So I take my car to a San Francisco Chevy dealer to get a smog check (required before I register my Vette in California). He tells me that my car passes the emmissions part of the test, but does NOT pass the visual inspection. I have to take the car into an official inspection station to approve the upgrades. I'm worried that they're going to say the upgrades are illegal just because the car isn't stock - even though the car is environmentally safe and gets great gas mileage (I'm sure they won't be able to give me a reason why it isn't legal - it'll just be something like "I'm sorry sir, it's just against the rules").

Can anyone give me any tips to getting around this headache of a process in California? I know the supercharger is a Magnusson part, the same part installed on some Ford trucks ... so the part is indeed used legally on other vehicles.

Any help would be much appreciated!

 

get a po box in another state, some place where you have family to forward anything important and register it there. California is a huge pain in the butt for stuff like that.

 

Man dude
I hate to say this, but unless you have the C.A.R.B sticker to accompany those upgrades, than there is no way it will pass the inspection. The visual that is.
This may be a great state in many ways, but when it comes to these smog laws here, they absolutetly SUCK!

And what really doesn't make sense is that you said it passes the "rolling" test just fine, and they still will not pass it.
This just does not make any sense at all. [:@]

 

The first thing I would do is call Lingenfelter and ask them what to do. You are certainly not the first Lingenfelter car owner to face this problem.

 

Just a quick update.

It went exactly as I was worrying about. No luck on registering in California. The parts aren't "officially" certified and Lingenfelter says I have to do jump through a bunch of hoops before I even have a hope of registering in California.

I'll probably have to take your advice blueshark, and get the car registered in another state.

Thanks for the tips.

 

Yep
it would cost you an arm and a leg to register here in Ca. with those mods, EVEN IF YOU COULD FIND A WAY AROUND ALL THE LOOP HOLES, I'm afraid registering out of state may be your only option.
Just like any aftermarket or modified part or accessory, if it's not C.A.R.B. compliant than it's not legal for use here in this state.

I HAVE HEARD, AND THERE IS A COUPLE GUYS AT WORK THAT HAVE REGISTERED THEIR VEHICLES UP NEAR THE FOOTHILLS. DO YOU KNOW WHERE JACKSON, GRASS VALLEY, AND SOME OF THOSE AREAS ARE?
THIS ONE GUY USES HIS PARENTS ADDRESS, AND HE DOES NOT HAVE TO SMOG HIS TRUCK, CAN YOU BELIEVE THAT?

 

bew to the forums but last i heard PO box addys are not allowed any more, must have a permanent adress of at leas 6months of the year.

 

Is there any way that you can restore the car to stock, get the smog check done then put the SC back on? I know this would take $$ or time but then you would have the registration with the correct address. I think when I lived in CA I only had to do the smog check when I first moved there.

 

Unfortunately, not only would this be costly, but he would have to do it again, in a few years.
Smogs are done on a regular basis here in Ca. ie, every 2 years.

 

Yep, registering in California is *nearly* impossible