moving to california: smog test?

hello happy citizens from california!

i'm planning on moving to cali in about a year or so...
and i'm kind of scared by the smog test issue.

my mav' is a 76 and has a 302 in it (stock settings for the 302, but the car is supposed to come with a 200).

I read that i can register it as an "historical vehicule"... but it's my daily driver...

what exactly is the smog test about?
what solutions do i have?
should i open my veins and hang myself now?

thanks!

 

Re: Smog Test

Hi Noun,

If the car is older than a certain year, it is exempt. The all-knowing legislators in California were deciding year by year if they should extend this law to cover each "new" year or not.

I honestly don't know what the cut-off year is these days. I imagine that a check of the Calif DMV website could provide the answer.

I hope this helps.

Regards,
BaldEagleMav

 

from what i read... it's 75 and older that are exempt

 

Re: Smog test

Hi again,

If that's the case, it is my experience that the car is required to pass a visual test, meaning that all of the smog equipment that was required for that model year vehicle has to be in-place.

Then, it must pass a sniffer test, meeting the requirements for the vehicle's model year.

I think you previously said the car originally had a 200 in it. This may cause a problem for passing the smog test.

Please don't take this as gospel. My comments are solely based on my experience.

I wish you luck!

Regards,
BaldEagleMav

 

smog exemption is 75 years old or older cars in california. if you have a 76 or newer with engine swap, more likely your vehicle will not be able to be registered due to not able to pass smog test. unless, if you have a 76 or older vehicle to pass the BAR and get BAR sticker from a state refferee, then your vehcile has to pass the sniffer test from which the engine came from with the current swapped motor. sorry to spill out the bad news but welcome to cali

 

if you 302 has all the emissions equipment from a 76 or newer vehical you can get it done. you said it has "stock settings" does that mean you have stock smog equipment on it?
is it still a 2 barel carb?
if you do not have smog equipment on it, the easyest way to get it smog able is to do what would be considered a engine swap. what california considers a engine swap is a engine that was offered in a vehical of the same year or newer that is similar type of vehical (car basicly) and has all aplicable smog equipment for that year of motor.
i would recomend going efi out of a 88-93 mustang. use shorty headers for the mav from thorley and put cats on car.
post details of what your 302 is and has on it now and i can tell you what the min you will need to get it registered. i used to be a smog tech in califonia. i stoped because every body and there mom became smog techs and you cant make any money doing smogs, just smog repairs, and if you mess up on something and get caught the state can fine you big time.
so let me know what your car has

 

One other thing to keep in mind, you will want to save some additional cash as when you move into the state they have a one time out of state vehicle fee you have to pay in addition to registration. in 98 it was about $500. By the way which part of the state you looking at? im about 2 hours from sacramento and 4 from the S.F. bay.

 

yes but somewhere on his engine bay, theres a plate there that says what was the original engine was and this will effect the smog technician (pending on how the person will be) if he/she will mind that. still regardless, 76 and newer will require to get BAR'd for upgrade motor swapped.

 

also once you get the BAR test you have to go back EVERY YEAR not every other year like a stock car unfortunately. this kept me from converting the AMC powered wagoneer i had in cali to a fuel injected CHEBY 350 that would have gotten better mileage and polluted less.

 

right now it's a 302 (with a 2 bbl) out of i don't know what...
i don't think it has any smog equipment at all right now.

i really want to keep the carb configuration (efi sounds like a big pita).

and i'm planning on moving to SF.

that would really sucks if i have to sell the car...

 

You won't have to sell the car. There's always a way around it.

 

Yep, theres like 3 different ways to get around it that i can think of right now....

 

the car transfer fee has been droped and refunds were given if you had that fee occur. that was around 2000 when that happend. you dont have to go every year for a engine swap, its still biannual. when you get your car to a point of beeing smog leagle then you take the car to what is called the referee. he then checks it to make sure all the emission controles are there and runs the sniff test. if all passes then he prints out a sticker with all the smog requirements and instructions and that gets put on the door jam near the vin sticker.
sence a 302 did come stock in that year mav all you have to do is get the stock emissions equipment for it. that probly consists of egr system, pcv system, thermastatic air cleaner and a catalitic converter. you can not have dual exhast. if you have any aftermarket ignition parts, or fuel system parts they have to have a carb number for them.

 

i'd like to hear them via PM

Bryant:
_ considering i have none of those equipment and that i have a dual exhaust: how much would it be to get my car "clean".
_ are those parts hard to find?
_ would it be better to fix the car once i'm in cali or while i'm still in nebraska?
_ what consequences am i facing as far as the HP and torque once i install all those things?

 

i would try to find somebody on here who has taken that stuff off there cars. i would expect somebody to have the stuff and not want to much for it. the only thing that will really hurt performance is the exhast. the way to do it is to put flanges on you exhast so it can be removed easly, then have a system made with the cat that bolts in and swap it out when smog time comes around.