[bluesman123]

Finally!!!!!!!

I got the California smog police to license my 1997 L31 (350) in my 1991 Sonoma!!

Its been 3+ years, I started taking it to the referee in February, and finally last Monday Sacramento agreed that they were wrong and I was right. No apologies, but at least I got a BAR number.

I should add that on Tuesday when they were smogging it, they got down to the last step...everything had passed...BAR number assigned...and the dude hit the wrong button and cancelled out the computer. By the time they had set up the smog checker again the cats had cooled and it failed. So I got the BAR with no smog check!

Today I successfully smogged it and now I am legal.

Sometime I will post what I went through to hopefully save some of you the same misery I went through.

Now? Now its Miller Time!!

Dave

[camaroman7d]

Dave you must be a very patient man. Isn't it great here in California? I don't even think about playing with any newer vehicles because the hoops they make you jump through just isn't worth it to me. I will stick with the pre 73 stuff and not have to deal with the state. Congrats.

Royce

[Jmark]

Originally posted by camaroman7d
Dave I will stick with the pre 73 stuff and not have to deal with the state. Congrats.

Royce

Pre '73!!!!!! Crap! Here is AZ, its '66 and newer get smogged! Only chance we have is to TRY to find an old wheezer 65 anything to go wild with.

Mark

[bluesman123]

Thanks Royce and Mark. I really went to college on this engine. I've learned some things about smogging vortec engine changes that I will put on the board when I get a chance.

1966!!! Mark that is terible! How can they smog a vehicle than never came with smog controls?

Dave

[Triaged]

In CA you arn't exempt from all smog laws if you have a 75 or older...you are only exempt from getting a smog check. I have a friend that got pulled over by the EPA and given a ticket for not having all the smog equipement on his 72 K5.

[Jmark]

on the non-smog equiped cars here, we still have to meet maximum CO and HC levels. Its not hard, but kinda a pain.

My son's truck made it through this time, its a full roller 400 with a Comp 286 cam. I never thought we could pull it off, but we did it on the second try. The spec of idle CO was 4% and we had .9%. Cruising CO limit was 3%, we had 1.1%
HC limit was 350ppm and we had 362ppm. Spun around the block, pulled over, backed the timing off about 3 degrees more, richened up the idle mix a tad and went back through. Squeeked through at 344ppm on the HC! LOL The guy just laughed and said "have a nice day"!

Mark

[bluesman123]

So if we don't have to have pre-1975 cars smogged, when do they get checked? Does CHP just do random pull-overs?

More puzzlements.......

At the referee station they checked that the engine had all the emissions equipment for that year, but when they smogged it they used the allowables for the original truck...1991.

Here's what's even wierder! I ended up getting 3 smog checks: one when the referee originally ran the check for the BAR number (the one that passed but the guy screwed up the computer); the second when he failed it (the cats had cooled off); and the third when I had heated up the cats and passed at my local smog shop. So each time the guys sent my VIN to Sacramento and downloaded the maximum allowables for each pollutant...and each time the MAX was different. Three checks and three sets of standards...all on the same vehicle. ...and I don't mean the max allowables were off by a little bit...they were very different.

I know we have some certified smog techs on the board. Do any of you know what is going on with this? A customer could fail one day and pass the next with nothing changing on his car!!!

Dave

[camaroman7d]

Triaged, Who pulled over your friend? What was the ticket for? I have never seen an EPA "cop" with flashing lights.

While you are correct pre-75 vehicles don't have to pass a smog test (I just prefer pre 73 cars is why I posted what I did).

I would like to hear more about your friends car/situation and what the fine was. As you can see they wouldn't even need to get close to my car to see it is not exactly smog legal. I have never seen anyone get "busted" in an "exempt" car. How long ago was this?

Royce

[bluesman123]

I'm with you, Royce. I decided a while back that my next project would be '73 ot older because I thought it would be smog exempt. Tiiaged's story is _NOT_ welcome news to me!

Dave

[Triaged]

I'm with you guys...I didn't know about that law till I heard about this.

This is a link to his post on coloradok5.com
http://coloradok5.com/forums/showfla.../o/all/fpart/1

and this is one with the info on the laws that he posted
http://coloradok5.com/forums/showfla.../o/all/fpart/1

He has been looking all over for some OBSCURE emissions parts (of questional value in terms of reduced emissions).



bluesman123,
would you mind posting the max allowed #'s and what you put out? I am in the R&D stage of a V8 383 TPI swap in my 87 s10 (already have 12" b-body brakes and soon to have a 30-spline 8.5" 10-bolt to handle the power).

[FASTCHEVY]

It's $12.50 for my 77. All cars and trucks 80 and newer(in Dallas) have to run on the dyno smog tester for $39.50.
The guys that test my truck could not care less about the smog equipment that it has on it, even though they are supposed to check it.

An EPA cop pulling people over? Hmmmn, now where did I put my brass knuckles...

[bluesman123]

Here they are. I'm not sure they mean much to you as they change year to year, and my Sonoma is a 1991. Also, if you live in southern CA I don't think you will ever get it past the referee with a 383; they only accept unmodified engines of the same or later year. If you haven't started yet, I suggest you either plan on a different engine, plan on an off-road vehicle, or plan a 1974 or earlier project.

I'm posting 3 sets of max allowables from the 3 smog checks I went through last week. For you non-CA folks, we get smogged at 15 MPH and again at 25 MPH as we run on a set of rollers (Note: if you have an all-the-time 4x4 they do not run this driving test, only sitting at idle)

15 MPH Max Emissions: (Test 1-- Test 2 -- Test 3)

HC (ppm) 66 -- 65 -- 45
CO (%) 0.83 -- 0.82 -- 0.57
NO (ppm) 582 -- 578 -- 482

25 MPH Max Emissions: (Test 1 -- Test 2 -- Test 3)

HC (ppm) 50 -- 49 -- 28
CO (%) 0. 98 -- 0.98 -- 0.70
NO (ppm) 835 -- 831 -- 735

Maybe one of our smog techs can tell us why these numbers aren't the same for all 3 tests. They should be I think, because they are all for the same year and same VIN.

Dave

Man this does not look good, Royce! I followed Triaged's links and eventually found this report:

http://www.arb.ca.gov/enf/02enfrpt.pdf

If you look on the bottom of page 12 it says they are specifically looking for modified "street racers".

I'm going to start another thread on this subject alone. This is going to be important.

Dave