Hi west coasters. I was hoping someone could answer my smog questions.
My son got stationed at Pendleton California and has a 79 rx7 ,ported engine,weber side draft and 3inch exhaust. We live in a no smog county in Ga. My question is, what hurdles will he have bringing his car to Cali.? Can he keep it registered here since he is in the military? I know some of you guys have some wicked built couldn't pass smog if the damn thing was not running cars out there.

Thanks Gene.
SE OGTA [Old Guys with 12As]

 

If at all possible keep it licensed elsewhere. To get tags he would have to take it to inspection by the state.

The law is that any engine mods have to use CARB (Cali Air Resource Board) approved product. It doesn't matter if the mods done even reduce emissions.

With the inspection they will most likely require he return the intake to stock and definitely bring all original smog equipment back to working order. They could require he return everything on the engine/fuel system back to stock. Depends on the ref. Oh, and they don't care if making these changes cost more than the value of the car.

 

So long as he maintains his "permanent state of residence" (voter registration, car registration, etc) in GA he will be be fine - - There is a specific exemption regarding this for servicemembers stationed away from their home state. His command should be able to tell him exactly what's needed.

The Cali DMV has a special form to get exempted from registration:
http://dmv.ca.gov/forms/reg/reg5045.htm

And a faq that addresses it:
http://dmv.ca.gov/pubs/brochures/fas...militaryvr.htm

Same is true for driver's license; just needs to keep his GA licenses up-to-date.

If he moves his Permanent Residence to Cali, he has to bring the car fully back into CARB smog compliance to register it here as B-Terl said. Not easy to do if he doesn't have the parts, as they are getting scarce.

 

Thanks for the info, sounds like he will be keeping his Ga residency or i will just have a really nice SA to drive for the next four years !

 

had plenty of airforce out of state resident customers.

 

How about for folks not in military? I move around a lot, and might find myself in Northern Cali for who knows how long - 6 months, a year? I intend on keeping all registration at my home town in Washington. Will there be any problems staying in Cali with WA plates for a duration of time? I have read that technically, if you're in the state for more than 20 days AND are "gainfully employed in Cali" OR your name is on a lease or mortgage, you are required to register as a resident.

I have my own web-dev company wiht my friends, registered in Nevada, so we aren't "gainfully employed" by cali, and i can have my buddy (who is a cali resident) sign the lease... but there is the off chance i have to take a local part time gig or something, not sure if i would need to register as a cali citizen at that point or not.

Thanks for your insights! I'd love to be back in an awesome vintage car, and I'm deeply tuner at heart. My other option is to go back to the WRX (band)wagon, which i can keep smog legal and still have fun. But for that price i could totally rebuild the RX7 to be brand new!

 

That is the rule, yes; the reality is that so long as your plates are current, you'll have no problems UNLESS you get pulled over for something else (or a friendly neighbor or HOA rats you out), and your license/insurance/statements tip the officer off to you actually residing in California.

I don't believe the PO is allowed to pull you over only for having valid out-of-state plates, as that alone is not an infraction. But if you get pulled for any other reason, it's kind of a gamble.

 

Officer, I'm on vacation visiting my cousin.

 

Right, got it, kind of what i was hoping

I've been travelling for the last year in a Ford Focus with WA plates (both in cali for 5 months and canada for 6+), and haven't had a single issue - but it sounds like if you have ANY sort of customization or modification in Cali they will pull you over - perhaps not if you have out of state, current, registered plates though?

Sounds like even if they did though, I'd be fine, as i will remain fully registered, voting, WA resident.

Thanks gents! Looking forward to getting back into a '7 - its been a long time

 

The law is strict...
Before they even think of putting in the exhaust probe, they do a physical inspection, if it fails that, they don't go any farther. It doesn't matter if the exhaust it emits now is cleaner that 2011 car.

The car is over thirty years old, I forget the law but if you car is past a certain age, you don't have to worry about smog. Its either 25 or 35 years.
I had a '69 Vette and I didn't have to worry about smog, talk about easy to transfer ownership and get tags.

 

It depends on where you live in CA too. The costal cities have the really strigent SMOG rules. But a friend who has his vechicles registered in the Imperial Valley don't have to have them smogged.

 

Because of this thread, price of a smog-exempt old school RX just appreciated by 300%, faster than a speeding RX-7 lol

 

So, it's up to a cool $500 in value now, Wacky?

Govenor Ahrnalt did away with the 30-year rolling exemption several years back after his bony eco-freak wife started holding out on him; the cut point is now fixed at '75 and older exempt, '76 and newer smog required forever.

 

Your Welcome Wacky [feel free to send any spare rx3 parts my way LOL]

 

Being a military member myself I can tell you that because he's military, regardless of where he's stationed he WILL keep his home of record, so there for he can keep his car registered at his home of record and it will not affect him. Unless he's doing something illegal like street racing or something like that.

 

He will still have to smog his car to get his on base sticker .

I am stationed in pendleton, my car is registered to my home of record in florida. You will need california insurance coverege and a smog certificate that's it.