Hey folks,

I'm seriously considering picking up a FD from out of state, the trick is that it has some mods to it and I'm a little concerned that there might be issues with getting it registered here in Cali.

It has intake, IC and other shiny bits under the hood all from Mostly Mazda. Nothing outrageous at all (still has stock turbos, is sequential and all the smog equipment exists and is functioning) but it has the M2 ECU, IC and a DP. In addition the car has a salvage title so not sure if that's gonna be an additional issue or not. I had a look at the M2 site and it wasn't obvious as to if their parts are CARB certified or not... ( www.m2performance.com )

So - anybody got any thoughts, advice, tips, abuse, etc. to lend me as far as if you think there will be issues getting this car registered (or can point me in a direction to head to insure I won't have any issues)?

Cheers,
Simon.

 

The parts are not CARB certified. Does the seller have the stock parts that you could swap in to pass SMOG? Do you know any friendly SMOG shops that might be willing to look the other way?

-Max

 

Get a P.O. box in Neveda, get a bill or two sent there to establish residency, and then just register the car there. It's not technically legal, but it's one way to do it.

Zach

 

I smell something illegal is gonna happen

 

You need to pass smog check in CA. You won't know if the car will pass smog even if the car returns to stock form. Plenty of bone stock don't pass. The modification you mentioned sure won't pass sniff and visual.

I'd not buy ouf of state since you can own a car that can't be registered. If you buy locally, the seller has to pass the smog before selling it to you.

You can register out of state but if you get stopped by cops, you'll be issued a citation and will pay penalty on registration and taxes.

 

Do you have any friends in law enforcement? On the back of the same form you fill out to get your Cali title, there is the vehicle ID verification form. This can be completed by any "Peace Officer". It is a very low risk thing for them to do for you - my mechanic for my non- rotary cars is a Police Officer and fills these out for me when I need it done.

One caution - be really careful when filling it out - no cross-outs, ereasure, or any other correction of any kind is accepted. I have learned this the hard way.

Your other best choice is to go to the Auto Club and hope you get someone who is just focused on verifying the VIN. I think the Auto Club is fairly friendly about this - they figure that the Smog Tech should be the "bad guy" on emissions systems issues and mods.

 

Where do you get that? He shouldn't have any problem passing the sniffer test with those mods, if the car is running properly. Many testers will ignore a few light mods and intercoolers are no longer subject to review (if they ever truly were).

I wouldn't worry about it at all, personally. If the absolute worst happens, he'll have to spend $75 buying a stock intake and IC and swapping them in for the test.

 

Cool thanks for the info. The seller does have the stock bits so I may just see if I can organize that they are part of the deal (should the deal transpire).

Unfortunately I know nobody in the either law enforcement or smog-check profession. The DP is stainless so it's probably shiny also - it's been my experience that shiny parts attract much more scrutiny than non-shiny ones.

Simon.

 

dupe post - the other one hung for 30 mins so I figured it didnt go...

I thought the edit screen had a delete option?