TonySinclair

Dude's complaining about the cost of gas just to drive to the muffler shop...welders ain't cheap!

Kalway...put your smog stuff back on the car...if you saved it all!

MEGALADON

Here is what I did to mine. took me 2 hours

Z-man

Oh yeah! Now I remember why I don't live in CA.

By the way, that price quote is pretty normal for a quality job. It will take a lot longer than two hours for custom sidepipes unless you want a sloppy job. To do it right, they will have to cut a little bit into the body flanges up by the frame in front and trial fit them several times. Also, mandrel bent tubes will be priced more than regular muffler shop stuff if you want good pipes...

Kalway

Well here's the thing. The smog stuff already is not on the car. They are not removing anything. I want a simple pipe connecting job done, that's it. I've actually already got the sidepipes mounted, however I took them off so that it could get on a lift. The mounting holes are already there and the sidepipes are already assembled. To mount them just requires a monkey and a wrench because I've already got all of the easy work done.

It looks like I'm going to be driving back out to Santee to get it done.

Vehicles of Historic value would be considered exempt from federal law also because they're limited for use in parades, club events, and shows involving the car.

What law says an exhaust shop cannot bend 2 pipes and weld them to 2 other pipes? They're not touching any emissions equipment, mainly because it's not there.

TonySinclair

One more time....

Yes, you ARE exempt from smog testing. You ARE NOT exempt from having/maintaining the smog equipment on your car.

What law? The extensive Calif. emissions laws that say you are not allowed to modify emissions/exhaust on a car that requires it. The shop(s) would be guilty of modifying the exhaust if they did your welding while on the car.

rihwoods

Tijuana...they do twice pipes down there... You just need to provide them the flanges...

I'm Batman

The registration DOESN'T MATTER!!! Federal law says that you can't take the stuff off, or if it's off, it has to be put back. No shop is going to be stupid enough to risk the fine and/or loss of business license to do the work. Do it yourself or quit whining.

Kalway

Bah, I've got a shop that will do it. Only reason I wanted to try other shops was because they were closer. Guess I'll have to waste the gas to drive out there, then. Rather annoyed by all of the bearucracy surrounding such a simple task, still.

James1970

Bingo Tony! And that's why I did not install headers on my 70, L-46. Rather, I retrofitted the 2" exhaust manifolds with 2.5" as suggested by others here on the Forum. I now have an complete 2.5" system with excellent performance and it looks stock.

Headers are a PINA IMO.

Kalway

Well I wasn't about to stick with my stock manifolds... they were nasty and had those AIR tubes in them... I'm pretty sure I'll have this done this week, though.

Sprzout

It's the same federal laws that won't allow them to work on a car that was supposed to have catalytic converters but have been removed. It's a gray area for most shops, but if the car is supposed to be equipped with cats and they've been removed they're supposed to report it.

I wish you luck with (I'm guessing) East County Mufflers over off of Mission Gorge...The guys in there are good, but they're pretty much sticklers when it comes to federal laws.

Kalway

Nah, it's Cruisin' Mufflers. They said they've done a few vehicles that had historic plates and that none of them had cats either. They were the only shop that as soon as I mentioned historic plates they knew what I was talking about and had no problem doing the work.

TonySinclair

Well...sounds like you've found a muffler shop that DOESN'T know the law (or doesn't give a rats ****).

zwede

Not real smart of you to post the name of a shop that is breaking federal law. Better hurry and get yours done. They might not be around for long.

68/70Vette

From what I read in the newspapers there's a lot of ricers running highly modified engines with, often, nitrous. These guys can pass the smog rules?

I llke Monty's comment: "Learn to weld." The smog inspection is every two years. So, design your smog equipment, exhaust pipes, etc so that you can change them for a weekend every two years to pass the smog test.

Yes, don't get upset about learning to weld. If two brothers who made bicycles could make the first airplane all on their own without government or corporate financing, then YOU should be able to make a temporary smog set up to pass the exam every two years.

I live in California and I am just astounded by the cars I see on the freeway that are blowing obvious smoke. You see cars driving without license plates. You see cars with obscured license plates and obscured driver's windows. You see SUV's and trucks jacked up in the air where the bumpers are 4 feet off the ground. (A dangerous situation for a Corvette driver). All this is "against the law," but I don't see any obvious enforcement. It seems really unfair that a Corvette owner will be hastled about some alteration to his exhaust system that's pretty much a minimal situation, and there doesn't seem to be any enforcement of what I would think are more important violatons. Is it possible that motor vehicle laws are only enforced with regards to people who try to comply with the laws?

rihwoods

Funny....that "shop" was owned by a "she" three years ago...I went there with my 78, duals,two cats,and "she" would not touch the job....I ended up going to Ed Hanson last year and biting the bullet to get a performance 2-1-2 system.....incl a 3" high flow cat..

rihwoods

Sounds like a lot of "chulapas" running around in Torrance,Ca...

79inSD

I plan on buying a exhaust kit for a 74 and putting it on my 79. Then like the others said I will keep the old stuff and have an exhaust refresher course every 2 years or untill I excape from Cali (or was that New York) Or just do the tj thing, With about 5 friends to guard the car. What ever you do don't leave it there unsupervised.

TonySinclair

Yeah, but he (Kalway) stripped EVERYTHING smog-related from the car (intake/carbs (crossfire?), exhaust manifolds, distributor, air pump, EGR...he's got a lot more than exhaust to worry about.

Oh, I almost forgot...he has exemption from smog...

Sprzout

I'm in total agreement there...I just wish I knew where I could LEARN to weld. I would give a lot to learn how to weld stuff like aluminum, steel, etc. Unfortunately, I don't know where to go to learn that stuff here in San Diego.

As for car running nitrous - here's the way the law reads on it in California:

You can have all of the nitrous bosses, lines, etc. connected to the car. The only thing you CANNOT have hooked up on the car is the nitrous bottle. It's a technicality, but a way that you can get around the law. I know several members of my Saturn club that have nitrous lines run; the cops know it but don't hassle them about it because they go race at the track ONLY. They know the cops, the cops know them, and there's no hassle by it. But, the cops have told them if they ever have the giggle juice hooked up on the street and they're caught, whether or not they're speeding or anything, they lose their cars.

Personally, I don't know how some of these kids with these Hondas/Toyotas/Nissans/etc. can get away without some of the cars passing smog...All I can figure is that either they're paying off the guys who are working the certification centers, they're not smogging/registering their cars, they're removing/reconnecting the non-smog legal parts before & after the inspection, or the guys who are looking at the cars aren't smart enough to recognize that the turbo kit/headers/etc. on their car isn't street legal.