Hello all, this is my first post Hopefully someone living in California can help me with some knowledge.....

I inherited a 1985 RX7 GSL from my father who passed away. He took very good care of this car and he owned it since 1990 and kept the car in good condition over the years as he just drove it around for fun on the weekends every now and then in the summer months. I live in California and the car is in the midwest where there are no smog requirements in the state. I want to bring the car into California, but I'm a little worried about the smog requirements here and if it will pass. The car is completely stock that I know of except for a new muffler that was installed a few years ago. I do remember that the car always was hard to keep idling when it was started initially and had to use the choke pull until it warmed up and the car has never had an engine rebuild so I'm sure it burns some oil at this point in it's life.

Should I be concerned with this car not passing smog testing so I can get it licensed? Every now and then I will see RX7's out on the road, so perhaps it isn't difficult to pass smog with them? I would hate to either have it shipped or drive it all the way here for it to not be licensed, and selling it isn't an option either as I would like very much to enjoy it as my father did.

Thank you for any knowledge on my questions

 

welcome to the board.

there are many members that live in California and i would imagine a lot of them keep their cars smog legal. check out some of these threads: https://www.rx7club.com/search.php?searchid=16936776

also, check out the Regional Forum that covers CA, it may put you in touch with members closer to you.

finally, having an '85 (or nay Rx-7, really) means you will need a copy of the FSM. you can get a free one here: Foxed.ca

sorry to hear about your Dad, and i totally get what you mean about keeping the car no matter what.

 

THANK YOU Diabolical1; the links you provided will really help me out. I'm self-admittedly not much of a mechanic, but it looks like there are a few things I should make sure to check and have dialed in before I go in for a smog test based on the links. I appreciate your help

 

Hey! Just saw this post for the first time. I also have a 1985 GSL-SE I inherited from my dad when he passed away in 2008. He also bought it in 1990! How funny.
I do live in CA and the car has always been here.
I have a concern though about getting it registered: I have just replaced the engine with one from a 1991 and uses the S5 rotors. It's also got a full bridgeport but I'm otherwise running the stock layout of the 6-port RE-EGI and stock exhaust. I also still have the air pump, charcoal canister, etc. All stock except for the newer motor and BP.
I'd actually like to ditch the FI altogether in favor of a Weber carb. Then I can delete half the crap and wiring under the hood. Question is, with all these things how does anybody actually register these things in CA, much less pass a smog test?
Thanks! And sorry to hear of your fathers passing.

 

My buddy has a 1.1 liter gsl and has been able to pass smog without issue. But he is very keen on setting up the carburetor properly, and testing other emission components before smogging it.