I thought the same way when I boosted my brand new civic si hatchback in 2005. I barely had it on for a year, thinking I wouldn't have to smog till 2009. I got pulled over on my birthday, and I had to pop my hood. The officer slapped me with a ref ticket, and it was all down hill from there. I uninstalled and sold the kit. Paid $500 dollars for the ticket even after I took it to the state ref to be cleared. Huge waste of my time having to take off work to take to the state ref, go to court, and down time to uninstall and bring the car in "working order."

I'll wait for a legal kit to come out.

Well that's a bummer. :shakes head:

Just as a matter of interest... did the ref check your VIN #? Because if they just checked your plates, I'm wondering if you could just slap your plates on another (stock) 370 for the ref appointment? Provided of course you know someone with the same color, stock 370 and is willing to let you borrow it for a couple hours. :D

Just buy one of these, then you don't have to worry about it. :tiphat:

SoundRacer

lol :bowrofl: Soundricer more like it.

now you feel my pain.

but here any form of engine mods except for intakes are illegal

That's hilarious - someone should plug that into a Prius...

another reason not to live in cali!!! but hey I know several people who run illegal mods in cali. Its def a pay to play kind of deal and your always looking out for popo! but hey I live in GA and they dont care what I strap on the car haha it could be a JETA rocket pack and still pass here as long as my ECU doesnt throw a CEL code.

Yea but good luck dumping your modded one. Cant trade it in like that, and better hope someone buys it that knows nothing about it needing to be carb legal.

That would be sick if that could work. Pure genius.

There aren't too many details to go into - about the only way to "get around that" in CA is to pay off the smog test guy. And then you'll still have the issues to deal with that the other guys have mentioned.

Depends. I thought about doing the same thing since I had a friend with the exact same color car as mine.
If you go to state ref its the most anal kind of inspection. They check the vin of the engine to make sure it matches with the vin on the frame. If you have another engine, you need to provide proof of purchase. You can't pay off a state ref. It would be considered bribery.

If you're all about being legal, you can take your modified car to be approved by the state referee given that the modifications made are still within the emissions category of the stock car. Even that has some gray area.

Ya know for CALIFORNIA having a history of being a trend setting culture they certainly are quite seemingly Neanderhal and constipated with their car emission regulations!

It's simply a beautiful way to generate huge revenue given the amount of cars in California. Believe me, the same "trend" would be set in any state with as much clutter on the roadways.

Well if they are checking the VIN on both engine and frame, then they are obviously going to look at your paperwork as well and that wouldn't work. Obviously the engine and frame VIN's would match up on someone elses car but I'm sure they are checking the name on the citation and matching that as well with the registration.

Oh well... I tried.

Thank god we don't even have emissions checks in TN. They really don't care whats on a car here.

If you have a ratted out, loud honda thats obnoxious just going down the road the cops will harass you. I had a Mustang GT before the Z and neither car gets me any unwanted attention from the popo.