Preparing tuned car for a California Relocation

davemarco

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I have a full bolt on FK8 currently tuned on 93 by DRob. I recently accepted a new job that will have me moving from NY to SoCal, and I'm wondering - do I need to completely return to stock to pass emissions? How do other SoCal owners with tuned cars get inspected?
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Doc_Mello

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Flash back to OEM, then do a drive cycle, to pass smog checks. That said, your FBO will not pass smog visual inspection (only parts CARB-exempt will pass). Youā€™d have to put the OEM parts back on.

Welcome to Cali.
 

NapalmEnema

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Hahahhaa ouch. Gl man that is the rub about living in cali
 
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davemarco

davemarco

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Does the visual inspection include a look in the engine bay? Or are they just looking at the underside of the car for modified exhaust parts?
 

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Does the visual inspection include a look in the engine bay? Or are they just looking at the underside of the car for modified exhaust parts?
Every smog place is different. Some are more thorough than others. Some will just plug in the port and others will plug in and pop the hood etc. If you donā€™t want to bother with it at all, you could pay someone to bypass that all together. They arenā€™t as easy to come by anymore for the ones who will pass on the smog for you, but the ones who do it will cost $$
 


Doc_Mello

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Every smog place is different. Some are more thorough than others. Some will just plug in the port and others will plug in and pop the hood etc. If you donā€™t want to bother with it at all, you could pay someone to bypass that all together. They arenā€™t as easy to come by anymore for the ones who will pass on the smog for you, but the ones who do it will cost $$
This. You *could* just keep going to different smog shops until you find someone who gives few f***s. Typically, though, they check under the hood, including the intercooler, for anything that might affect emissions. Exhausts are fine, but downpipes are not (not sure about frontpipes).
 
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davemarco

davemarco

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Gotcha. Would I be ok just reinstalling the stock downpipe, or will they even fail me for my REMUS exhaust?
 
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davemarco

davemarco

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Is there a pretty robust group of owners in the LA area? Job is in Santa Monica, so I'll probably land somewhere in the valley.
 

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Without knowing your complete mods. Assuming you have a catted DP and the heat shield is still on you can probably get away with that. An exhaust wonā€™t make you fail btw. You could play it safe and just put the stock DP for the smog, then swap after your done.
 


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davemarco

davemarco

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Without knowing your complete mods. Assuming you have a catted DP and the heat shield is still on you can probably get away with that. An exhaust wonā€™t make you fail btw. You could play it safe and just put the stock DP for the smog, then swap after your done.
Intake, crossover pipe, Catted downpipe with heat shield, intercooler, intercooler piping, Remus exhaust and FP. It sounds like everything except the intake and possible the downpipe should be fine.

Might just return to stock anyway, just to be safe.
 

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Intake, crossover pipe, Catted downpipe with heat shield, intercooler, intercooler piping, Remus exhaust and FP. It sounds like everything except the intake and possible the downpipe should be fine.

Might just return to stock anyway, just to be safe.
Intake and intercooler need to be CARB-approved. There are other posts describing why, but, basically, anything intake-side + catalytic converter-related need to be approved.
 

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Is there a pretty robust group of owners in the LA area? Job is in Santa Monica, so I'll probably land somewhere in the valley.
There's a huge amount of people with Type R's, SI's here and so on. Since you'll be in SoCal you'll see a lot of us. Like everyone said above, you'll probably have to swap back to stock unless you know someone to pass smog. On top of that, you'll have to get retuned by Drob for 91 octane and an ethanol blend if you want since we have quite a few e85 stations in the area once you go back to FBO. Tons of people here are tuned and so on. Some people get caught and get state reffed but for the most part the people that get caught did something to get pulled over to begin with. I don't see cops pulling people over for no reason. Just don't draw a ton of attention to yourself with ridiculously loud exhaust. Outside of that, traffic sucks, gas prices suck, but you can't beat the location and the amount of things to do. Welcome to CA.
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