Help!! anyone with euro spec 911 in California??

svb · 03-07-2007, 05:07 PM

I just moved to California from the midwest and brought my 85 euro carrera with me. The car passed emissions im Missouri without problem. It has a catalytic converter. I don't think it has a charcoal canister or an O2 sensor that is connected. I'm sweating it a little bit because I have an appointment with a "referee" for the CA dmv next week. I could not go to a regular smog shop because of the car's grey market status. Anyone with a euro 911 in Calif have any input for me as to what I can expect. Thanks. I really hope I can register the car here in Cali.

Joe Bob · Joe Bob's Garage

Bring the import papers. along with the Federalized conversion docs...smog nazis always demand ze papers....

Cooper911SC · 03-07-2007, 06:11 PM

MMM...Let us know what happens...a friend of mine has a '75 Euro Carrera out here...he used to have to deal with smog too.

Joe Bob · Joe Bob's Garage

Oh yeah....have you pretested it? Papers and all the right smog stuff and FI can be negated if the tail pipe test comes up dirty.

78P930 · 78P930's Garage

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Boxer_Airhead · 03-07-2007, 06:19 PM

My '81 is grey market. The previous owner brought it to California last year from Arizona and I did not hear of any problems getting it registered or passing smog, it of course is equipt with all the right equipment cat., etc.

My sister on the other hand, bought an '84 Carrera (also grey market) in California from a guy who had just moved from Washington. That car was not up to California standards and the previous owner was forced to pay ~$5k to get the car to pass CA SMOG.

Good luck.

svb · 03-07-2007, 06:38 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by mikez
Oh yeah....have you pretested it? Papers and all the right smog stuff and FI can be negated if the tail pipe test comes up dirty.

Yes we pretested and it came up clean.

Joe Bob · Joe Bob's Garage

Quote:

Originally posted by Boxer_Airhead
My '81 is grey market. The previous owner brought it to California last year from Arizona and I did not hear of any problems getting it registered or passing smog, it of course is equipt with all the right equipment cat., etc.

My sister on the other hand, bought an '84 Carrera (also grey market) in California from a guy who had just moved from Washington. That car was not up to California standards and the previous owner was forced to pay ~$5k to get the car to pass CA SMOG.

Good luck.

My 83 cab came into Texas was Federalized by the owner...he was a pilot. Then he moved to CA....had to do it again....

svb · 03-07-2007, 06:43 PM

Quote:

That car was not up to California standards and the previous owner was forced to pay ~$5k to get the car to pass CA SMOG.

Good luck. [/B]

Well this car is a real cherry so I'm prepared to spend the cash if I have to. Its has just 50k miles on it and the original/previous owner was a friend of mine. It already has a cat which probably is the most expensive part....but I may be looking at new o2 sensor work, a charcoal canister etc.

DARISC · 03-07-2007, 06:52 PM

My gray market 82 SC RoW was imported in 83 and has been smog certified in CA every two years since then - just passed again with flying colors, no paperwork needed to be shown and no tweeking needed to be done (and it has 194k on the never rebuilt motor!).

I had my mech., Joe at European Motorsports in Vista, drive it - checked it out with an analyzer then sent me to the test only station he recommended and no problemas.

Good luck!

svb · 03-07-2007, 07:15 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by DARISC
My gray market 82 SC RoW was imported in 83 and has been smog certified in CA every two years since then - just passed again with flying colors, no paperwork needed to be shown and no tweeking needed to be done (and it has 194k on the never rebuilt motor!).

I had my mech., Joe at European Motorsports in Vista, drive it - checked it out with an analyzer then sent me to the test only station he recommended and no problemas.

Good luck!

hmm maybe i should pay him a visit in vista...

I'm having Black Forest in San Diego do the prep work for me...

Determined · Determined's Garage

Hey guys, I have a question. I live here in California as well and own a 76 911 Targa with a 3.2L. It has been on the non-operational lists for about 2.5 years now so I have not had to register it yet. The project is coming to an end, I have all the necessary smog stuff in place but today I received my car registration renewal. Surprisingly, it was only asking for proof of insurance and payment to get it back on the road again. Every year since I have owned it I recall seeing that it needed insurance verification, smog certificate, and payment of course. What has happened! Should I get excited yet or was this a mistake? The car is now 31 years old, I don't recall if California has any rolling exemption policy. I'm going to check online with the DMV but I was caught off guard to see that they were not requesting any more smog certificate. Sorry to Hi-jack your thread.

Alex

DARISC · 03-07-2007, 08:13 PM

Quote:

hmm maybe i should pay him a visit in vista...

I just sent you a PM.

Cooper911SC · 03-07-2007, 08:13 PM

I think '76 and earlier are now smog exempt. They used to have a rolling exemption but it recently was ditched and fixed at '76 and earlier. (Thanks Terminator)

Otherwise to be truly smog legal would require you to declare an engine swap and get the CHP and DMV tags to legalize it... then you would have to smog the car to the year of the motor that you put in it.

DARISC · 03-07-2007, 08:19 PM

Some areas in CA don't require smog cert. - does Hollister?

Hawkney911 · 03-07-2007, 08:26 PM

not to get off topic but thats a great looking car.......best of luck

Determined · Determined's Garage

Once again, soryy for jumping in on this thread. The cars are truely nice and I'd love to go riding with everyone once I get my car back on the road. I hope that my buddy Arnold did fix the rollback to 1976. Hollister does require smog certification here in town.

Thanks guys!

Alex

TonyG · 03-07-2007, 10:17 PM

I've had many Euro cars here in Southern California. And, I have several friends that have also had Euro cars here in Southern California as well.

And it's not once been a problem to smog or register them as long as they have the factory Porsche cat installed.

Even with none of the other crap, and even if the car has a euro dme (which has no provision to control an 02 sensor), as long as the factory cat is installed with an 02 sensor threaded into the hole (with an obvious wire going somewhere), the car will pass the California rolling road dyno smog check.

And.. it will pass with flying colors as long as there are no vacuum leaks and the engine and cat are in good shape.

I've never once had to go to a referee.

With respect to the ref situation, let him ref the car and see what he finds. If something is missing that he wants, you can then install it and go back. But make sure you have the factory cat and 02 sensor installed. Those two are an obvious red flag if they are not there. Plus... I'd make sure the car has the fuel tank restrictor installed (from when cars could buy leaded fuel at the pumps...).

TonyG

svb · 03-08-2007, 04:57 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by TonyG
I've had many Euro cars here in Southern California. And, I have several friends that have also had Euro cars here in Southern California as well.

And it's not once been a problem to smog or register them as long as they have the factory Porsche cat installed.

Even with none of the other crap, and even if the car has a euro dme (which has no provision to control an 02 sensor), as long as the factory cat is installed with an 02 sensor threaded into the hole (with an obvious wire going somewhere), the car will pass the California rolling road dyno smog check.

And.. it will pass with flying colors as long as there are no vacuum leaks and the engine and cat are in good shape.

I've never once had to go to a referee.

With respect to the ref situation, let him ref the car and see what he finds. If something is missing that he wants, you can then install it and go back. But make sure you have the factory cat and 02 sensor installed. Those two are an obvious red flag if they are not there. Plus... I'd make sure the car has the fuel tank restrictor installed (from when cars could buy leaded fuel at the pumps...).

TonyG

Tony thank you. That is some of the most useful information I've received...and makes perfect sense. I'll let you know how it turns out.

Determined · Determined's Garage

Tony and SVB,

I too have a Euro 3.2, what are you guys doing to address the minimum octane requirement and reduce the chance of detonation? Is there a source of high octane fuel in your area? Did anyone retard the timing or use a Steve Wong chip?

Thanks,

Alex