"fly in the ointment" of SC ownership..the CA smog test.

[vash]

dang. i hate smog test. my car runs awesome, and has never failed a test yet..despite that, it is sitll such a PIA. i drive it till it is super hot. i let it idle at the shop..and..then 20 minutes of anxiety.

today, i finally couldnt ignore the DMV notice stuck to my fridge. i was like this big annoying elephant in the room.

well, it passed again. looks like CA calls "test only" a new term. "Star Certified"!! seriously? i think the new name change cost me an additional $20.

this is still every two years, right?

[Arne2]

I guess the alternative is to move someplace where an '81 is exempt, or that doesn't have testing at all. But that may not work for you for other reasons.

[Bob Harriman]

I'm in Cali but everything I own except for my Porsche is registered AZ since I can with a house in LHC. My wifes car, two trucks and the boat. My car is 69 thus exempt. They're even smogging our diesel PU trucks. My truck tags were 680.00 two years ago. AZ, 160.00 and they let you pay for 1, 3, or 5 years at a time. That's when these A-holes crossed the line for me.

[Brando]

I dread the smog test. It's like anything older than 1992 is labeled a gross polluter by default. The worst part is that CA tests every car to today's regulations when the law says your car only needs to pass at the year of manufacture's regulations. The test stations will not argue with you - you either pass or don't in their eyes.

In the next couple months I am going to dread this as well on my mom's SC. To get it operational I know smog will be an issue.

I wish I could just register the car in a state where 80s are exempt.

[Trackrash]

The thing that p!sses me off the most in CA is if I lived one zip code further west I would not have to smog any of my cars. It's a fact that in CA not everyone needs to get their cars smogged every two years. My in-laws in Humbolt county never have to have it done.

One other thing, the state can change the standards you have to meet. It happened to me the last time I had to get my '71 smogged. Bad news for me was it was a hassle to get it to pass (thanks Kevin for the "help"). Good news was it is now EXEMPT.

So hang in there, some day your SC will be exempt, and it will skyrocket in value.

[The cap'n]

A good running 911SC with everything present and working should pass with ease. If you've removed any emissions related components, put in hot cams, or raised the compression, you most likely are gonna have a problem. Lotsa folks remove the cat, which is of dubious advantage in the real world, and will cause the car to fail. Face it, in the '60s and '70s we had unbreathable air in the big cities with a small fraction of the people and cars we have today, and now the air is clean for all but a few days in the bad season. You should be thankful you're allowed to even own and operate a car! As for an '81 911SC becoming exempt in CA someday, I wouldn't put money on it. Oh, and put regular (87) fuel in it before the test. It'll burn more completely and drop the HC numbers. And the '71? The last time that had to be smogged was in 2001, and it was 30 years old at the time with either MFI or carbs, neither of which was easy to get past a smog check even when they were new.

The Cap'n

[porwolf]

I get my all original '79SC smogged every time with no problems.

[vash]

thanks for the lecture Captain!!

i just said the smog test is a PIA. my car passes with amazing numbers...i dont think i could commit suicide in a locked garage with it. '
i just hate the anxiety it presents to me.

my car is 100% smog compliant.

[The cap'n]

Jury duty is a PIA, too, but we all need to do it. Like voting, it's an important part of living here and being a citizen. BTW, that '79 mentioned above is a LOT harder to smog than your car. BTW, I've been prepping and shepherding cars through smog checks for over 40 years, and as 911 owners we have it pretty easy.

The Cap'n

[rusnak]

Originally Posted by vash

looks like CA calls "test only" a new term. "Star Certified"!! seriously? i think the new name change cost me an additional $20.

[wes_r]

Another reason to love California: I recently got a letter from Bay Area Air Quality Management asking me to retire my '87 in exchange for $1000.

I let out a few expletives and promptly tore up the letter.

[GH85Carrera]

Originally Posted by wes_r

Another reason to love California: I recently got a letter from Bay Area Air Quality Management asking me to retire my '87 in exchange for $1000.

I let out a few expletives and promptly tore up the letter.

I will double that. I will give ya $2,000!

[TheSt|G]

Originally Posted by wes_r

Another reason to love California: I recently got a letter from Bay Area Air Quality Management asking me to retire my '87 in exchange for $1000.

I let out a few expletives and promptly tore up the letter.

I would have framed that in the garage.

[Eli W]

I love California and their smog tests.

It is not just a tax, these old Porsche's have a huge environmental impacted and have to be regulated for the safety of the planet.

And California's strict green police state frees up a lot of great cars for sale out of state when there is no way to get them smog approved.

Like my mid 77 S with headers and a 3.2L twin plug with a hotter cams, that car was far too detrimental to the environment of California and now the car has a new home in Oklahoma and is free to lay waste to the country side.

Here is a picture have it destroying a nice green field




And since the car could not pass smog, I got a great deal.

[SCrescue]

Eli,
That's just plain mean...

Originally Posted by Eli W

I love California and their smog tests.

It is not just a tax, these old Porsche's are a huge environmental impacted and have to be regulated for the safety of the planet.

And California's strict green police state frees up a lot of great cars for sale out of state when there is no way to get them smog approved.

Like my mid 77 S with headers and a 3.2L twin plug with a hotter cams, that car was far too detrimental to the environment of California and now the car has a new home in Oklahoma and is free to lay waste to the country side.

Here is a picture have it destroying a nice green field




And since the car could not pass smog, I got a great deal.

[Eli W]

LoL I Know.

When I bought my car I was very suspicious , the car was in great shape and it was reasonably priced, and had 80k on the odometer it even had first gen leather 930 seats it was kind of a to good to be true kind of thing. I really did not understand that because of Cali law the car really had no market for resale there.

[SCrescue]

Great looking car, but you should have photographed it facing the opposite direction so that the hills followed the lines of the car...

Having grown up as a car guy in NYC, I absolutely understand Vash's loathing of annual smog and safety inspections. In reality they accomplish little. Gross polluters such as heavy trucks and busses are not required to comply wth smog laws, and auto enthusiasts are at the mercy of state bureaucrats, and unfairly bent over the pommel horse...

[boogie_man]

4 years ago as soon as I got it smogged like an idiot I had my muffler shop cut off my cat to attempt to get more sound out of it as well as lower the heat, 2 years later when it was time to re-smog it I blew the dust of the cat, welded it back on and drove it around for about a 1/2 hour, passed in 7 minutes. I will never ever do that again lol. Glad it worked out for you dude.

[vash]

Great pic !

Been awhile since I put out a pic of bettywhitey.


Sent via Jedi mind trick.

[wes_r]

Quote de wes_r

Another reason to love California: I recently got a letter from Bay Area Air Quality Management asking me to retire my '87 in exchange for $1000.



I let out a few expletives and promptly tore up the letter.

I will double that. I will give ya $2,000!

Finally a reasonable offer! ;-)