Moving to California, what to expect with my 87 GN

trbogn

Member
Joined
May 25, 2001
I will be moving to Orange County CA in a few months and will be bringing my GN. All of my mods are listed in my sig. I did a search and it looks like the emission testing for CA can be a real PITA. What would be a good way to ensure that I pass the emissions test? I was thinking just an emissions chip from TT, pump gas, and maybe removing my RJC 3" DP and re-installing my stock DP and stock cat. I suppose I could remove the flashy chrome big mouth intake/MAF pipes as well. Still running the stock MAF. Everything else pretty much look stock.

Anyone go through a similar experience?

Thanks.
 
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I haven't registered a vehicle in California since 1990... Used to be that Ca. was the most difficult state in the nation to register a vehicle that isn't 100% original equipment. You might see if your current state offers a permanent historic or collector vehicle plate & obtain that prior to moving.
 
I'm out here and have my car registered . Basically when you get out here maybe you can make it to a meet and I'm sure there will be multiple ppl there that can give u the inside scoop :)
 
I left KA back in 2001, and all I can say is, I really feel sorry for you! You've got a number of hurdles to overcome. First just getting the car registered is a big enough pain in the butt, but then there's the smog testing!! The limits just kept getting stiffer and stiffer with each test, even for our old cars. The state is trying their hardest to make it impossible for older cars to pass so they can get them off the roads.
All the smog crap, the shitty gas, and ultra liberal mind set is what drove me out of that screwed up state. And I'll never understand how those idiots could re-elect Brown to the Governorship!!!!
I couldn't take it anymore, I quite a fantastic job at Qualcomm and moved lock stock and barrel out here to the South East.
Out here we can have fun with our cars, don't have to worry about selling them because of smog rules that are barely passable under the best of circumstances.

Good Luck!! and I mean that sincerely!
 
TT smog chip , stock cat , egr/ PCV operational and no open breathers. Let her run hot too.
You can always ask the tech before hand how it looks before it goes on the rollers. TT chip usually works well.



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Regarding smog, it's not that bad. Properly set up the car will blow clean and I mean really clean. I could multiply my worst number by 5 and still pass. I'm not even certain the smog chip is necessary to enable EGR if you have a 3-way cat and a 180stat. Don't need to add any magic sauce to the tank. Visual inspection cuts both ways. My first test I had stock headers and the tech refused to believe they were... stock - but didn't notice the blingy adjustable FPR right in front of his nose.

Things that stand out in your sig to me that could give grief are the down pipe and dump, fpr, boost controller and big mouth intake, and breathers and/or catch cans if you have them.

The E85 could make for interesting results, please post your numbers!
 
Thanks for the tips. Looks like I will have to put back on some stock parts to get it passed. Good thing I still have all the stock emission stuff on the car.

What do people do that have built motors? Is it possible to pass CA emissions with say a GN1 headed race motor with cam, etc? It is possible for a built stage 2 motor to pass CA emissions? I guess a big part of it would be to have all the emissions equipment functioning and not have flashy chrome aftermarket parts. All this talk of insane CA emissions has me worried.

Thanks.
 
Dank GN, thanks for the info. I see that you have a built motor. Say if you were to put on a set of aluminum heads, would you still pass the visual?
 
haha, just a guy having nightmares about not being able to drive my GN once I get to CA. I would like to build a 10 second street GN within the next few years, just worried that I wouldn't be able to drive it on the street.
 
Oh, you can drive it... Until the registration expires.

I would think that you could probably sneak a pair of performance heads onto an engine. From what I recall, there is a visual inspection to verify that all OEM equipment is present, then a sniff test. Now that was back in 1990 & I don't know if they are more exact at this date.
 
If all your smog stuff is in place, and the engine is healthy, you'll be alright. Turbo tweak has a smog chip and take the car to a smog shop in a more "ghetto" area. They won't know what they are looking at and usually don't care as long as it passes. I would worry more about what the EPA is trying to do, that not everyone is aware of.
 
Working at a CA. Smog shop, and just bringing in a GN from FL., i can tell you it's not that difficult. Registration is nothing more than a visit to the DMV, or AAA for a VIN verification and some other paperwork.
Like you've already heard, the car needs to have it's original equipment or at least look like it does. I know a guy that passes with a 3" DP because it looks stock. It's painted flat black, not flashy polished alum. The visual inspection comes down to how good the smog tech is, and how afraid he is of passing an illegal car. $5000 fines take along time to pay back working on a mechanics salary. So, that will be the luck of the draw. Alum. heads would not pass the visual. (to answer your question from above) .... maybe if they didn't look aluminum you could get away with it. - see where i'm going with all this. If your car fails, it's not the end of the world. The smog tech will tell you if anything visual is causing it, and you'll come away with numbers to give you an idea of where to make changes. You'll pay for the failed test, make changes at your leisure and retest. It's not really a big deal.
 
if Cali spend as much time fuking with ppl's cars as they did with illegal immigration the illegal immigration problem in Cali wud be solved!
 
if Cali spend as much time fuking with ppl's cars as they did with illegal immigration the illegal immigration problem in Cali wud be solved!
Isn't illegal immigration a federal thing? Trump will take care of it real soon ;-)
 
Working at a CA. Smog shop, and just bringing in a GN from FL., i can tell you it's not that difficult. Registration is nothing more than a visit to the DMV, or AAA for a VIN verification and some other paperwork.
Like you've already heard, the car needs to have it's original equipment or at least look like it does. I know a guy that passes with a 3" DP because it looks stock. It's painted flat black, not flashy polished alum. The visual inspection comes down to how good the smog tech is, and how afraid he is of passing an illegal car. $5000 fines take along time to pay back working on a mechanics salary. So, that will be the luck of the draw. Alum. heads would not pass the visual. (to answer your question from above) .... maybe if they didn't look aluminum you could get away with it. - see where i'm going with all this. If your car fails, it's not the end of the world. The smog tech will tell you if anything visual is causing it, and you'll come away with numbers to give you an idea of where to make changes. You'll pay for the failed test, make changes at your leisure and retest. It's not really a big deal.

Disagree with my post all you want, but I lived in San Diego for 12 years so I have a clear perspective on how the CA smog stations worked. And thanks to their mistakes, both my GN's now have a dirty Carfax (not that it's all that important). I didn't even realize at the time what was happening at the time, but since my car had a bit over 100,000 miles on it, the tech (and I use that term loosely) never bothered to as whether the mileage he was looking at on the odometer was a 5 digit value or whether he had to put a 1 in front of it. Over the years the mileage varied from 100k plus to less than a 100k value. So, the carfax people catch this and assume there's been odometer tampering. Carfax of course wont change anything without a lot of verifyable documentation.
I guess one could say that's all partly my fault for not catching things at the time, and you might be right. My main concern was just passing, and was so relieved on the times I did.
What really pissed me off more than anything was always having to go to "Test Only". As a CA smog tech I'm sure you know what that means. I couldn't figure out why me all the time.
Lot's more to my CA smog adventures, but I've rambled long enough.
 
not entirely. two words for ya.... "Sanctuary city" but yea ur right I have no doubt Trump will take care of that as well! Cali has over 40 of em.... smh

Isn't illegal immigration a federal thing? Trump will take care of it real soon ;-)
 
Disagree with my post all you want, but I lived in San Diego for 12 years so I have a clear perspective on how the CA smog stations worked. And thanks to their mistakes, both my GN's now have a dirty Carfax (not that it's all that important). I didn't even realize at the time what was happening at the time, but since my car had a bit over 100,000 miles on it, the tech (and I use that term loosely) never bothered to as whether the mileage he was looking at on the odometer was a 5 digit value or whether he had to put a 1 in front of it. Over the years the mileage varied from 100k plus to less than a 100k value. So, the carfax people catch this and assume there's been odometer tampering. Carfax of course wont change anything without a lot of verifyable documentation.
I guess one could say that's all partly my fault for not catching things at the time, and you might be right. My main concern was just passing, and was so relieved on the times I did.
What really pissed me off more than anything was always having to go to "Test Only". As a CA smog tech I'm sure you know what that means. I couldn't figure out why me all the time.
Lot's more to my CA smog adventures, but I've rambled long enough.

Carfax has nothing to do with CA. Smog. You could have been getting an oil change for that matter and it would have had the same effect on your mileage reports. Sorry for your Carfax issues, but like i said that has NOTHING to do with the OP's potential battles in bringing his car into the State.
 
Carfax has nothing to do with CA. Smog. You could have been getting an oil change for that matter and it would have had the same effect on your mileage reports. Sorry for your Carfax issues, but like i said that has NOTHING to do with the OP's potential battles in bringing his car into the State.

The purpose of my post was to raise the awareness of the OP and others, of the pitfalls of not paying closer attention to what can happen as a result of the idiots at the smog stations and my inatentiveness to those details.
 
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