help with smog please!

[thatdatto]

Hello fellas.

 

so ive had my 79 kc 620 for a few months and put some work into the engine, not myself but a mechanic. It has all the smog crap even a catalytic converter so I needed to get it smogged to switch over registration into my name. Long story short I went and got it smogged. Passed visual and sniffer however due to the new california emissions regulations the cat did not pass due to it being "modified". Ive taken it to about 3 different smog shops and they all tell me the same thing that I need a catalytic converter. However that is the problem! No one in fresno ca can find me a cat to save my life! Ratsunners where can I find one or what can I do?!! Thanks in advance!

[bonvo]

why are they claiming the cat is modified? you should be able to get a universal cat at any auto parts store for around 100 bucks 

[68Datsun510]

That was outlawed by our wonderful Gov. Jerry Brown...... Universal cats are "inadequate", only OEM fitment cats are allowed in CA. Murrica.

[K_trip]

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[thatdatto]

why are they claiming the cat is modified? you should be able to get a universal cat at any auto parts store for around 100 bucks

it has one already however they said its not "for that vehicle"

[thatdatto]

That was outlawed by our wonderful Gov. Jerry Brown...... Universal cats are "inadequate", only OEM fitment cats are allowed in CA. Murrica.

ding ding ding! U sir are correct thats the bs they are hitting me with however who the heck makes oem cat for an l20b?

[thatdatto]

^ I am not sure the above information is 100% correct.

 

Don't let the fear mongrels steer you wrong, or scare you from dealing with this.

If that's all that's wrong, you should be able to get it to pass. You need proper advise, that's all.

 

It is true that many aftermarket cats are not approved for use in the golden state, but not all ... http://www.arb.ca.gov/msprog/aftermktcat/aftermktcat.htm

... I strongly suggest you do you own homework - from reputable sources (not online forums like this)

 

- OR - go see your local smog referee yourself: http://www.bar.ca.gov/80_BARResources/02_SmogCheck/referee_centers.html

oh snaps!! Thank u haven't heard of this referee thing im gonna make an appointment see what they can do. Trucks passes sniffer so I dont see y it should b an issue. Thanks again for this info k_trip

[72 327]

Hello fellas.

 

so ive had my 79 kc 620 for a few months and put some work into the engine, not myself but a mechanic. It has all the smog crap even a catalytic converter so I needed to get it smogged to switch over registration into my name. Long story short I went and got it smogged. Passed visual and sniffer however due to the new california emissions regulations the cat did not pass due to it being "modified". Ive taken it to about 3 different smog shops and they all tell me the same thing that I need a catalytic converter. However that is the problem! No one in fresno ca can find me a cat to save my life! Ratsunners where can I find one or what can I do?!! Thanks in advance!

 

 

Come buy mine and you will not have to worry about smog. LOL

 

Honesly talk to the guy down at the Ref station they have all the books and can tell you the proper numbers that should be on the cat you are looking for. That is the place I would start. Once you have the numbers you can then call around and find somebody that has a matching number cat and have them install it. I doubt you are going to find any shops that will be able to look up the new style cat you will need. Unless you can find somebody with a good used one.

[thatdatto]

Come buy mine and you will not have to worry about smog. LOL

 

Honesly talk to the guy down at the Ref station they have all the books and can tell you the proper numbers that should be on the cat you are looking for. That is the place I would start. Once you have the numbers you can then call around and find somebody that has a matching number cat and have them install it. I doubt you are going to find any shops that will be able to look up the new style cat you will need. Unless you can find somebody with a good used one.

haha wow!

 

Crazy part is ive been looking at your truck on Craigslist as an option if I cant get this smog crap done. But hey if the price is right and I can sell this one its def possible. I bought this truck with good intentions for a dd and ive put a good amount of money into it and this smog crap is really bugging me. Especially since I already have my other car as a pretty expensive money pit. Hmmmm

[72 327]

haha wow!

 

Crazy part is ive been looking at your truck on Craigslist as an option if I cant get this smog crap done. But hey if the price is right and I can sell this one its def possible. I bought this truck with good intentions for a dd and ive put a good amount of money into it and this smog crap is really bugging me. Especially since I already have my other car as a pretty expensive money pit. Hmmmm

 

Well my Truck is not really Daily Driver material either, lol. No ac no heat (unless you call the heat from the exhaust coming up through the floorbaords heat) It's really is just a drive to the local car shows kind of thing (usually Chubby's First and Gettysburg) on Friday and Sat nights. Also fun once in a while to play with the ricers in their Honda's.

[thatdatto]

Well my Truck is not really Daily Driver material either, lol. No ac no heat (unless you call the heat from the exhaust coming up through the floorbaords heat) It's really is just a drive to the local car shows kind of thing (usually Chubby's First and Gettysburg) on Friday and Sat nights. Also fun once in a while to play with the ricers in their Honda's.

haha nice! Well mine doesnt have ac nor heater either. I only drive it 2miles from my house to where I park my rig. Dont use it for running around town at all only if I go to home depot or somewhere I need to use it as a "truck." Have other cars for that so in all reality do I need it no.. but ooh they so lovely looking:) is it good enough for that? Haha

[72 327]

For Sure but dont put to much in the back it will wheelie if it gets trackton. lol

[oldskoolvws]

First the seller was responsible for smog in Cali. Cats sold in California legally must now meet C.A.R.B. compliance and have the correctly designed cat for the vehicle. The only way around this is to be or get friends in a Smog Shop that will let you get away with a universal. This was part of California's retarded effort to get rid of classic cars. No one will pay the CARB certification fees to get the older cats certified for use because of the lack of demand. This will eventually kill all the vehicles POST 75 to about 80 eventually. For your 80's to 90's, get spares!

 

You may be able to call the SMOG hotline or the referee station for more guidance or a waiver. I would honestly get a 49 state unit online (yes, many ship even though they are not legal) and keep trudging at different stations. Your friend is the little shops in the bad neighborhoods. They like to work deals.

 

http://www.catalyticconverterwarehouse.com/ShopByVehicle.epc?q=&yearid=1979@@1979&makeid=60@@NISSAN%2FDATSUN@@B&modelid=4102@@PICKUP%20620&engineid=6697@@L4-1952cc%202.0L%202%20BBL%20Vin%20L20B@@6697&subcatid=154@@Catalytic%20Converters&mode=PA

[Z-train]

First the seller was responsible for smog in Cali.

 

Cats sold in California legally must now meet C.A.R.B. compliance and have the correctly designed cat for the vehicle. The only way around this is to be or get friends in a Smog Shop that will let you get away with a universal. This was part of California's retarded effort to get rid of classic cars. No one will pay the CARB certification fees to get the older cats certified for use because of the lack of demand. This will eventually kill all the vehicles POST 75 to about 80 eventually. For your 80's to 90's, get spares!

Unfortunately,this is all true.

[K_trip]

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[thatdatto]

First the seller was responsible for smog in Cali. Cats sold in California legally must now meet C.A.R.B. compliance and have the correctly designed cat for the vehicle. The only way around this is to be or get friends in a Smog Shop that will let you get away with a universal. This was part of California's retarded effort to get rid of classic cars. No one will pay the CARB certification fees to get the older cats certified for use because of the lack of demand. This will eventually kill all the vehicles POST 75 to about 80 eventually. For your 80's to 90's, get spares!

 

You may be able to call the SMOG hotline or the referee station for more guidance or a waiver. I would honestly get a 49 state unit online (yes, many ship even though they are not legal) and keep trudging at different stations. Your friend is the little shops in the bad neighborhoods. They like to work deals.

 

http://www.catalyticconverterwarehouse.com/ShopByVehicle.epc?q=&yearid=1979@@1979&makeid=60@@NISSAN%2FDATSUN@@B&modelid=4102@@PICKUP%20620&engineid=6697@@L4-1952cc%202.0L%202%20BBL%20Vin%20L20B@@6697&subcatid=154@@Catalytic%20Converters&mode=PA

Damn horrible news for me. Ive gone to and called a few places that sell cats and none sell a california legal cat. Even the link you posted clearly states not for sale or use in california:/

[thatdatto]

The line I quoted above was the only correct information I saw in that post. The rest sounds like a fear mongering to me :blush:

 

You aren't going to find a smog shop that will "let you get away" with much of anything, that is straight up bad advise. :rofl:

 

There are legal aftermarket cats, see the link in my post above. CARB found several cats were not doing a fully catalysed reaction, call it a loophole if you like, now they want cats that really do the job as designed. That's all that's going on, and manufactures are responding with cats that meet California's requirements. There are plenty of options, no need to break the law or do anything under-handed.

 

Going to a smog referee is no big deal if your vehicle is close to passing, like you said your truck is.

k_trip ur right because even the old shop that used to "help" me with other performance cars has turned me down this year and crazy part is this ones bone stock!

 

I'm working on something in the meantime so we will see if not I will go the ref route issue is I havent had time off lately to schedule an appointment.

 

If all else fails I might just grab 72 327 lil hustler off him and pass a well running kc 620 to a fellow ratsunner that can enjoy the little sucker:)

 

Thanks guys all info is helpful so far!!

[K_trip]

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[thatdatto]

I'm sorry to hear you keep going to someone other than the referee.

I know a lot of smog places are lazy and don't want to do much more than tests, but it's not like everyone is that way.

 

For the record --> I just did a search myself (it's not hard) for a universal unit for a 1979 Nissan truck w/ 2.0L 4cyl ...

Magnaflow Exhaust #339003 Universal - popped up, there may be others but this should be easy enough to get.

 

You can still grab that 327 truck - just for the fun of it! :devil:

I thought about doing one for a 720 as well since they have the same engine but I know some of these guys want it down to the exact year or at least the shops I went to so far. I will investigate this one. Thanks really appreciate it!

[oldskoolvws]

The line I quoted above was the only correct information I saw in that post.  The rest sounds like a fear mongering to me :blush:

 

You aren't going to find a smog shop that will "let you get away" with much of anything, that is straight up bad advise.  :rofl:

 

There are legal aftermarket cats, see the link in my post above.  CARB found several cats were not doing a fully catalysed reaction, call it a loophole if you like, now they want cats that really do the job as designed.  That's all that's going on, and manufactures are responding with cats that meet California's requirements.  There are plenty of options, no need to break the law or do anything under-handed.

 

Going to a smog referee is no big deal if your vehicle is close to passing, like you said your truck is.

 

Agree and disagree. I work in the auto manufacturing industry and up until 3 years ago was a manufacturing vehicle performance engineer. You are correct in the catalysed reaction, however CARB E.O. numbers do not cover a span of a product (i.e. one CARB E.O. per catalytic product line). It is tested to the emissions output of the vehicle platform or modification such as an intake for all Honda's with the same engine within say 2006 - 2010. Same would hold true with a catalytic that was made for a 1979 Datsun. The E.O. number would be granted on the basis that the platform (i.e. L20B) with XXX emissions system could / would pass California state emissions without adverse effect on the design emissions output. The would cover all tested platforms of the same engine with the same emissions equipment.

 

Here's our debacle and it is a complete assumption on my part: No manufacturer will support the lower margin DIRECT replacement process. If they do, I'd buy 10 of them. There simply is not enough demand (or test cars LOL) in California to request a CARB E.O. number or perform tests for Datsuns in the 76 - 82 era. That being said, there are UNIVERSAL CATS with EO numbers. These will meet the need of the OP but, he has to choose carefully. As already mentioned, an improperly sized CAT will not react with the catalyst properly and you will fail because it's either too cold or too hot. This is even more of a problem for areas like mine that do the idle, 1500(?) and 2500(?) load run tests. THESE SUCK!

 

What I don't understand is that they are stating that he needs to replace his CAT. If the CAT is bad, then it  needs replacing. But there is nothing in CA law that I'm aware of that states a vehicles CAT must be replaced if it does not have a CARB E.O. number, only that it must have a CARB E.O. if it is replaced.

 

That being said, here are the California options that I know / know of / seen:

 

- Legal Smog check

- Illegal smog check (at station)

- Referee exemption, usually on conversions (diesel, propane, new model upgrades) few exceptions otherwise

- Address in a county that does not require smog check (very high popularity amongst tuners)

- Re-title to 75 or less

- Make Universal CAT "look" old

- Special DMV title (such as a Cobra kit on a Mustang 5.0 frame; only so many given each year, first open day of the year)

- Out of state registration

- Illegal registration

- Drive a Tesla

 

That's what I can recall. All that bullshit I just typed above is why I use wideband kits now on almost all my smog cars.

[oldskoolvws]

Passed visual and sniffer however due to the new california emissions regulations the cat did not pass due to it being "modified".

 

 

What is actually modified? You should pass with this unless you have no CAT at all.

[Homeboyx]

The "modified" part refers to the numbers on the CAT from my experience. When I use to work for a referee we ALWAYS check the numbers (or date) that's on the CAT and search it on the database to see if it's the right one for that particular vehicle, if it's not it's an automatic visual failure and is reported as "modified". 

[thatdatto]

The "modified" part refers to the numbers on the CAT from my experience. When I use to work for a referee we ALWAYS check the numbers (or date) that's on the CAT and search it on the database to see if it's the right one for that particular vehicle, if it's not it's an automatic visual failure and is reported as "modified".

That's the correct answer!

 

 

What is actually modified? You should pass with this unless you have no CAT at all.

^^ what he said

[thatdatto]

So basically what it comes down to is finding a california legal CAT that will pass smog. Simple yet so damn hard. Womp womp

[K_trip]

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