I live in Kansas but I plan on heading out to the west coast (L.A.)after this year in school (college). I need to get up to date on a few laws out there. Which high performance parts can I put on my car without getting **** from the cops. My cats are removed but a presilencer is in place. I was also interested in a header. Are there any that are legal? Also window inting. I was wanting to do a 20% mirror tint, good idea or not. Is there anything else I need to be concerned about?

 

Not sure on the tinting, I *think* you can go pretty dark on everything but windshield and door windows. As for Pre silencer, nope you wont pass smog unless you have a CAT, smog pump, and all the other smog goodies.

They do a visual inspection, even if it runs clean it will fail.

 

You won't pass smog if you don't have any cats.

Any tinting is illegal on the front.

 

i go to school in East Los Angeles, there are 2 turbo 2's that i know about, its pretty much from my knowlege( i got a 86 celica at the moment moving up to a 88 FC) if you dont stand out your safe, if your revving alot and look bad you are screwed...... my friend got 3 tickets in 10 min from 3 diffrent cops because his car is the "hey look at me" type

 

Everything you want to do or have done is illegal.

Furthermore you would not be able to register the car without meeting the Federal requirements on the emissions equipment. The only modifications that are allowed would be after the main cat or a CARB certified exempt air intake system (you will be required to show proof of the exemption).

You will need to re-install all the cats, and a header won't pass inspection.

As too the window tinting, mirror finish is not allowed on moving vehicles. However you could use a smoked or bronze tint on the rear window/hatch.

 

I remember when I was back home Down Under, a guy got booked for having car tinting that was too dark. He went to court, didn't have a lawyer, just a pair of dark sunglasses. He argued that if it was legal for him to wear the dark glasses while driving, why would it be illegal for him to have dark tinting! The judge agreed and dismissed the case.
Now I know that there are factors involved, like you can actually take the glasses off etc, but still, it makes you wonder.

 

What modification could I possibly make to make my **** quicker? Isn't L.A. the main spot in America for Rice Burners? How about the Apexi intake for the F.C. Will it pass? And basically you are saying I can't even tint my windows. Why am I even moving there?

 

Good question, stay where you are, we have enough people No, its the women, the weather, the high paying jobs, 2 hrs from the beach, 2 hrs from the snow, close to tahoe .. 45 min flight from Vegas, Plenty do do always, the best climate in the world. Um, i could go on and on.

Do what i do .. keep all your stock ****, Mod your car after you pass smog, and reinstall stock crap every 2 years when you have to smog. Works fine .. a little bit of work .. but well worth it to live in the US's paradise.

I can't speak for LA though, I live in northern Cali... LA drives me fukin crazy! WAY to much traffic.

 

http://www.dmv.ca.gov/newtoca/newtoca.htm

edit:o and im not sure about apexi intakes, but i know that the HKS intake kits are carb legal for their intended cars (so youd need the rx7 kit installed on an rx7 to be legal).

i actually have a friend with an accord that was stopped and the cop was just looking for something to give him a ticket for. made him pop the hood and he got a ticket for whatever the intake was on his car (dont remember what type it was, i think it was just some random thing he put together). he also had really dark tint on his car and the cop gave him a razor and told him to scrape it off or he would give him a ticket for that too.

 

You have to have the stock box. Cone filters are not allowed. I know someone who went to get his car smogged with the stock box, but had an aluminum intake tube and they wouldn't smog it. I had to lend him some parts that he needed to pass. You have to have all of the smog equiptment. I'm not sure if you need the precat, but you do need the main for sure. The laws are pretty stringent, too. I pass, but I have 2 precats and one main. As modifications go, you can do a catback, as long as it doesn't make it too loud, but I don't think that it'd be too loud with a cat. My conclusion about getting power in CA... I don't know... I'd say the best way to go is Nitrous. I'm still not even sure about the legalities of that... I'm thinking about getting the tII registered up here in OR. Speaking of which I should change my profile.

 

Thats true. The majority of ricers end up going with illegal ****. Most of my friends anymore brag about how many Fix it tickets they get for their car.

I'd like to find out is whats the most amount of HP One could get out of an 89-91 rx-7 in california and still keep it completely legal, anyone know?

 

http://www.hksusa.com/products/more.asp?id=813

just for further reference about the HKS intake thingy i said earlier. from the HKS page:

and they do have a kit for the second gen rx7s 1.3L and 1.3L turbo

 

I passed smog with a cone filter.

 

I had the HKS set-up for my series four and was going to get it for my series 5 vert but I read this
http://www.mkiv.com/techarticles/filters_test/2/
So I definitely want the apex. Anyone else have some ideas.

 

I'm not worried about keeping it legal for long, I'm just worried about getting pulled over and harrased by cops. That's all they ever F***ing do here in K.C.
I've read articles where they go in depth and really try to get you on something.

 

Is there anything else I should know before I head out there?

 

I moved out to the LA area 3 weeks ago.
I really haven't seen too many ricers. I think I saw more in Long Island.

When I first saw the smog, it made me want to put all the emissions equipment back on my RX7 which is still on the east coast - Bring an oxygen tank





Not completely serious - but the air quality is not that good here but you get used to it.

 

Cops hate imports out here. You can have all the CARB legal stickers and modifications you want, and quite frankly, they'll still pull you over, and you'll still get ****, AND(get this), you STILL get a ticket. Then you'll have to waste YOUR time to fix it. I have friends with 100% by-the-law legal cars, and they still get tickets. Be prepared for that, especially if you're young(teens, 20s).

Steve

 

Actually that was my MAIN turn off about L.A. The fact that you could actually see how bad the air quality was. Waht made you go out there?

 

It's a long story.

There are a few things that I truly find to be much better in LA, compared to the east coast.

1)I can tell you that the weather is really wonderful out here. Everyday is f'ing gorgeous.
2)People are so much nicer. But then again that's generally true of most places as soon as you leave the 100 mile radius of NYC.
3)There are so many things to do!

 

Well I live in Kansas and there is nothing to do. I'm serious, absolutely nothing. I still have to wait out the winter before I can leave. (probation, school) What about fines on street racing?

 

Fines for street racing are (but not limited to):
Impound of vehicle for x number of days. (For every day, you get penalized).
Tickets/Fines for racing and/or spectating.
Ticket for exhibition of speed, etc.
Etc.

 

****, that's like a thousand dollars aint it. Don't think I am new to the street racing thing. It's just out here there aren't many racers, plus the cops know where ALL the spots are.

 

are there any states in the US where you don't have to pass smog??

 

Mine, that's why I took off the cats. I threw them away and now I have to get some new ones if I am to pass smog out in LA