6G Celicas Forums

I'm from California and smog here is highly strict. But I just want to know with those who done a 3sgte turbo swap if yours passed smog within your state?

money talks

Bleh I know that But what are the chances for a ref. to be bribe and make him pass it. Alot of them wont even take chances.

i made friends with my local midas shop and they passed me and even removed one of my cats without me asking. haha

if you have to go to a referee, you are screwed, plain and simple

for a normal smog check, $150, smog test center only smog check, $250

$100-$250 that's quite alot for a smog test ? Over here lowest I seen is $15-$40. But as for the ref. I mistaken to say those who do the smog test not the ref. personally ...

This post has been edited by apexi_gt4: Jan 31, 2005 - 2:26 AM

Yeah, you cant pass smog in CA with a 3sgte legally. There are engine components that are missing from the 3sgte (forget what they are called) that will make it fail on the visual even if you pass the emissions (which you probably wont). Smog checks are about 40 bucks. Find a place that is small and there is only like one guy working there. an extra 100 should do it.

You may want to try a "smog test emissions passer" fluid which you add to your tank and it cleans up the exhaust a little, I dont kno what good it'll do but may want to try that before anything else.

Dude, you can't pass smog in California with a 3s. You have to bribe them. Thats why it's going to be expensive.

Exactly, that's why $150 - $200 sounds about right.

You can pass it for emission maybe but its just likely for visual it wont because they know that the car doesnt come with that motor. Hey I could be wrong but yea bribe is the only way but thats hard to come by, atleast for where I live.

you do you own a real gt4?

good luck finding a smog personal the person i used to go to jacked his prices up from 250 to 300 bucks to pass!!!!! and he even said "thats the friend hook up price" greedy ass bastard so for now i guess ill be leaving this 7a in the celica.

kinda OT.. but what kind of skirts are those in your sig?

Why wouldn't someone be able to pass emissions with a 3sgte? its not some mystical motor or anything. Its not like all the turbo mr2s and alltracs have to bribe the emissions places. If you dont have any cats or an egr thats a different story. If you buy a JDM motor it wont have an egr assembly (I'd bet money you would pass without an egr anyways... its just he visual part of not having and egr valve that will get you... simple solution... make the motor "look" like it has one). But if you swap and are worried about emissions just keep the stock "downpipe" assembly (which has a secondary cat on it) and get a high flow or regular cat in the original stock location. The motor isn't some huge polluter... you will pass if you do it right.. guarenteed.

This post has been edited by Doge: Feb 2, 2005 - 5:49 PM

It's not a matter of passing tail-pipe emissions alone. A smog test also involves visual inspection, timing check, fuel cap, EGR inspection, etc. If you have a CEL, you automatically fail. If you pass EVERYTHING and have a bad fuel cap... you FAIL. We don't just "look" and say "it's all there"... by CA law, we check for functionality. Apply vaccum to the EGR and check for full functionality. That's the problem with emission testing in some states, CA being the common one. Alltracs and MR2 Turbos have no problems because they originally came with that engine. Anytime you swap the engine to something other than stock, you're supposed to have a BAR refferee look at the swap, check all of the emission parts, and either pass or fail. You cannot legally swap in an engine that came in an older car unless that engine is the same as your original stock motor... so that pretty much eliminates ST185 3SGTE swaps for 6th gens. There is the option of passing off the swap as a 94-95 MR2 3SGTE, but you better have the MR2 wiring harnesses because they do check the harnesses against the original diagrams. For the most part... good running engines with a good Catalytic converter will pass the sniffer... but that doesn't mean everything.

kwanza hit the nail on the head.

That's the standard skirts from toyota for the JDM 205 !

Hey GT-4 or not, it's i nice looking car, no doubt about it
i wish my 205 looked as good as that, blin

Guys, this is not as easy as it sounds... CA dosnt let these little shops go for long, and it is ever increasingly hard to find a place to smog these cars. I am currently going through this process, and thought it would be so easy to slip some guy some extra cash, and really... it dosnt boil down to that. Lose their business and get an extra $100, most of em say hell no!

You better be good friends with a guy at a smog shop, better yet the owner! or know some really good connections. I am having alot of trouble getting this car passed, not because it wont pass ( i havnt tried yet) but because finding that guy that you can slip the $100 to is hard.

yea its not easy....even with just my turbo, i didnt find ANY. they popped the hood, took one look and said no right away (this was at 6 different places) and bribes didnt work, btw. i had to take the turbo completely off, smog it, then put it back on. otherwise it was $500 to a friend's friend who'll pass it with turbo.