F'k it... Just move to another state. Nothing we do is necessarily "street legal," but I'm sure you wouldn't get half as much **** in another state.

 

Unfortunately...and I hate to say it but I think the question you ask about playing the nice guy only goes so far. I have had two Z's as many people here know. The first was a Le Mans and it was a Greddy TT and pitch black windows full Veilside kit. Long story short my wife and I got pulled over for tint. The cop actually said to me, "Well you two look like good people and I do not think you would be street racing so you be careful and fix the wiindows." Now, I think if I fit into a different stereotype things may have been different.
I asked a buddy of mine who is a cop about all this and he said that all these rules are just a way for the cops to pull people over they want to. Basically they are steroetyping who drives what and how they drive it by the looks of the car and then the person behind the wheel, so be careful and dont wear the "F*ck the Police" shirt.....

 

haha while you all worry about you Carb approval, i will continue to run my pay at the pump leaded 110 here in ohio

 

I agree. My best friend has an evo, only mod is downpipe and exhaust which are both completely legal. He still has his cat and the exhaust is quiet. He's had his hood popped about 3 times and he doesn't drive crazy.

I've been pulled over 3 times in the Z, 2 times were BS and the cop knew it was BS so no ticket, other time just a stop sign. My car looks like it could be modded with carbon fiber hood/carbon fiber front bumper/FMIC/nismo spoiler but no cop has ever asked me to pop my hood. I'm always polite and respectful and it definately helps. I also refuse to tint my windows and other things of that nature because the cops that like popping hoods look for things like that as their excuse to get under the hood.

Back to the thread - i personally think the hood latch relocation is an excellent idea as a back up plan.

 

Yeah but I'd rather live where I am at right now than live in Ohio.

bleh!

BTW- There is a Unocal 76 here that serves 110 octane to the general public. I used it before I got an EMS.

 

word. We don't get f*cked with too much over here. Move to Texas.....Cali laws blow. Cops over there have hard-ons for anything other than muscle cars. Use to live in Daygo...cops weren't that bad, but I didn't have/need a car when I lived there (Navy).

The only time they might give you a hard time is if they find a bottle in the car. Sometimes they'll write you a ticket, others will take the bottle. They give bikes a harder time out here than imports.

Cops are more in tuned with finding dope, syrup, guns, or just writing tickets. They really don't care what's under the hood. Funny part is, our emissions test isn't much easier to pass than cali's emissions. We (Houston) constantly take the title for the city with the most smog from LA like every other year. lol

 

Thats what my next move is going to be at least if they start down the this is illegal stuff you can try and play it off as being CARB

T

 

We're on the same page, AParshall. I also am very respectful to the police as I am respectful to everyone, even those that try my patience. In addition, I also don't tint my windows, have a booing sound system (I have the booming sound system in my other car) or any other mod which a b1tch-*** cop might use as an excuse to further his search.

I see that you are in S.D. and that you are also FI, be careful down there man.

Alos, thanks for your support on 'my' idea. It is just that- a back-up plan.

 

I have thought about it but I am not sure how successful this may be. Does the Vortech sticker actually mention the word 'Vortech' on it?

In addition, cops have also been known to STILL ISSUE tickets despite CARB approved stickers being visible on the equipment with the notion that if you truly are innocent then you can easily pass an inspection.

Anyways, anyone have any ideas as to how I can get ahold of these stickers\plates? Are they actual metallic plates and what do they look like?

 

Hey Clint ( I remembered your name also- I didn't cheat and look at the sig ),

Yeah, I have been going through a lot lately in regards to my car. Matter-fact, somebody threw some stuff at my car on the freeway and it hit the bottom right corner of the roof and left a half inch long gash that went into the metal. I have some other minor damage on the car from door dings and what not and passed it off to my insurance company as if they all happened in once instance so I guess I kinda lucked out in that regard even though it took more damage as an impetus.

But yeah, been going through som trials and tribulation earning my stripes and I hope I will never have to go through this again. I plan on putting the turbo back on before or after summer.

 

Im trying to find the samething also.

If the cop knows what he is looking for then he knows what CARB is; if he is just trying to be a ***** then you probably screwed no matter what you have on your car CARB or not.

T

 

^ I'm pretty sure a Vortech dealer can provide pics. There are many Vortech users out there also in Cali that I am sure can provide pics.

 

It would seem to me that if you previously had a turbo and had to remove it, that it would be on your record in some form saying you had illegal car parts on your car and that might make a cop see if he can think of ways to look under the hood. The hood latch idea IMO might fool an idiot cop, but a lot of those guys have seen so much crap and have seen so many people pull crap and get defensive etc that they'll figure you're BSing them.

If the cop is nice, he might not feel like going to the trouble of impounding the car etc, but I'd think a 2nd time offense to having a turbo on the car might not go over as well as the first time around - but I don't know, I don't know CA laws

 

kind of a dumb question, but would a f'i z ever pass emissions?

 

not in CA...unless it was CARB approved

otherwise I think most states just plug in an OBDII reader and if there's no codes then you pass. But I might not be suprised if you come driving up in what looks and sounds and smells like a race car that they'd actually inspect the car and even do a sniffer test

 

Not a dumb question at all. Superchargers will more than likely pass emissions due to the fact that teh stock cats are still in place whereas most turbo cars, especially single turbo cars, have the stock cats removed.

The existence or non-existence of the cats is the biggest single factor in regards to being in compliance or not (in addition to the cat light-up time during start-up).

 

well i hav an evap canister leak. the control vent? the code is p0447 i believe? my budy tells me its electrical, but idk wtf that means at all

 

doesn't turbonetics have a catted version of the kit? will that pass smog tests in CA?

 

Thanks Sentry for the constructive input.

I have also thought of the same thing that I would have something on my record showing that I had an illegal modification ticket. What I have deduced is that the system doesn’t tell how ‘bad’ the ticket was or what it was for. As far as I know, a person would get the same ticket if he had an illegal CAI. I don’t believe that the system has the ability to mention the gravity of the offence or even have notations that this particular person was caught with a turbo and this particular person was caught with a loud muffler.

When I do go back to turbo, I will keep pics of my car from the rear that show the big and sporty-looking dual canisters of my Greddy EVO II and then show the cop that this exhaust is what got me my prior ticket. By then I will have a TurboXS exhaust which looks stock and hopefully everything will fly.

To reiterate, I am not basing my whole strategy on going back to turbo on these small measures but only using these measures as a layered defence in the hopes that it will deter another ticket. The way I see it, it’s better to have these small measures done than not do them at all and then get caught hand have to pay $1,700 to get your car back to stock.

As they say in the medical world, ‘an ounce of preventative care is better than a pound of cure’.

 

According to California law, a car must utilise the stock catalytic converters. If they are moved or even altered in any way, shape or form, the modification is deemed illegal.