Ca. Smog Law Changes, Another amendment Options

[Allan]

Any politicos here that can interpret this stuff? What happens now that it's been amended or if it dosn't get finalized before the Senate adjourns next month?

http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/cgi-bin/postquer...arch_type=email

[lapuwali]

That's the idea of dropping the visual, which currently forbids you from making any mods that affect emission parts, even if they IMPROVE emissions, or if the mod doesn't actually change the emissions. There are some exceptions to this, allowing you to fit parts that have gone through an approval process (so-called CARB EO# parts), but this process is a sufficiently expensive hoop to jump through that it's only done by companies intending to sell quite a few of the doodads in question (a turbo kits for popular car like a Miata, for example).

The tailpipe numbers are defined by model year, and don't change. The test has changed for certain areas (tests under load rather than just static), which have made some cars do worse on tailpipe tests than they did under the old test, some to the point of failing where they would have passed under the old test. This is a separate issue. For most post-75 cars, the issue is somewhat moot, as nearly all such cars had catalytic convertors (exceptions are rare, like the 911 and the RX-7), and fitting a new catalytic convertor to even a badly tuned car will make it pass even the dyno tests with excellent numbers (unless the car is REALLY badly tuned). As pointed out earlier, this means simply fitting a new cat even two years will get you through the system, but if you're gaming the system that badly, you're likely to be one of those people who buys a "test pipe" to replace the cat and only fits the cat for the biannual test, anyway.

btw, I note that it didn't pass the Senate by a large enough margin to override a veto. Indeed, it passed by a much smaller margin than it did in the Assembly.