california emissions question

[MDM]

Hello All
This is for those of you who live in CA or are familiar with the nightmare that is the CARB. I have a 92 GT with some extensive mods, inlcuding bassani x-pipe with cats and am considering a possibel job opportunity in CA. I am told that nothing outside of the factory exhaust is acceptable in the state, regardless of how clean the car smog tests, a rule that is about as logical as oxygenated gasoline, but we can save that for another discussion... If what I hear is true then how is it that many of the cars I see out there have aftermarket exhausts? Are my sources incorrect about the laws there or are there enough ways around them that the performance industry continues on despite the bureaucracy and rhetoric? Thank you for the info.

[ChunkFunky]

Sorry I cant help you, I wanted to keep your post alive, since I am also moving to CA.. Irvine... and I have no cats right now... I have all other smog stuff in place still, I figured I'd get some HI FLOW cats when I moved.. or do the swap before testing.. eitherway... just wanted to hear what everyone had to saw about how they pass... my guess would be a place that takes 50$ bills...
-as

No you can change your exhaust & other mods. Just have to make sure all hop up parts are C.A.R.B legal and are ok to use on street driven CA cars. I've ran into some problems with the smog laws here. Especially since the '87-'93 Mustangs are getting a little "dated" so when it comes time to update your tags...eventually you'll get a certificate in the mail that tells you that you must go to a "test only" smog station, as opposed to a "smog check" station. Years ago, at smog check stations you could get away with some cash only, under the tabel stuff. I no longer know of ways around the smog laws...unless you know someone that works at the smog station and is willing to risk their job and a huge fine for the owner & possibly for the person that breaks the law. I believe it's $10,000! Just keep all your smog stuff intact and functioning, make sure your O2s are relatively new, and run cats. I wouldn't see why the aftermarket high flow cats wouldn't pass emissions since they all claim they will. Retarding the timing helps out when it comes to test time too.