Topic: Potential 1981 Smog Exemption Bill for California!!!

[sirdeuce]

Oh yeah, be wary of the charges for the smog test. Older cars that don't have on board diagnostics (OBD2) that can test the evap get an additional charge for that test. And if you have C.A.R.B. E.O.ed parts, they "technician" hast to do a research on the part in question, and the shop can charge for EACH item researched! At $25 per item researched it can get to be a paycheck or two just to have your car smogged. Seems they want to clean your bank account as well as the environment.........

[emsvitil]

Oh yeah, be wary of the charges for the smog test. Older cars that don't have on board diagnostics (OBD2) that can test the evap get an additional charge for that test. And if you have C.A.R.B. E.O.ed parts, they "technician" hast to do a research on the part in question, and the shop can charge for EACH item researched! At $25 per item researched it can get to be a paycheck or two just to have your car smogged. Seems they want to clean your bank account as well as the environment.........

 
I wouldn't go anyplace that charged for that.........
 
I also bring a print out of my CARB EO parts with me (from the CARB site)

[sirdeuce]

I didn't get tagged with those charges, the poor lady I was standing behind at the counter got hammered, $150 in charges. She had a turboed car with a few aftermarket parts. They raped her!

[sirdeuce]

A note on fuel formula changes. Check your mileage between the winter and summer blend fuels! 2 trips to Sacramento 3 weeks apart. One trip with summer formula fuel, the other with winter formula. Summer formula netted an average 24 mpg, winter came in at a hair over 28 mpg. Both trips were in the same car, 2007 Mazdaspeed3, only change to the car is a C.A.R.B. EOed cold air intake. Cruise control set at 72mph. Only thing different in the trips is the change in the fuel formulation. There's enough 'oxygenator' added to the fuel to change the specific gravity of the fuel in the summer blend to affect the mileage. I'd bet the NOx goes up as well. Think about the impact on the performance and emissions of a carby engine........

[Stocker]

Summer formula netted an average 24 mpg, winter came in at a hair over 28 mpg. Both trips were in the same car, 2007 Mazdaspeed3, only change to the car is a C.A.R.B. EOed cold air intake.

That's interesting.... everything I have heard or experienced indicates slightly worse fuel mileage with winter fuel formulation. I take it the CAI was installed prior to your winter-fuel trip? That might explain your improved mpg, and makes for somewhat of an apples-to-oranges comparison.

Also, it's hard to get a very accurate MPG figure with just one fill-up. There are too many variables that can affect exactly how full you get the tank each time.

[BigMike [OP]]

He has had the CAI for a while. Maybe he had some tail wind on his return trip?

[emsvitil]

AC vs no AC

or

Windows down vs Windows up will affect the mileage.......

[sirdeuce]

CAI was installed the same week I got the car, and the climate control is always on in the car(spoiled), windows up. As for the mileage between the winter and summer blends, Summer has always been less mileage in this car. I never thought about the fuel changes, just accredited the differences to the change in the temp.

[bknaus]

To resurrect this again, the bill has been reintroduced so call your representatives!

http://www.mustangandfords.com/news/1603-you-can-help-pre-1981-california-cars-to-become-smog-exempt-and-heres-how/

http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtml?bill_id=201520160SB1239

[emsvitil]

This bill bill, until January 1, 2019, would also exempt from the biennial smog check inspections all motor vehicles manufactured prior to the 1981 after the 1976 model year from the biennial smog-check inspections. but prior to the 1981 model year if the owner submits proof that the motor vehicle is insured as a collector motor vehicle.



That's not going to help much......

It's only a little toe(nail) in the door.....

[helipilot77]

Honestly though, There are good things that come out of the smog program............ Like getting the idiots to actually do maintenance on their vehicles! They need to install a bit on the suspension and brakes as well! It's a bit spooky hearing the car behind you at a red light, brakes just a grinding, and the car going down the freeway with the tires bouncing off the road, boing boing boing ! It's just the way they run the program! Not a lick of sense in how the parameters are set! Seems they pull numbers out of a hat and say, That'll be good. And then the testing is done by a bunch of people that couldn't tune a car to save their lives. They just know it's gotta be this here at that level. My proof of the lack of sense in that area is seeing my car shuddering at the 15mph test for the whole 25-30 seconds. Hey, if you didn't know this, testing buddy behind the wheel of MY car, that can do some serious damage to the entire powertrain. But that's ok, go ahead and destroy my car, I HAVE LOTS OF MONEY! Ask any tax agency.

Carefull what you wish for. That is what Britain has. They inspect everything at M.O.T (ministry of transportation) inspections. Steve will tell you that it severely limits what kind of modifications you can do to your car and if it doesn't pass they take your car and crush it. No second chances. I am sure it started out as a program focused on maintenance and safety but it mutated into something else.

[BigMike [OP]]

I read a couple blogs about the new bill and one issue is that it treats these vehicles as "classics" meaning there will be mileage restrictions and also insurance coverage limitations. One site I read said the vehicle would not be allowed to go over 5,000 miles per year. Sucks.... Whelp, who needs a speedometer anyhow when we've got GPS cell phones

[jimbo74]

A friend of mine is a smog tech in an enhanced area in CA, and there is apparently a new screen that just showed up mentioning to check if a vehicle qualifies for this exemption now....

anyone know more about this? he said it just showed up Friday

[Rockcrawlintoy]

I read a couple blogs about the new bill and one issue is that it treats these vehicles as "classics" meaning there will be mileage restrictions and also insurance coverage limitations. One site I read said the vehicle would not be allowed to go over 5,000 miles per year. Sucks.... Whelp, who needs a speedometer anyhow when we've got GPS cell phones

I may or may not done this in another state.