you shouldn't have to NEED someone to tell you to replace it ... thats not a new smog law... thats an " anti dumb people " law...

 

Dang, thats one mean, rotten, bad looking air flow meter hose. Sheesh- wonder how you got by all this time. But, new will cost 100$ or so- I know- its a high $$. I had to pay that- no choice. Hey- it will last maybe another 25 years- right??

 

Oh- done be so sure you will pass the Ca smog test even with a new hose, although I hope you do- Our old alfas are bad in this department.

 

I think what TJ is saying is that if any sort of repairs, no matter how well executed or any other damage is visible the car will not pass. I guess the repairs can fall under "modification" classification. California is a b!tch of a state to register a post-75 car, even diesels. I can understand the need for smog regulations - Californians remember the thick smog clouds over LA in the 70's. but everything should be done within reason - unfortunately Kommiefornia smog regs are way beyond that.

 

I know the California Air Resources Board can seem overbearing but the fact is that California has a lot of dense urban areas coupled with big mountains and valleys and a cold coastal ocean that isn't going to let anything out that way. I know we all like to have a cozy wood fire at home in the winter but inevitably there is gonna be the jerk who likes to chop up old pressure treated fence posts and burn them in the fireplace which screws it up for all of us.

I know it can be a challenge to keep these older cars in compliance, look at the things I just went through trying to get Blackie back into the loop, but it's not THAT big of a deal. If you can't afford a hundred bucks for a new intake boot really, what are you doing with a car like this? Get a Corolla.

BTW - nothing new about these rules

 

I remember LA in mid 70's with a nice thick smog layer covering the city. Was especially visible from the hills looking down. Ironically most of that was caused by pre-76 cars, the same years that the smog law exempts. IMO, the rolling cut-off date makes a great deal of sense. As the years go on, the number of early years cars becomes depleted to the point where those remaining make very little impact on the environment. The visual test falls into "excessive" section - what difference does it make what's under the hood as long as it legally passes the sniffer test? My gripe is that the state laws prevent legal registration of very cool euro cars that are reasonably priced and a hoot to drive. BTW, if one really wanted to drive ANY car in California legally, just throw a dealer plate on it and voila.

 

I remember LA in mid 70's with a nice thick smog layer covering the city. Was especially visible from the hills looking down. Ironically most of that was caused by pre-76 cars, the same years that the smog law exempts. IMO, the rolling cut-off date makes a great deal of sense. As the years go on, the number of early years cars becomes depleted to the point where those remaining make very little impact on the environment.

Can you explain further about the rolling cut off date? Does that mean eventually our 87 spiders will be exempt?
Thanks

 

You should own a diesel in CA. They only performed a visual inspection and no tailpipe sniffing. So they pick on every little thing they can find.

I hear CA is going to start doing tailpipe sniffing soon on diesels. I can't believe that it took this long!

 

The diesel inspections started in 2010. Anything prior to 1998 is exempt and since my truck is a '97 I've never received an invitation. If you want my opinion it's the Yahoos who modify their trucks with aftermarket chips and pride themselves on how big of a cloud of black smoke they can pour out the tailpipe onto people that are largely responsible for this coming about.

The diesel inspections are not as intense as the gasoline tests. No dyno, basically just a visual, OBD and smoke check - maybe 15 minutes. Diesels are, of course, very different from gasoline engines. There is no ignition system, no distributor or spark plugs. There is no throttle, you just pump more fuel into it and it goes faster (even if that fuel happens to be cooking oil) so when it comes to emissions control there are limits to what can be done.

 

A lot of it depends on where you take it. A smog only shop are a lot better at passing you as long as the original smog equipment is in place and the emissions are ok. A smog/repair shop is more likely to fail you so they can get a repair job out of you.

 

We don't have a loud enough voice and it's difficult or impossible to get anyone outside of ourselves to support our interests. I believe that eventually a rolling exemption will be adopted because it is getting to the point where you simply cannot obtain the parts necessary to maintain the original emissions control equipment. This was a big part of the original argument for the existing exemption.

Not sayin' hold your breathe or anything but.....:whistling:

 

The state makes a lot more money in fees and taxes on new cars. They would rather we junk our cars and go to a dealership and help expand the economy in more constructive ways

 

I'll bet if we dig deeper, we'll find some serious Detroit money exchanging hands in trying to keep this law in place. Funny how the bureaucrats care about our environment... If that was true, they should have never done away with the original LA Street cars

 

Don't forget the new sliding market-price carbon tax of $0.16-0.76/gal on fuels that will be kicking in Jan 1st. That will help too!

PS: what is a smog test?

 

California wants to start charging vehicle tax based on miles driven. Of course they will require a monitoring device that the consumer will be required to buy and install.

 

I can pretty much guarantee you that's not going to happen. For one thing there is no such thing as "California wants". There are legislative bills that get introduced by individual politicians or collabarations of politicians but there is no vast overlord entity known as "California" that freely imposes it's will on the populace. Most newly spawned legislation dies a quiet death and is never heard of again. Every politician is in search of something that will make it appear as though he or she is doing or has done something but the vast majority of them never achieve that.

 

I sense an interesting market opportunity for importing California cars to Quebec.....

 

Or for exporting drivers to Florida and Texas.

 

We have a flood of CA financial and political refugees thank you, enough! Just send cars.

 

Perhaps California is trying to mimick the Shaken law http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motor-vehicle_inspection_(Japan)

This explains why I just purchased a JDM vehicle in more than mint condition with less than 28K miles on it. Cost of maintaining it any longer would have been astronomical.

 

The ever increasing quest for tax money, global warming, and forcing more mass transit will drive all kinds of driver-costly schemes. The beast never gets smaller. Perhaps the upcoming increased Cap&Tax fuel revenue will offset the drop in gasoline tax revenue due to higher gas mileage and electric cars. That is the only alternative but it's still an increase in tax one way or the other. I'd predict that one of the key west coast nanny states will have tracking devices within 5 years. Progressive Insurance offers one for car insurance optionally now. Anyway, we can't wait to get our hands on your cars out here in flyover country as your laws get more and more restrictive and operation expensive.

 

Speaking of Big Brother, my insurance company is giving me the option to install a monitoring device on my car(s) that will track my driving habits. The better my driving habits are, the lower my premiums. That's just sick! Next they will ask for a web cam over my bed to see if I have unprotected s&x!

 

Ahem, this is getting pretty far afield, and no one's going to convince anyone else of a politically-based opinion; we all have our views. So let's wind this one down please, or take it to Off Topic. The point here is Alfas, not your or my political view of something. This kind of topic frequently leads to name-calling and bad feelings, with occasional discipline dished out by mods as a result.

Andrew, as moderator

 

Actually Andrew it's pretty much on-topic as to how public policy will/may affect our affliction for older cars, whether via smogging, smog taxation, fuel prices/taxes or fuel types (ethanol). The HMA follows this trend and it is real. But the point is made that this nexus of vectors will get us eventually, so yes we can get back "on topic".

 

I disagree. This is not a Spider-specific issue, and it's not really even an Alfa-specific issue. I'm playing moderator now. My experience with threads where folks start in on taxes, smog, environmental policy, and the like, is that no one comes out smelling good and bad things happen. There's no way a person on one side of the topic is going to successfully convince someone on the other side of the topic to change his/her view.

So please wind this down, or move it to Off Topic. I can move the whole thread there; it's not a Spider-specific topic.

Andrew, mod

 

Are pre-1975 exempt from smog checks?

 

According to the DMV Smog FAQ

Smog inspections are required unless your vehicle is:
...
Gasoline powered 1975 year model or older
...

Which is one of the reasons that I drive a 1974 Spider.

 

Best news today.