vehicle is:

• Hybrid
• 1975 year model or older
• Diesel powered
• Electric
• Natural gas powered and has a Gross Vehicle Weight rating of 14,001 lbs. or more.
• Motorcycle
• Trailer

Thanks,
Kurt

 

Careful he might work for Floyd Cotterpin.

 

yeah those sensors are called "concerned citizens" and "law enforcement". the only ones that are mess with you are the ones with too much time on their hands

 

Oklahoma doesn't have an inspection AT ALL. Pretty cool for hot rodders. Pretty lame for trying to get home at rush hour when some mid 70's bomb does exactly what it was designed to do right in the middle of the one out of three lanes of traffic that are open because of all the orange barrels, drunks, and other broke down **** on the side of the road.

I feel better.

What the hell is smog anyway?

(Just kidding, I've been to California plenty. I like my are "smooth" as opposed to "chunky style".)

 

I had a borla exhaust on my camaro and it has a plate that can be removed to du,p the exhaust stright out the right side. the smog guy happened to chose the left side tailpipe to stick the prober in! of course it probably would have p***ed anyway.

tha point get a cut out and hide it.

 

Exposs facto (or how ever it is spelled) look it up. You can't make laws after the fact. Emission laws can not be changed backwards. I believe that is why the engine has to be pre-emissions. If it's post emissions, it has to meet that year or newer emissions standards.

You can't be forced to add things that were not there when new. Seatbelts, catalytic converters, etc....