Being a resident of San Diego, CA for over 6 years I've heard all the horror stories of trying to pass emissions out here, on a modified "tuner" car, but have never had to do it myself as I'm plated out of state. Recently though, Colorado (my home of record) has re-instated their emissions regulations and in doing so require all out of state registered vehicles to complete a emissions extension. Seems harmless but the out of state emissions extension isn't complete until you've PASSED smog in the state you currently reside, so lucky me I live in California.

I am confused though because I've been doing LOTS and LOTS of research on the matter and I'm coming up with two different answers here. I scheduled a meeting with the REF for next week so my answers will be cleared up soon enough, just thought I'd ask what everyone else's take on the matter is.

Over the last 6 years of owning my car its eventually lost ALL emissions related components, which I've recently installed for the reasons I explained above. Just yesterday though, after attempting to SMOG my car at a test only facility and getting tossed out the door, I made a few phone calls asking local SMOG facility's if they'd visually pass my GASOLINE powered vehicle that came from the factory turbocharged if it had a front mount intercooler installed. Well, you can all guess the answer to that question (NO!) which is why I'm posting here and asking why is it that whats posted in black and white TO THE LETTER is exactly opposite of what SMOG stations are telling me. Its CRAZY!

If anyone's familiar with the BAR SMOG Check Ref. Guide you should know what I'm talking about, if not here's a link to the most recent version. --->
I'm specifically talking about aftermarket parts guidelines i.e. intercoolers, turbos, etc. which are listed in appendix G here --->
Theres a bunch of good info in the above if you have any questions yourself however, I'm specifically talking about Category I modifications which are described as...

Category I: Not necessary to check for CARB exemption

Which to me means, the part can be modified with no CARB EO, correct? If so, listed on page 7 (4th bullet down) it states...

Gasoline - Intercoolers for original equipment (OE) turbochargers.

Which to me means, that since my car runs on gasoline (not diesel) that I can upgrade to whatever intercooler setup I want without needing a CARB EO for it since it came from the factory turbocharged. So can anyone tell me why I keep getting turned away for this modification and when I bring up this appendix they role their eyes and say take it to the REF?

I also have been getting turned down because the car was originally a FWD Eclipse that I converted to AWD. Nothing to do with emissions AT ALL and modifications to the drivetrain aren't even discussed in the BAR, so why do I keep getting told to go to the REF for this as well?

It seems anything modified, whether the aftermarket part is exempt according to the BAR or not, smog shops don't even want to touch it. What gives?


Now I can officially say it, FUCK CALIFORNIA SMOG SHOPS!

Smog guys are terrified to get "popped" so they are so paranoid they wont touch anything modified. They get huge fines and lose thier smog license.

You know, I have been wondering that myself. Whenever I take the clean air car course, which is instructed by a state ref (rio Hondo college), I'll be asking plenty of questions wondering why smog laws are the way they are. If I can pass smog with a hard intake and ic piping that have no carb #, why does it require a carb # if it obviously doesn't cause any unnecessary emissions? Also how is it that the newer turbocharged vehicles can pass smog with a fmic, but ours can't? Seems to me that the state of CA is just trying to keep people from modifying their vehicles in any way. If I can modify my vehicle and still keep it within smog legal parameters, why am I being forced to keep it stock? Too bad they don't offer the class next semester, or else I'm sure I'd have these questions answered.

It's good to have connects... Friends or fam that knows someone that knows someone that can pass anycar.... But costs $200-300 in this economy.

150 bucks, pm for details.

Whats frustrating about all this is I tried being the "good guy" and passing CA emissions the right way. I hacked the nuts off my DSM just to get these jack nuts to pass it the right way and I still get turned away for mods that the book says are exempt!

From this...



to CA compliant.

^^^^dont hate

Why don't you do it under the table.

The AWD conversion is what's going to bite you in the ass. AWD cars don't go up on the rollers, because there simply aren't any AWD rollers around. Therefore, they can't do the same type of tests on AWD cars, and have to do it the old-school way with just a sniffer in the pipe. If a car goes up on the dyno, they measure emissions at 15mph and 25mph. Without the dyno, all they can do is measure emissions at certain RPM levels.

"fake" smog is really the best route to go. It sucks that you already did all the hard work of swapping your stuff over to make it more compliant. I've lived in San Diego for over 10 years and I've never had any of my DSM's legitimately smogged, except for the one time that I got sent to the ref and had to put my entire car back to stock. That sucked.

I wonder if you can get the awd swap bar-ed, just like the civic boys who get their engine/tranny swaps bar-ed. You can always argue that converting it to awd is more of a safety feature, and since there are dsms that come awd stock, I don't see why it wouldn't be allowed. If civics can do an engine swap from another car and have it bar-ed, why couldnt a 2g fwd be swapped to awd and be bar-ed?
there always is the option of getting the smog passed under the table.

That sucks man! I didn't even think about the awd swap causing those kinds of problems but it makes sense. Your vin indicates your car is fwd which I imagine causes all kinds of grief when the smog station is not able to put it on the rollers. Screw the ref, I wouldn't take my car any where near those assholes. I swear their job now a days is just to screw people and generate revenue. You are venting your bov to the atmosphere, the original recirc hole in the intake is plugged.. That's going to stick out like a sore thumb to a ref jerk off. I use the same guy as Christ, he's cool and the price is totally worth not having to deal with all the bullshit. Hit me up if you want to get in touch with him.

We actually have a really cool ref down here in San Diego. My buddy just had his LS1-swapped 240sx legalized, and it was a pretty easy process for him. The guy is super chill about answering questions and what-not. You just have to use common sense and do your homework before you bring a car in to them.

The ls1 came out of a newer car than the 240 correct?