lostinthe202 Posted January 3, 2008 Share Posted January 3, 2008 Well, the east coast has been a fun ride, but it's time to head back to home country of the Bay Area. I bought my '89 GL hatch out here in Virginia and I'm wondering if anyone happens to know what (if anything) I will have to add/change/modify to get my car California Smog happy? Thanks!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheSubaruJunkie Posted January 3, 2008 Share Posted January 3, 2008 Good luck. Bay Area is SmogII from what I hear and its going to be tough. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RAugur33 Posted January 3, 2008 Share Posted January 3, 2008 I moved to Eureka, CA in 2002 and my 84 GL wagon from PA passed emissons fine. At the time there was some type of Import tax that they tried to charge me somethign like $700 to bring the car in state. I think that they found that "tax" to be illegal and ended up refunding it. So, you may be okay. I never paid the tax, the car had serious rust/rot underneath and I sold it to a guy who needed a car to drive back to PA, where it rotted and died. Never stopped running though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
misledxcracker Posted January 3, 2008 Share Posted January 3, 2008 Smog checks in California are more stringent than they were in '02.... My '86 GL EA82 coupe failed, and it was running great like it does now... They failed me because my ignition timing was "off", well how would they know, when they checked the crank instead of the flywheel Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lostinthe202 Posted January 3, 2008 Author Share Posted January 3, 2008 I moved to Eureka, CA in 2002 and my 84 GL wagon from PA passed emissons fine. At the time there was some type of Import tax that they tried to charge me somethign like $700 to bring the car in state. I think that they found that "tax" to be illegal and ended up refunding it. So, you may be okay. I never paid the tax, the car had serious rust/rot underneath and I sold it to a guy who needed a car to drive back to PA, where it rotted and died. Never stopped running though. I left California in '04 and that month they changed the rules to require all smog checks be done on a dyno. I don't know if that's still true. I haven't yet checked the emissions sticker under the hood, maybe it's already cali-leagal! Here's to luck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
misledxcracker Posted January 3, 2008 Share Posted January 3, 2008 I left California in '04 and that month they changed the rules to require all smog checks be done on a dyno. I don't know if that's still true. I haven't yet checked the emissions sticker under the hood, maybe it's already cali-leagal! Here's to luck. All the smog places I've seen out in SoCal anyway, had the dynos. The dyno computers even transfer the results to the DMV automatically right after the test completes There's ALWAYS ways around it though; paying a little "more" can get you a smog certificate. Or, California will pay you $1000 to "retire" the car... but that's a LAST resort, I know damn well I would'nt sell my Soob to the state! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RAugur33 Posted January 4, 2008 Share Posted January 4, 2008 I moved to Eureka, CA in 2002 and my 84 GL wagon from PA passed emissons fine. At the time there was some type of Import tax that they tried to charge me somethign like $700 to bring the car in state. I think that they found that "tax" to be illegal and ended up refunding it. So, you may be okay. I never paid the tax, the car had serious rust/rot underneath and I sold it to a guy who needed a car to drive back to PA, where it rotted and died. Never stopped running though. I moved to Eureka in 1992, not 2002. 1992-2002, the wasted years. Will CA really pay you $1000 to retire a car? I can drag $200 heaps to CA all day long. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lostinthe202 Posted January 4, 2008 Author Share Posted January 4, 2008 I moved to Eureka in 1992, not 2002. 1992-2002, the wasted years. Will CA really pay you $1000 to retire a car? I can drag $200 heaps to CA all day long. Yeah, maybe I should trailer some piece of poo out to help pay for the "extra" cost of the smog check. On the other hand, i don't want to have to make that happen every year. Smog checks in California are more stringent than they were in '02.... My '86 GL EA82 coupe failed, and it was running great like it does now... They failed me because my ignition timing was "off", well how would they know, when they checked the crank instead of the flywheel is your car fwd or 4wd/awd? I looked at the emissions sticker last night and it says that it, "conforms to regulations for light trucks". I don't know if that helps or hurts. I know that the regs for cars are different then the regs for trucks, hence the success of the SUV (Stupidly Useless Vehicle), so if your EA82 is a fwd maybe that was part of it failing? I dunno... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ivantruckman Posted January 4, 2008 Share Posted January 4, 2008 i love northern california, its beautiful, i use to live in mt shasta Ca, but they have stupid gun laws, emissions laws, and everything in the state of california is known to cause cancer, i dont want cancer so i wont live there.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sonicfrog Posted January 4, 2008 Share Posted January 4, 2008 AFAIK, the stock Subies that shipped en mass to the States were all the same. This is true for most of the Japanese cars of the late seventies and early eighties. In the 70's, Japan had much tougher laws on polition than the US. When we started cracking down on polution, the domestics got caught flat footed. So they started adding stuff onto the vehicles depending on the new regulations of the state they were going to be sold in. So while Ford, GM, Chrystler, and (God forbid you had one) AMC were busy bolting on performance and efficiency robbing smog pumps and other crap to try and pass muster, the Japs didn't have to do squat. In fact, the first gen Honda Civic (75 - 79) didn't even have a catalytic converter. I had a 76 and sans cat it passed the Cal smog test in the early 90's with flying colors. I must give Honda kudo for that little CVCC engine. Great design, with the mini cumbustion chamber that created a more efficient fuel burn. Mitsu copied the design and their version, called JET, powered the Dogde Colt for a few years in the early 80's. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RAugur33 Posted January 4, 2008 Share Posted January 4, 2008 Ditto that. WHen I passed CA emissions in 92 I was very surprised. The DEQ tech made the same point. He said since all the Japanese cars were hitting Western ports, they made sure that they passed CA standards. So the Federal/CA thing is a mute point. If the car was in rust-free shape I would drive it home and give it a try. If rusted out, leave it and get on a plane. You can always get another one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lostinthe202 Posted January 4, 2008 Author Share Posted January 4, 2008 AFAIK, the stock Subies that shipped en mass to the States were all the same. This is true for most of the Japanese cars of the late seventies and early eighties. In the 70's, Japan had much tougher laws on polition than the US. When we started cracking down on polution, the domestics got caught flat footed. So they started adding stuff onto the vehicles depending on the new regulations of the state they were going to be sold in. So while Ford, GM, Chrystler, and (God forbid you had one) AMC were busy bolting on performance and efficiency robbing smog pumps and other crap to try and pass muster, the Japs didn't have to do squat. In fact, the first gen Honda Civic (75 - 79) didn't even have a catalytic converter. I had a 76 and sans cat it passed the Cal smog test in the early 90's with flying colors. I must give Honda kudo for that little CVCC engine. Great design, with the mini cumbustion chamber that created a more efficient fuel burn. Mitsu copied the design and their version, called JET, powered the Dogde Colt for a few years in the early 80's. Hmm.... A very good point. Thanks for the insight! Ditto that. WHen I passed CA emissions in 92 I was very surprised. The DEQ tech made the same point. He said since all the Japanese cars were hitting Western ports, they made sure that they passed CA standards. So the Federal/CA thing is a mute point. If the car was in rust-free shape I would drive it home and give it a try. If rusted out, leave it and get on a plane. You can always get another one. Guess I'll be driving home, not too much rust, just a few spots that I'll be taking care of shortly. Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sonicfrog Posted January 4, 2008 Share Posted January 4, 2008 If you start your travel within the next week, you'll have some nice snow to drive through from this huge storm blowing in. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
s'ko Posted January 4, 2008 Share Posted January 4, 2008 Not sure about the Bay area, but old gen soobs are getting harder to find in So Cal. They are mostly EA82s or overpriced BRATs and hatchs. As long as things are mechanically sound, your should be ok with SMOG. They have to take account the age of the vehicle. Older cars get more leniency. You can always do an EJ swap is all else fails. Since the car is from out of state, there is a chance that you will have to get it inspected by a state carb referee. send a PM to Crabman. He bought an out-of-state 78 BRAT and is in the middle of the smog adventures. BW Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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