I know there's a few of you on here. Recently got a job offer in southern California, and I currently live in South Carolina. This car started off a California car (bought it when I lived there 10 years ago) so now I need to figure out if it makes sense to bring it back. Relevant specs are in my signature. Shipping looks like it'll cost about $1250. I'll probably be moving around the new year.
My options are...
* Sell it here as a whole car (easiest, least cost efficient, sad)
* Ship it out to CA and...
---- Keep registered in SC at a friend's address (questionably legal) so that I can enjoy socal roads with it
---- Use it as a track car (leaning this way; I have a tow vehicle, and uhaul trailers are cheap)
---- Swap a stock 03+ intake and exhaust onto it, attempt to pass smog? Is there anyone with a NA VVT swap and smog experience? How would they feel (or would they even know) about the megasquirt running the show on a pre-obd2 car?

Primarily wondering if anyone has experience with smogging a VVT swapped car. I'm sure it will pass the sniffer, but I'm a little concerned about the inspection given the ECU situation. Stock ECU isn't an option for wiring harness reasons.

 

Since it's a '95 body, you're fortunately in not having to do a plug-in test.

My own personal experience in SoCal was owning a '92, which was visibly pretty non-stock. Mostly-custom turbo system originally based on a Greddy package, with a Greddy EO sticker on the firewall. The car blew clean numbers, and I never had a problem passing inspection.

If you don't mind putting in some elbow grease, I would not anticipate having a problem with visual if you were to return the engine bay to a condition which resembles a stock '03. I have never heard of an inspector pulling up the carpet and visually inspecting the ECU itself.

 

Joe, its going to need to "return the engine bay to a condition which resembles a stock '95"

OP, basically you're fucked.

Options are as follows:

• Do nothing. Keep SC plate, rock it till it expires. Move back to SC
• Register at SC friends house, keep it under your name. This gets sketchy because CHP actually has a program where people can rat you out for trying to dodge compliance.
• Sell it to SC friend and then "borrow" the car. They better be a real good friend. You can keep the SC reg, insure it to yourself and technically not be in violation because its "borrowed" but its still sketchy due to above but has a more reasonable story attached.
• Register the car PNO in CA (planned non-operational) and NEVER drive it on the street and then tow it to trackdays. They won't issue you a title or plates, but it'll be "in the system" under your ownership.
• Try to register it to a PO Box located in a SMOG exempt county. They may still do SMOG on transfer which may require you to get it SMOGged anyway, in which case you are still fucked. These counties are way the hell out in the boonies so checking your mail becomes a real hassle.

If you are not planning on driving it on the street and just using it for trackday things, PNO is probably the "safest" path depending on how long you plan on living here.

Trying to mash 03 intake and exhaust things on to the car will only get you so far. It has to look stock and function as stock. By this I mean stock 95, not stock 03. Did you retain all the EVAP emissions stuff under the hood? They are going to check that it exists, and that it functions. Does the EVAP crap match the sticker on the underside of the hood? They are going to want to see that as well. Do you have a bunch of aftermarket fittings, splices or taps and things on fuel lines and electrical or does it all look Mazda stock? If it doesn't look stock its going to raise flags. I legendarily failed a visual inspection on my literally stock 04 WRX because there was a piece of electrical tape on a hose. They aren't going to be able to tell the difference between an 95 and an 03 MAF or ECU (which as Joe says they aren't going to check) but are you willing to re-tune the thing to pass sniffer emissions at idle and ~2000 RPM? Where are you going to find a shop thats going to let you do something so blatantly obviously illegal as plugging your car into the SMOG machine and retuning it until it comes out clean?

CAN you get the car emissions legal? Sure you can, but its going to be a nightmare without an 03 donor with proven and documented parts provenance. You'll need to do insane things like swap the fuel tank over to the 95 chassis and then have the whole thing inspected, in detail, and certified by a CARB/BAR Referee. I believe @Satisaii went through this rigmarole when he swapped a BP6D into a NA6 chassis. I'm not sure if he has this documented in detail anywhere but he may also be willing to stop by and and comment as well.

Good luck OP, try not to get lit on fire.

 

That's the letter of the law, yes.

Have visual inspections become significantly more thorough since I left San Diego in '13?

At that time, my experience was that the if the tech lifted the hood, and nothing immediately jumped out as "aftermarket," then getting on with the process so that they can get another vehicle into the bay as quickly as possible tended to be the focus.

If the vehicle, as a whole, appears to be "modified," then it's a different story. Aftermarket radio is fine on a vehicle of this age, but if there's an aftermarket steering wheel, gauges, air intake, lowered suspension, etc., then the car is going to attract more attention.

But if it's been done cleanly, I question whether an inspector is going to notice a stock-looking '03 Miata engine under the hood of a '95 body. Obviously this assumes that the turbo and whatnot are gone and all stock intake / exhaust hardware are in their place. (I've never checked- does an NB2 airbox attach to the mounting points of an NA body?)

 

It must have an OEM PCM to pass the Referee test. It also has to be certified as unmodified, retain OBDII coms, have no codes pending, and they will reset it during the test to make sure it is not spoofing the readiness state. The PCM was the hardest thing to satisfy the referee during my test. It would not return a VIN which then required a dealer having to certify that it was the correct PCM (Federal, 2005) for the emissions equipment. I tested 3 different PCM at the dealer to see if any of them would return a VIN. None did, but that helped me prove that mine was legit. If your car is a CA car, then you have to put in a CA PCM and emissions equipment. It was a pain, but it can be done.

I have a CARB legal 1991 with a 2005 VVT swap. I really should do a build thread on it before I forget everything that has been done to it.

Went to grad school at Clemson. Loved the bike riding there in SC. Good luck here in SoCal.

 

Must be a hell of a job offer to move from upstate SC to SoCal...

 

Here's a "cheat sheet" for you, taken directly from the results of my OBD1 1995 that I submitted for SMOG a couple months ago:



Remember, its not just a visual, there's a functional component as well.

 

Sigh... sounds like non op is probably the way to go. That way I can enjoy it for a couple more years on California tracks and then part it out if I ever want to get rid of it.

Efini - Definitely is an awesome opportunity

 

EXOCET!!!!!

94 here checking in - non-op so tow to the track and that's about it.....there are still some guys out there that can get you to "pass" for a hefty fee but they are few and far between...The problem in CA that I see is that less shops do the rolling tests (lots do the new plug-in style) and the ones still doing it in my neck of the woods are sticklers for CARB # stickers and verifying everything.....

Being OBD 1 you could try doing a CARB legal exhaust and an intake (any year) - I don't think they would look/find the computer to verify it was stock as its not on there list of things to check.....As far as the VVT actuator I dont think they would notice it as not being factory.....doing the CARB-BAR swap is painful....

I have looked into the Montana registration process just so I can bed in brakes in the neighborhood and go to cars and coffee events.
https://www.49dollarmontanaregistere...a-registration
​​​​​​​

 

​​​​​​Yeah, that's the dream.
If I had to guess, the majority of those things probably get sold to CA buyers to then SB100 them into non-emissions 60s Lotus7 clones. Or whatever. I'd be lying if I said I hadn't seriously considered one.

 

Registering in Montana seems no less risky than keeping it registered here in SC. Keeping it parked in a garage and not being a jerk makes it seem less likely to be caught by that CHP reporting thing... maybe run that until I'm pulled over once, use the "I just shipped it out" defense, and then register it non-op? I also still have the original California plates for it if I ever need to park it outside for an extended period...
I met the owner of exomotive and drove one of their cars at Atlanta motorsports park a few weeks ago - super nice group. It does sound like a lot of work, and I'm not sure what that gets me if I still need to follow 1995 smog rules.

 

Ahh, but that's the trick with the Exocet.

Here in California our legislators, in a fit of logic and reason that was to pass quite quickly, approved the BAR SB100 "Specially Constructed Vehicles" program. Car or Hot Rod culture basically started here and the program was enacted because they knew they had to have some way for old guys to register their crazy hot rod projects. At this point I need to be clear on something, you CANNOT SB100/SPCNS register a Miata. It started life as a Miata, it has a VIN that says its a Miata, and as far as the DMV cares it will always be a Miata. They only allow so many SPCNS vehicles to be constructed per year, and there are some additional hoops you have to jump through to make the process work. (I just did a shitload of hand-waiving, lol) It costs a couple grand in fees and there are a ton of inspections, but if you stick with it you come out the other end with a vehicle you can drive on the street with a license plate. Not all DMVs have staff that know how the SPCNS process works so it pays to do your homework. I used to be nearly impossible to get one because of the army of drones that were sent out by SoCal builders like Boyd Coddington and Chip Foose to gobble them up on Jan 1, but now that the economy sucks and the boomers who buy such vehicles are dying out, its a fairly streamlined process.

If you tell them its a 1995 Miata, it has to meet 1995 Miata emissions requirements. If you tell them its a 1967 Lotus 7 replica, it has to pass 1967 Lotus 7 emissions requirements, of which there are none. THAT is the beauty of the Exocet with SB100/SPCNS registration in California. We've got a couple guys here on the forum that have gone through the process that can probably help illuminate it better than I can, but I'll leave it to them to doxx themselves.

But is it worth $10k-$15k to buy a Exocet kit, destroy your Miata to built it, then pay another $1k-2k to title it, and then be stuck driving a jungle gym with no safety features other than a containment seat waiting to be crushed by a tattoo-sleeved backwards flat bill'd hat wearing late 30's dude in lifted diesel Dodge brodozer?

I submit that it is not, and PNO+trailer is the easy button here. But you do you.

 

Having recently left California, I can assure you that the state does not want you to modify/enjoy your car. To someone's comment above, the state has gotten a lot worse since 2013. It is all about getting people to buy new cars (state revenue), and not about the environment.

Good luck finding a place that will warm up the rolling road test (star testing site), and offer any leniency in passing you. The state's punishment for lenient smog test sites is draconian at best, and they do sting operations all the time.

If your Miata is your only passion, you can make it happen but you will have to have a completely OEM set of parts that get reinstalled every 2 years. People do it. PNO is the way to go if you want to keep it and are content to only drive on track.

 

We also whine about it incessantly, and then drink to drown our sorrows.

 

Having to smog a modded vehicle is a bummer

 

Correct, specifically the drinking part.

 

Now that's one thing that is cheaper in California, as long as you're not drinking at restaurants. Especially if you live in the central valley, where there's nothing else to do

 

There was a time in my life that I thought I'd never say I ******* love Ohio. But I ******* love Ohio.

 

I have to deal with similar issues even though I live thousands of miles away from California.

Aftermarket and after the fact power adders were banned a while ago over here. Forget about swapping a V8 in a Miata, or a turbo, for that matter.

So, I take my car in the garage a couple days before the all important inspection, remove everything, and make it look as stock as humanly possible, only to revert it back to its twin turbo glory a day or two after securing my roadworthy certificate.
I pull the engine with the transmission twice in a week to do all that, and my only consolation is it gives me a chance to do major maintenance while the car's guts are out.

As for the MS, it is perfectly capable of passing the tailpipe test with a functioning catalytic converter. They do not check for codes on a 1998 NB.

 

I setup my car for this eventuality. Start with a FM CARB-legal kit. Left my LS coils batch fire. All I really have to swap is the fuel rail, coils, plug in my MAF and the ECU/voodoo box. Can do that in a single day. SMOG it, and decide whether I want to swap it back that day or wait until the next. Done and done.