[Shotimes] So Many Questions..was: Re: EGR trivia was Re: [Shotimes] Lowrider's KOEO Test

[George Fourchy]

.............Go down below the fifth quote for my answers to the parts I know.....!!

On Tue, 13 Apr 2004 18:25:55 -0500, Justin Schick wrote:

>On non-California MTX cars (like my 92), an EGR valve is indeed absent.
>From what I know all ATX cars have them.

On Tue, 13 Apr 2004 21:05:45 -0400 (Eastern Daylight Time), Carl Prochilo wrote:

>How do they know that you didn't import the car from one of the
>other 49?  Is that part of the VIN or something?

On Tue, 13 Apr 2004 21:42:43 -0700 (PDT), Ron Childs wrote:

>You would need to change the computer, since the CA computer would look for an     >EGR and give you a CE light, which would fail you, even if you could pass the 
>sniffer.  And, of course, they inspect for it.

On Tue, 13 Apr 2004 21:48:58 -0700 (PDT), Ron Childs wrote:

>They know if it has been registered in CA before. The plates usually stay with the
>car, too. Maybe you could leave CA, get it titled in another state and come back.

On Wed, 14 Apr 2004 01:16:39 -0500, Rick Glass wrote:

>Even if it did originally come from out of state, doesn't it have to be
>brought up to California regulations to be registered there ?

On Wed, 14 Apr 2004 06:21:15 -0500, Paul L Fisher wrote:

>The sticker under the hood says whether it is a 49 state or a CA car.

..............................

1. All  California MTX cars have EGR.  

2. As far as trying to make the car appear as if it is from another state...they
have all been in the system (and will stay in it) since they were new.  If someone
were importing a California spec MTX car from another state that had EGR....and it
had never been registered here before.....one could de-EGR it and it would be legal.
 If it were automatic with no EGR..that would raise a flag.  But if it had been
registered here, taken out, registered somewhere else, then brought back, the DMV
computer would recognize the VIN and put up a warning...it would not be registerable
until it was returned to prior original condition. The  plastic cover over the
radiator can be changed, easily enough...but if the car has been here before, and
smogged as a Ca car, it will ALWAYS be a Ca car.  

3. They do not have to be brought up to California standards if they are brought
into the state as a 'used' car...otherwise they cannot be brought in at all.  They
need more than 6,000 miles or so on them to be considered 'used' (as I remember from
many years ago).  For a long time a law allowed Ca to charge $400 extra on the first
registration for a non-Ca equipped car since it was considered a 'menace' to our
air.  Finally that got changed, since it is unconstitutional.  There was lots of
uproar about that during the time it was happening.

4.  California's DMV computer has lots of problems, but it will remember cars for a
long time, even if they are not registered or entered into it in any way for years
at a time.  I had a parts Fiesta that was basically junk, and when I sold my green
one to Jim Koper, I tried to reregister it so I could have it hauled to the yard. 
After 11 years, it was still in the system.  I had never actually cleared title on
it before, and it would have been expensive, so I just parked it in a lot far from
home, and the local yard hauled it off as an abandoned car, still titled to the PO.

Bottom line for me....the replacement manifold I intend to put on the Lowrider was
plugged, also....so I unplugged it.  It isn't that hard...maybe it wasn't too bad
compared to some others out there.  It took maybe 15 minutes to open it up.  I found
the plugs, and the nostrils, and cleaned them all out with a coat hangar.  It'll go
on as soon as I finish this post.  Car should run good after that.  There'll be pix
on a page on the site for those who haven't seen the procedure.  It's kind of
interesting, and easy to do, with the manifold off the car.

George