Passing Smog in SoCal with mods
 

Hey everyone! I am in the market of getting the Topgunz A2A Supercharger kit, but my only concern is passing smog as I live in California, which sucks! I really want to pull the trigger on the kit and some headers, but the fact that not many smog stations nowadays who are more lenient with smog. I used to go to a shop that would pass smog for my miata without checking the car at all. But now, it is really difficult to find one here, as I heard from some people that the state has new technology that plugs into your car and read all those datas. I do not want to convert it back to stock once I supercharged it just to pass smog. So I am here to ask my SoCal brothers if anyone know any smog station that is more lenient with testing? Please DM me if you dont feel like putting it on the forum. Thank you in advance! :tiphat::tiphat:

Search for Kday’s thread in the SoCal forum. He owns a shop in LA that’s “mod friendly” ;)

No such thing. CA smog shops are heavily regulated and audited.

FYI, here is a good blog discussing the intricacies of the CA smog test. It's the functional inspection (the timing and idle speeds), that trips up tuned cars.

Consult with a tuner first. I am N/A with full bolt ons. Full exhaust, intakes, and tune. Passed my smog with no issues. If your SC is a stillen then you don't have an issue from a CARB standpoint. That sticker is important.

yeah... i am afraid that's the case. the legit ones are very strict. they failed my other car one time simply because he couldn't see the timing mark on the pulley... that was after it passed all other tests including the roller/tail pipe tests.

there are some shops do it under the table, but they risk losing the license.

OP - unless you have a reliable source to get the smog cert... it's almost not worthwhile to mod the cars these days. And you have to watch out for those surprise mobile smog inspections on the roads.

I was also debating this being in CA. only option I can come up with is purchasing the carb legal kit from stillen then upgrading to topgunz A2A kit. That way u have carb sticker and just need a mild tune to pass emissions portion. More expensive but only way I could c possibly passing smog

It is gonna be hella costly to buy the stillen and upgrade it to topgunz compare to just getting the topgunz kit for 6k. I hope I can reach someone who can pass it for us.

Print your own sticker? Lol

A member here owns a shop and has been offering his services to the community for many years. Do yourself a favor and reach out to him. If he couldn’t or wouldn’t pass you he’ll let you know straight up.

Yup in San Gabriel Valley.
Or....
If you don't have a tuner take it to Specialty Z. He'll check things out and once he is finished you can take it next door who does smog.

I'd give Seb at Specialty Z a call regarding your tuning, and maybe Stillen regarding the potential CARB issues with Topgunz A2A modification.

My guess is that Seb can revert your cars tune to "stock" for the smog test, and then reinstalls the custom tune thereafter.

:wtf2:

You guys know this is a PUBLIC forum right?

:iagree:

No one is encouraging anything bad. The other one was definitely a jk :)

Hi all,
I'm new to the SoCal board. I lived in NC and the county I lived in did not have emissions so I was able to play with my car however I wanted. Because I modified the car I had to sell it before moving to CA. I now live near Victorville CA and just picked up a 40th anniversary that is bone stock. I am not a stock kind of guy and I'm wanting to make a little more noise. The FI exhaust seems like a good sounding exhaust with great gains. I was wondering if any of you have one and how did it do with smog? I don't understand the sticker thing.
Thanks
Signature is from my old car