California SMOG laws

[KnightHawks97]

Seeking clarification...
I have a question about smog laws. I know they have the strictest emissions laws and cars are held to a higher emissions standard. Are stock cars from California physically any different from any other vehicle bought in another state? i.e. If I bought a Mustang GT from the dealership in CA and I bought one straight from the dealership in FL, would they differ in any way (power and/or emission)?

 

[matchb0x]

Yeh im pretty sure the cat back systems are more intense and they have charcoal filters, etc. Don't quote me on this as i dont know absolutely, having never dared to buy a car from this liberal run POS state.

 

[03 DSG Snake]

Yeh im pretty sure the cat back systems are more intense and they have charcoal filters, etc. Don't quote me on this as i dont know absolutely, having never dared to buy a car from this liberal run POS state.

No such luck on the catbacks.

The only thing I know of MIGHT be a smog air pump. This was on my 98, not sure about the 03.

No problems making power and passing emissions for me.

Plus there is about a million other fast ass cars in Cali, so you're prolly exaggerating, but oh well epper:

 

[03 DSG Snake]

Seeking clarification...
I have a question about smog laws. I know they have the strictest emissions laws and cars are held to a higher emissions standard. Are stock cars from California physically any different from any other vehicle bought in another state? i.e. If I bought a Mustang GT from the dealership in CA and I bought one straight from the dealership in FL, would they differ in any way (power and/or emission)?

They should be identical. Only difference is the mods legally allowed. I've never had an issue with either of my modded Stangs. Hell I ran longtubes and an offroad H on my 98 and never had an issue.

 

[WraithCobra]

Allot of states require CARB emissions, so major manufactures build all their vehicles to meet CARB standards to keep production costs down. Some smaller niche builders might not build to CARB standards unless they are selling to customers in a CARB state. I know that the '88 Mustang GT had a CARB and standard version. The CARB version has mass air and the standard did not. In '89 all Mustang GT's used mass air, and all model years have been CARB since then.

 

[P49Y-CY]

iirc when i bought my 96gt, california emissions was an added option on the car from ford (which obviously most cali dealers would buy the car with) to get it smogged it had to have that option, or you had to pay extra

nowadays i think that it is still an option if you look closely at the dealer order sheets, but alot of states require it, like ny, mass, and alot of others. so i think that most dealerships order the car with it regardless.

 

[WraithCobra]

iirc when i bought my 96gt, california emissions was an added option on the car from ford (which obviously most cali dealers would buy the car with) to get it smogged it had to have that option, or you had to pay extra

nowadays i think that it is still an option if you look closely at the dealer order sheets, but alot of states require it, like ny, mass, and alot of others. so i think that most dealerships order the car with it regardless.

That might have been a different tune, I don't think any of the physical components were different. There was also a high altitude option for many years of EEC-IV that was only a slight difference in the base maps used durring open loop operation.

 

[oldmodman]

Almost all new cars are 50 state legal and all have the same smog equipment and programming.

It was too expensive for the manufacturers to make three different versions of the same car.

 

[KnightHawks97]

Thanks for the replies.
I am considering buying a car in California then taking it back to FL. I wanted to make sure that there isn't anything on the vehicle that will "rob" the horsepower for CA emissions reasons vs. if I got it from the other 49 states.

 

[DuffManRHA]

Allot of states require CARB emissions, so major manufactures build all their vehicles to meet CARB standards to keep production costs down. Some smaller niche builders might not build to CARB standards unless they are selling to customers in a CARB state. I know that the '88 Mustang GT had a CARB and standard version. The CARB version has mass air and the standard did not. In '89 all Mustang GT's used mass air, and all model years have been CARB since then.

This is pretty much the only thing you should have to worry about (if your parts are all CARB exempt, or have SHOWING numbers). All cars have smog pumps, and the same amount of cats, but CA is much more stringent on emissions. Just for an example, if 1000 PPM hydrocarbons is ok in, say, TX, it would probably be 800 PPM here in CA : again, just an example of how it works. However, a car bought new in TX and new in CA should both put out 800, but for future smoggings (is this a word?) it better stay at 800, and can't get worse, meaning you better keep up with your tune-ups.

As far as the CA MAF vs. 49-state SD in 1988, I will bet dollars to donuts that both cars would still pass, but the MAF would probably be slightly cleaner. Its really not that hard as long as your car is in great shape - I threw my catted H on the Fox and it passed with flying colors... followed closely by 15 minutes to throw the O/R back on

Eric

 

[bdcardinal]

there were different standards for CA and federal(49 state) cars up until a few years ago.
NOT ALL CARS HAVE SMOG PUMPS, i used to work for a smog referee and believe me, ive seen a ton of cars for smogs.
people seem to think that teh 6 cats on the 96-98 mustangs was a CA thing, my GT was a federal car and had 6 cats, originally sold in Missouri.
currently there are no differences, as the CA standards including all CA testing adn CARB requirements are going to become required nationwide within the next few years, that means everyone gets to have stock cats.