I'm looking at an 82 Brat from out of state. My ONLY concern is getting it to PASS CA's sh*ty SMOG test . What all is needed to do this? I thankfully have access to PLENTY of spare parts/ cars.

i thought there was a tariff if you bought in a car from outside CA.

Look at the CA dmv web site.

 

 

nipper

I have yet to succesfully smog any EA81 here in Sacramento. OUr smog laws in the capitol city are kinda strict, not sure if they are as bad where you are. But it sure does suck, ive had to retire plenty of subaru's because i didnt want to soak money into getting them past smog.

 

As far as bringing it out of state, it doesnt really matter where it comes from. Doesnt matter if it has CA emissions controls either. It just has to pass the visual and the sniffer.

 

Good Luck,

-Brian

just registered mine in Arizona, screw the smog nazis

screw the smog nazis

I would DEFINATELY agree with you on that one. Down side is cannot afford to move out of CA anytime soon.

TheSubaruJunkie- I'm a hop, skip, and jump south of you, good ol Amador County. Hwy 88 & 49.

Will see what happens if I decide to add another car to my growing list. Thanks for input everyone.

Your county's smog is probably alittle more laid back. Depending on how far from the bay you are. Regardless, i dont expect that brat to pass with flying colors, but its been known to happen.

Putting a new catylitic converter in and giving it a good tune-up is almost a sure bet to pass. A good cat is often the most critical thing to making a car pass. Running a half tank of Xylene through it during testing helps too.

Good oil. Good PCV system. A carburator that doesnt leak air, and is tuned properly is a sure fire way to pass. The catalytic converter of course is going to help, however I had a 1983 GL Wagon that I spent $300 for a brand new exhaust... cat and everything, and it still did not pass. Even after running a can of that "garanteed to pass" stuff you buy at Kragens.

when all else fails, burning as close to pure, 100% denatured alcohol while you are taking the emissions test is an EXCELLENT shot in the arm, and a single gallon of denatured alcohol, poured into an empty tank five miles before the test, burned while testing, then immediately diluted with a tank full of gasoline or two, will NOT hurt your car. It MIGHT do SOMETHING... BUT this trick has been used a thousand times before and hasn't hurt anything. Alcohol hurting rubber lines and seals happens over time, not instantly; if somehow it DOES make something go bad, then that "something" was on the verge anyhow.