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We’re not taking about mufflers. For example in California “Emissions defeat system” means you simply used an off-brand air filter that wasn’t blessed by the go

We’re not taking about mufflers. For example in California “Emissions defeat system” means you simply used an off-brand air filter that wasn’t blessed by the government. The parts may even be more efficient and less polluting, the government bureaucracy everyone here is worshipping doesn’t give a rats behind.

Rebelgecko 3y ago
Which air filter? The engine air filter? I've never had a smog check that involves looking at that one. And AFAICT there's no RFID or anything in it, so it's not something they can check remotely
ryandrake 3y ago
Exactly. Years back, I moved to California with an 80's sports car that was admittedly quite hotrodded, but I made very sure that the hotrodding did not worsen its emissions because 1. I wanted to keep driving the car in CA and 2. I don't want to pollute. First SMOG test in CA, the car blew clean as a whistle. It met emissions standards 40 years harsher than it ever had to meet. Except I had all sorts of aftermarket parts in there from years of repairs, none of them with the all-important California CARB seal of approval on them, so even though it blew clean, it still "failed emissions" and I had to sell it to someone out of state. I'm still bitter about it.
- datavirtue 3y ago
  In Ohio in the early 2000s all us kids were removing cats and passing the sniffer test easily. There was a visual test so we would normally just hollow out the existing cats. A lot of times cars with missing cats would pass the visual as well.
CobaltFire 3y ago
This is disingenuous; you have to do a lot more than change an air filter. You would have to change the actual piping, etc. with one that the seller declined to spend the money on certifying as compliant. Further, and most people don't know this is a thing, you CAN tune your car as much as you want and have it certified with all of those parts as a one off for about $5,000 and a six-ish month wait. This is how you can legally import overseas vehicles and get a California title and registration, but it's $5,000 per test, and it usually takes more than one if you aren't super prepared. After the certification the entire engine (including all modifications) are regarded as that being the SMOG compliant form. One other major loophole is kit cars; SB100 allows for non-SMOG vehicles to be built as a kit. Not everyone's cup of tea, but you can build things like the Superlite GT-R [0] or SL-C [1] and never SMOG it. 0: http://www.superlitecars.com/gtr/ http://www.superlitecars.com/gtr/ 1: http://www.superlitecars.com/slc http://www.superlitecars.com/slc
- vdqtp3 3y ago
  > you have to do a lot more than change an air filter You are barely correct. A filter alone is insufficient to be an issue, but a cold air intake will mean you don't pass smog in CA.
  - mcronce 3y ago
    That would be changing the actual piping, which they mentioned.

Rebelgecko 3y ago

Which air filter? The engine air filter? I've never had a smog check that involves looking at that one. And AFAICT there's no RFID or anything in it, so it's not something they can check remotely

ryandrake 3y ago

Exactly. Years back, I moved to California with an 80's sports car that was admittedly quite hotrodded, but I made very sure that the hotrodding did not worsen its emissions because 1. I wanted to keep driving the car in CA and 2. I don't want to pollute. First SMOG test in CA, the car blew clean as a whistle. It met emissions standards 40 years harsher than it ever had to meet. Except I had all sorts of aftermarket parts in there from years of repairs, none of them with the all-important California CARB seal of approval on them, so even though it blew clean, it still "failed emissions" and I had to sell it to someone out of state. I'm still bitter about it.

datavirtue 3y ago
In Ohio in the early 2000s all us kids were removing cats and passing the sniffer test easily. There was a visual test so we would normally just hollow out the existing cats. A lot of times cars with missing cats would pass the visual as well.

CobaltFire 3y ago

This is disingenuous; you have to do a lot more than change an air filter. You would have to change the actual piping, etc. with one that the seller declined to spend the money on certifying as compliant. Further, and most people don't know this is a thing, you CAN tune your car as much as you want and have it certified with all of those parts as a one off for about $5,000 and a six-ish month wait. This is how you can legally import overseas vehicles and get a California title and registration, but it's $5,000 per test, and it usually takes more than one if you aren't super prepared. After the certification the entire engine (including all modifications) are regarded as that being the SMOG compliant form. One other major loophole is kit cars; SB100 allows for non-SMOG vehicles to be built as a kit. Not everyone's cup of tea, but you can build things like the Superlite GT-R [0] or SL-C [1] and never SMOG it. 0: http://www.superlitecars.com/gtr/ http://www.superlitecars.com/gtr/ 1: http://www.superlitecars.com/slc http://www.superlitecars.com/slc

vdqtp3 3y ago
> you have to do a lot more than change an air filter You are barely correct. A filter alone is insufficient to be an issue, but a cold air intake will mean you don't pass smog in CA.
- mcronce 3y ago
  That would be changing the actual piping, which they mentioned.