California is after our cars again

URGENT LEGISLATIVE ALERT

Legislation to Repeal Old Car Emissions Exemption Reintroduced in California State Assembly

Here we go again! As predicted, legislation has been reintroduced in the California Assembly to repeal the state's current rolling emissions test exemption for vehicles 30 years old and older. A.B. 2683 repeals the current pro-hobbyist exemption and replaces it with a provision requiring the permanent testing of all pre-1976 vehicles. This year, the bill was introduced by California State Assemblywoman Sally Lieber (D-District 22).

We Urge You to Contact Assemblywoman Lieber and Your Own State Assembly Member Immediately to Oppose A.B. 2683

Existing law in California exempts all vehicles 30-years old and older from emissions testing.
California's current emissions testing exemption recognizes the minimal impact of vehicles 30-years old and older on vehicle
emissions and air quality. Vehicles 30-years old and older constitute a small portion of the overall vehicle population and are a poor source from which to look for emissions reduction.

Antique and classic vehicles are overwhelmingly well-maintained and infrequently driven (about one-third the miles each year as a new vehicle). Legislators and regulators are feeling the heat from a failed effort to meet air quality goals and are looking for a convenient scapegoat. The old car hobby should not carry the burden of their mistakes!
Contact your State Assembly Member to oppose A.B. 2683. Assemblywoman Lieber can be reached by e-mail at Assemblywoman.Lieber@assembly.ca.gov To find out who your own State Assembly Member is, contact the California
Assembly's general information line at 916/445-4311. This information can also be accessed via the Internet at
http://www.enjoythedrive.com/legislative/contact_legislator.asp or by calling the SEMA Washington, DC office at 202-783-6007, ext. 38. Please e-mail a copy of your letters to us at stevem@sema.org or fax to 202/783-6024 or mail to:
SEMA Washington Office
1317 F St., NW, Ste. 500
Washington, D.C. 20004
Attn: Steve McDonald

 

Best of Luck

Good Luck, and I hope you do win that fight! But am I ever so happy to be living in Ms. Doest matter the yr at all. The guy just pretends to care, if the horn, turn singals, and lights work. $10, and 5 mins later, even my newer cars are inspected.

 

Bob, you can tell it's election year!

 

Re: Best of Luck

be careful, California serves as the testing grounds for future laws-to-be in other states.

Every year some blow it all introduces this same legislation. I remember last year it was introduced by some idiot legislator who drives a 10 mpg gmc Yukon, and he was so bombarded with calls from collectors, that it was taken back. We can only hope this continues to happen.

 

We all knew the 'tree huggers' were going to try this again. Jeremy is absolutely correct. The only way to keep these misguided politicians at bay is to let them know what is what en-masse. SEMA and other groups like AACA and CCCA as well as other hobbiest groups also work to keep these bad laws from being enacted.

All of you Californians MUST let your legislators and Governor Arnold know how you feel and why.

There is the potential of emission laws being strengthened here in PA in the near future and we have to keep vigilant. They will effect those of us with cars newer than 1972. Right now, there are only two counties that require emission inspections due to population density. All counties now require a visual inspection to insure that factory installed emission equipment is present, not that they work however.

As I said before when these laws reared their ugly heads in the past, we ALL must be aware and react in a positive and unified way to make our position clear as taxpayers. Classic cars are NOT the problem with pollution.

 

Although I do disagree with the emission laws including the older vehicles, it is pretty easy to make those 302s pass. If you live in california, and are in the process of rebuilding your engine you guys might consider adding smog legal heads and some cats (yes they are expensive). I have a '77 and I am building an engine combo that should make around 340hp and be smog legal for california emissions. It has been done. Fordmuscle magazine did an article on a motor built for performance AND emission laws. If you can (may require subscription) open this link. You will see by the article that the egr and the smog pump combined with dual cats do a very good job. They showed emission test with and with out and the results are fantastic. Plus not hp drop was noted with the equipement on. I'll hopefully be proud to say my engine is running emission legal equipement and a good 1/4.
Also one thing to note is that if your engine is a street performance motor that was built right, it vary well might run cleaner at higher rpm than stock.
keepen' it green!

 

Nebraska: the good life

I can only say winters don't seem so bad in Nebraska when you think about having to deal with those stupid "law of the month club" politicians who care more about what people think than about reality. NO smog testing YET in Nebraska, but who knows what the future will bring. Fact is most hi-perf engines burn very clean and how many 30 year old cars are driven regularly that aren't well maintainged anyway.

Good luck Californians. Now go out and rev up your Mavericks before its too late.

 

David, you do have a very valid point. Should this law every happen, the beautiful thing about the late 5.0 roller engine is that you can produce almost limitless power smog legally, at a decent price comparable to other late powerplants.

The obvious disadvantage, though to this is that if we want to use a late model roller engine in our mavericks, and these mavericks suddenly become smog controlled vehicles again "technically" to build a smog "legal" 5.0 roller motor, the engine would have to be swapped into the maverick with EVERY emission component that initially came on it. This means efi, smog pump, egr, and yes catalytic converters. Essentially this would mean that anyone wanting a more efficient, more modern 5.0/302 in their mavericks would automatically have to do the full efi swap too, which is above the skill of a lot of us.

That would essentially leave one alternative, hopping up the ol stock 72 302 engine, etc. You can throw performance parts at that old engine till your blue in the face, and unfortunetly it takes a LOT to get to where the new rollers are.

So, it can be done, but unfortunetly, it will completely shut out a large part of the enthusiasts for anything performance related, and drive them all into the late model mustang or even gm scene where they already have a more efficient power plant to begin with.

Lets hope this doesn't happen.

 

so you guys feel my pain.... here in nj, the cars have to pass emissions anyhow. they don't care how, just so long as it passes. the only way around it is to register the car as antique. you get special plates and blow off inspection. in theory (hahahahahaha) you can only drive the car to shows and cruises. or you can go with the "classic" plates and are limited to 3500 or 3000 (not sure) miles a year but still no inspection. only the odometer has to be verified functional. swap instrument clusters when you get close to 3000 miles and swap it back for inspection. it is nice to see that for a change there are other states that are more uhhhhh messed up than new jersey.

 

[QUOTEThe obvious disadvantage, though to this is that if we want to use a late model roller engine in our mavericks, and these mavericks suddenly become smog controlled vehicles again "technically" to build a smog "legal" 5.0 roller motor, the engine would have to be swapped into the maverick with EVERY emission component that initially came on it. [/QUOTE]

Actually the way legal emissions are determined (at least here in NJ) is that they base the reading on the year of the car and the engine size and adjust it for time. In other words, they do not judge a 30 year old car by the same standards as a 2004 model.

If emissions-related equipment wasn't standard equipment for that particular year or model, then you are not required to have it and it is 100% legal. This is not to say that you can remove emissions-related equipment even if you upgrade to a more efficient engine. If your car had cats from the factory, you'd better have them on it when you get in line for inspection. In the old days all they did was stick a sniffer in the tailpipe. Now every car that comes in goes on a dyno!

Having said that, the inspection station does not care or even check that you're running a '95 EFI engine in a '72 car. All they see is that your car is running cleaner than it's supposed to for its age. So by putting a modern powerplant in an older car you're actually buying time.

What really galls me is that they let heavy trucks ride up and down the roads everyday with virtually no inspection whatsoever and yet they think our old cars are a problem.

Incidentally, I saw on the History Channel last night that "Governor Arnold" owns 6 Hummer H1s. Last time I checked those vehicles were sure not the poster child for environmentally responsible vehicles...

Sam

 

WOW!!!

WOW Scott!! Here when you get antique

 

Opps hit send to quick

As I was saying, When you get antique plates in Ms you do not have to renew them at all, and there is no milage limits(if there is I havent been told, but nor would they check it) But every time elections come around, you negver know how much longer this will last.

Bill

 

Getting a motor to pass a tail pipe test is one thing. Part of the Bar 90 test prcedure is to determine if all originally installed smog equipment is in place and functioning. You can get Cats here for about $100.00 at most muffler shops, but unless your car came from the factory with them, they are not a legal retrofit even though they will work and will clean up an exhaust. The mentality is if the factory didn't do it then you can't. Dumb, but that's the way it is.

 

Sam, it's a little different in California, and, unfortunetly, much of the country has a tendency to follow California's smog program.

In Cali, putting a newer engine into an older vehicle is perfectly legal, However, all of the emission components from that engine HAVE to be retained, and emissions for that engine have to be passed, you take it into the referree station, and at that point you would be passing emissions say for a 92 5.0, not a 72 maverick.

Consider yourself lucky that you have those laws over there.

 

I stand corrected.

I always thought we had it tough here, I guess you guys have it tougher.

Sam