I would imagine PI swap stuff would be OK since it comes off a newer vehicle. Also things like underdrive pulleys, gears, and higher stall converter will help use what power you have better without affecting the smog check.
CARB exempt mods are legal. You cant change the headers or intake unless they are CARB approved. Air filter and Muffler are OK - cats need to be OBD2 certified for 1996 and newer vehicles - and Cats are only necessary if your stock ones are bad, heres a little fact .. aftermarket "high flow" cats wont do anything for your performance, and may even make you fail the smog test when they diminish after a couple years, then youre out another $600 to get new ones all over again. These are all just "visual" items, they dont affect your smog test in any way whatsoever. As far as performance gains, they are VERY minimal, really not worth it in my opinion. Maybe you'll gain a couple miles per gallon, but then you do something that actually makes a big diference like gears - and your MPG goes out the window.What are they? I know from working on my Accord, that we can change the intake, mufflers, get headers, but not the cats unless they're California legal cats like the Magnaflow ones.
I'm just curious to know what we can do to our cars in regards to emissions and still have them able to pass smog.
Exhaust wont do anything for your car "performance wise" .. it just makes it sound different.As for the smog guy, yea, I know a guy. He's also (what you guys just said basically) told me how now that they're doing that STAR Certified thing that it's much harder for them to overlook something. He'll at least tell me what's going on with my car before he even runs it on the smog machine if he thinks it'll pass or not.
Anyways, the performance related mods I'm thinking of - for now at least - are more "butt dyno" and audible mods. I know that things like a SRI / CAI, gears, and under drive pulleys can improve my MPGs a small amount as long as I don't go WOT all the time.
But yea, I'm just concerned on what mods can be done that won't impact the emissions of the car. I did do both CATs a while ago because one had failed so I decided to both because, well, why not? Since I'm still on the OEM exhaust tubing and the center cat, I haven't noticed any performance increase, however I have noticed that the exhaust has a very slight "grumble" to it; particularly at lower speeds / RPMs. I know that if I went with a full on cat-back system that she would sound a helluva lot better.
Oh, and speaking of the 3rd CAT. Will removing the 3rd CAT affect smog performance at all? Like, will removing it cause me to fail smog? Or is it's purpose more for noise reduction? And the mods I'm thinking of specifically are SRI / CAI, PI intake (which I already have just need to install), Magnaflow Hi-Flow CATs (already installed), and true dual exhaust.
Not BS.In san diego on coronado island, the had what looked like a moble smog station. Of course this was 2007 or 08. Not sure if that is what it was or not. CARB LEGAL stuff would be the safest bet. I know a LA county sheriff that told me he could tell by smell if a car was too far off legal smog. It could have been bogus. You never know. A p.i. engine swap would be the best way i think. But that has its limitations too. A smog guy in murrieta ca told me that i could not.legally put an explorer motor in, it had to be from a similar car. Such as a crown vic, mustang etc...again not.sure if it is crap or not. He.said i should by a caprice haaahaaaa.