bratkozo914 Posted November 13, 2014 Share Posted November 13, 2014 Hey guys, So I am new here and don't even have a Subaru yet. But I am about to get one soon and the car is in other state. Now, I wanna ask you all CA Subi members who have a car that's newer than 1976 models, how hard it is to pass our notorious smog test. Also if you got a car from other state, how was your experience registering your older Subaru? in CA??? Please let me know. Thanks in advance, bk914 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spicypeanut Posted November 13, 2014 Share Posted November 13, 2014 (edited) Well, my experience was with a freshly rebuilt ea71 motor with an aftermarket Weber carb, and aftermarket (albeit very old) exhaust with glass-pack mufflers. In that configuration it actually passed the high speed portion of the smog test but failed the low speed portion. We had a cat installed and it passed both the high speed and low speed tests. Although the low speed was close to failing (probably because the smog guy let the carb load up and didn't rev it at all to get it cleared out before he started the test. But it did pass.) Edited November 13, 2014 by spicypeanut 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ibreakstuff Posted November 13, 2014 Share Posted November 13, 2014 Check the emissions sticker under the hood, it will say if the car is California certified or not. You want to see 50 states or California listed somewhere, this is what they look at during the California inspection of out of state vehicles. This more effects the ability to register the car here, you would still have to pass the sniffer test. There are exemptions for a 49-state car too, but it could require drastic measures (like crashing a Cali registered car out of state). 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bratkozo914 Posted November 13, 2014 Author Share Posted November 13, 2014 Thanks guys for the inputs. The one I am considering right now is a '79 Brat. Pic of the sticker the owner sent me is not really clear but I have seen some '79s for sale somewhere in CA. So does this mean it is CA certified? Please look at attachment to see what you think. Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ibreakstuff Posted November 13, 2014 Share Posted November 13, 2014 Hrmm, you may want to give the DMV or AAA (does dmv services) a call and confirm before buying.. That emissions tag is hard to read at the bottom.California used to just make you pay a smog tax for 49 state cars, but someone had the bright idea to take them to court.. so now they won't allow them to be registered at all (unless with exemption). They used to have a process to retro fit 49 state cars too, using a referee inspection.. but I think this too was phased out.Hell, now they don't even require a sniffer test on ODB2 cars... Imho the only test they should be doing is a sniffer, it really is the only thing that actually matters. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
djcommie Posted November 13, 2014 Share Posted November 13, 2014 (edited) I have no idea what you are talking about, I never had any issue registered Federal (49 state) emissions cars in California, as recently as 4 months ago. The database for the smog machines knowss what the limits and functionality of Federal cars is, it just sees it as a different engine than the California version. edit: I had no problem registering a 1990 Federal Spec Mitsubishi Eclipse turbo either, so its not an OBD type issue either. Edited November 13, 2014 by djcommie 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spicypeanut Posted November 13, 2014 Share Posted November 13, 2014 Whats the deal with CA smog exemption? I keep trying to go to the DMV sit but it gives me a 404. How can we get an exemption? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bratkozo914 Posted November 14, 2014 Author Share Posted November 14, 2014 (edited) The last sentence, I can read as "THIS VEHICLE CONFORMS TO US EPA REGULATIONS APPLICABLE TO 1979 MODEL YEAR NEW MOTOR." How does it sound like to you? Edited November 14, 2014 by bratkozo914 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
djcommie Posted November 14, 2014 Share Posted November 14, 2014 Whats the deal with CA smog exemption? I keep trying to go to the DMV sit but it gives me a 404. How can we get an exemption? Its not easy, nor feasible. The only way I know of to not have smog testing is to have an address within a non-smog county inside of certain parts of El Dorado, Placer, Riverside, San Bernardino, San Diego, or Sonoma county. There's kit car exemptions but they are for NEW vehicles. The last sentence, I can read as "THIS VEHICLE CONFORMS TO US EPA REGULATIONS APPLICABLE TO 1979 MODEL YEAR NEW MOTOR." How does it sound like to you? That means its a Federal specification emissions system, which likely wasn't really any different than the California version except for carburetor jetting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ITBandit Posted November 14, 2014 Share Posted November 14, 2014 I was under the impression that Weber carbs set the radar off on the emissions test in CA? Course, I don't run a cat on mine... I own a 79' BRAT. The guy that does my smog has help me out a couple times, usually ends up tweaking the mixtures to get it right but I've passed now 3 times since I resurrected Braticus. The mechanic recommended a new EGR valve, but the vaccum on mine seems to work.. maybe it's not strong enough anymore? ... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bratkozo914 Posted November 14, 2014 Author Share Posted November 14, 2014 I was under the impression that Weber carbs set the radar off on the emissions test in CA? Course, I don't run a cat on mine... I own a 79' BRAT. The guy that does my smog has help me out a couple times, usually ends up tweaking the mixtures to get it right but I've passed now 3 times since I resurrected Braticus. The mechanic recommended a new EGR valve, but the vaccum on mine seems to work.. maybe it's not strong enough anymore? ... Glad to know that '79 is good to be registered in CA. You have save my time to contact DMV since I can't really expect them to answer my phone calls. Thanks, bk914 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
djcommie Posted November 14, 2014 Share Posted November 14, 2014 I was under the impression that Weber carbs set the radar off on the emissions test in CA? Course, I don't run a cat on mine... I own a 79' BRAT. The guy that does my smog has help me out a couple times, usually ends up tweaking the mixtures to get it right but I've passed now 3 times since I resurrected Braticus. The mechanic recommended a new EGR valve, but the vaccum on mine seems to work.. maybe it's not strong enough anymore? ... Neither California nor Federal 77-79s had cats, so adding one would be erroneous. The Weber isn't emissions legal (would need a CARB exepmtion order (EO)), but they work well enough that they can pass tailpipe. EGR on those is controlled by a port on the original carburetor, so you may not even have it hooked up correctly. Mine opens around 2600RPM slightly, and is at full open by 3500RPM unloaded, which is what the factory spec is. I haven't put a vacuum gauge on it while driving on the road yet, but I imagine that is close to how it will operate. Oddly enough, if you call the DMV, they're quite helpful. Just realize that asking about ancient cars with no new stock parts left at the bottom tier of pricing above scrap value from the Malaise era don't register (ha!) as particularly important to the DMV. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.