Euro spec 308 passing SMOG in Cali

Ca does not want carb. 308’s in the state. I moved to AZ, which loves my car and does not require smog. Last time I did smog in CA it cost $$$$, and six months to pass. Good luck.



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I bought my Euro 83 out of California, was not eligible to even be tested also signed a dmv document stating I would never drive it in California

 

To register a Euro-spec car in California it must be fitted with complete emissions systems (exhaust and evaporative). Then go through specialized emissions compliance testing, which can only be performed by a registered emissions compliance lab ( I think that there are only two left in the whole state). Then after mounds of paperwork and multiple trips to DMV and BAR will the car be able to be registered in California. Modification and testing costs can exceed $30K.
We had a customer trying to get a Euro-spec 355 into California. He had spent in excess of $35k and compliance was still not complete. He finally sued the compliance lab. I don't know the final outcome, but it probably was not pretty.
Either get a a Euro spec car that already went through this process back in the day, which has a BAR sticker on it. These will be very rare and expensive. Or buy a Euro spec car and register it out of state, (like Montana). Then take the risk that you don't get pulled over by a smart CHP that will wonder why you have a California licence and a car registered in Montana, which could end up very badly.

 

These are the only two compliance labs in California. Call them for a quote for the conversion and testing process:

California Environmental Engineering (CEE)
2530 S. Birch Street
Santa Ana, CA92707
Phone: (714) 545-9822
Fax: (714) 545-7667
e-mail: [email protected] ([email protected])

Northern California Diagnostic Laboratories (NCDL)
2748 Jefferson Street
Napa, CA94558
Phone: (707) 258-1753
Fax: (707) 258-1611
e-mail: [email protected] ([email protected])

 

I have mk e EFI conversion with Haltech controller,I really lean it out for gas mileage sometimes.$3000 and very tidy

 

This is totally illegal for smog on a California car. Why even bother mentioning it on this thread?

 

sorry I had no idea but as a Texan I get your response,best wishes
I own euroqv for 28+yrs now
euroqv w/mk e EFI passes everything it wants to!
FORZA Motob

 

Euro 308 dry sump...AZ registered for the first time in 7 minutes in and out of DMV...they didn't even want to see the car, and it just came over from the U.K.!

 

I do feel lucky to have a French ‘85 QV GTS that has been registered in CA since a few months after it entered the US in ‘85. I would be really lucky if it was a GTB and blue instead of red. It has a welded in CAT (not from Ferrari) and probably leaned out a little by the shop to help pass and it always does. Now I have it registered in a rural county so it never has to be tested again until I sell it. I like that it has a little more power, weighs less, and the euro exhaust sounds great.

 

Converting to EFI or tuning to pass emissions is illegal? Doesn't seem like either should be.

 

I live in Florida and failed to appreciate the meaning of the BAR sticker on my ‘84 308 Euro that was imported by a CA resident. My 308 does not appear to have or ever had any pollution equipment including a CAT. Is that possible? Would my 308 be “grandfathered” and allowed back into CA without modifications?
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Just For What It's Worth...
Perhaps it is useful to say (again...) that euro 3x8s along the whole family range (carbed, 2 valve injected, QVs and 328s, all included) do not have any emission control device whatsoever: no cats, no smog pipes, etc: no nothing.
So if jimgolf's car is an '"Euro" QV" and has a cat, that cat is not OEM.

Only the swiss 328s, starting in 1987, received cats and assorted devices at the factory, because Switzerland was not (and is not) in the EU and adopted emissions-control laws before the EU did. This swiss variant "328 with cat" was also sold in Sweden.

One country or two also asked the factory for cars with cats; for instance, it seems that Austria received a very small number of 328s intended for Japan originally, with the US/Australian/Japanese engine variant (= "X" as fourth digit in the VIN) because these had a cat. The tell-tale are the "JAP" identification letters for cars intended for the japanese market originally in positions 8-9-10 of the VIN.

Rgds.

 

My opinion - if you really want a 308 I think you could be perfectly happy with a compliant one. You can mimic many of the cosmetics to make it look like a Euro by changing the bumpers and grill. You could even delete the side markers if you wanted to go that far. Install a Nuvolari or Tubi exhaust and enjoy with a valid registration in your name with your address and no headaches.

Just my two cents...

 

But you could not put the "euro" engine hood, with the two parallels grills of louvres each side of the plenum, instead of the 328-type hood of the US cars with the additional five row of louvres across the whole cover behind the plenum cover, as it would restrict the cooling airflow in the engine compartment.
Nitpicking, I know, but...
Rgds

 

It would be easier to start with a NON CAT carbed car.

The original design relied on two sets of points, changing dwell (at idle) as well as air injection into the headers, via cam driven pumps.

Now to me, (as all this old tubing is long since rusted away) the same thing would be done with an electric air pump.
Putting air into the headers allows the unburned CO from the carbs A/F ratio to be further oxidized.

I think Norwood once did the electric pumps, I did not dream it....
Anyway, the proof is at the pipe tips, a well adjusted set of carbs, and air injection to get to the unburned CO they are seeking.

Texas does not test past 25 years, thankfully.

In Cali you would have to let them know your science is tight, and make the numbers.
My car "made the numbers" in Texas, but you left it running waiting for the test and stuff was glowing hot.

 

This is really it also, for the injected versions.

 

Buy a pre-1976 car, such as the 1974-1975 308 GT4... exempt from CA emissions requirements

 

Not sure about the original but air injection to the headers on the later injected cars only occurs on cold start for a few minutes after which 100% is directed to the cats. On the ‘84 and ‘85 models they don’t even use a pump, some sort of “pulse injection” however that works.