[mgarblik]

Glad to help. I owned a Cutlass from that time frame but unfortunately it was a 231 V-6 which really kind of ruined the car. But it was a nice looking and riding car.

[400 4spd.]

I'm confused. You used to live in California and moved away. Why would you move back?

[getmygoat]

Originally Posted by 400 4spd.

I'm confused. You used to live in California and moved away. Why would you move back?

We are doing a one year experimental move to Alabama. We moved here for the good schools and there are in-laws in town. Its all about whether the wife thinks the kids are adjusting and happy. So far, its a struggle. Also, my wife is a california girl and I'm expecting she won't be stoked for the Alabama winter when it arrives.

Anyway, I'm not sure what's going to happen, but its not at all certain we are here permanently.

[400 4spd.]

Gotcha. As a resident of a southern state, I can see the new location being a huge cultural stretch. Tennessee might be a compromise?

[OG68]

Originally Posted by mgarblik

Don't want to get too far off track, but like to learn things. Just tell me if this is right. If the car was built to meet Federal Emissions and now is in CA, a Federal converter can be used. If it was built to CA emissions standards, only a CA converter can be used. Thanks.

Correct.

[Ben M.]

You can be sneaky on this, as long as your emissions sticker doesn't say "California" on it then you can use a Federal 49-state (that is technically a 47 state now) catalytic converter. If it wasn't in the system ever in California in the last 20 years as a "California emissions" car then the state may have no way to prove if it was or was not a federal car - back in the day engine VINs didn't always correspond to them. The biggest importance is that it HAS to be the original style of converter. Pontiac engines and many many of the early cars used a 2-way cat converter, but many of them switched to 3-way in the late 1970s-early 1980s and require the extra smog pump connection to be present and functioning. They used to just sell you the best flowing 3-way cat and your car ran clean as a whistle, but sometime in the 2010s they changed the law to make it be an "identical to factory" style converter. Also, if your car requires exhaust pressure to make the EGR function a free-flowing cat will get you a failed emissions test as well.

So... make it look identical to a 49-state car if the engine VIN code isn't California-specific and if the core support emissions sticker isn't a California one (replacement ones are available for most popular car lines) and ensure you've got a good flowing catalytic converter and ALL of the smog equipment like the EGR and A.I.R. pump (if equipped) is functioning. Easy peasy.

My experience making Pontiac 400s pass taught me a lot of tricks on how to hop them up and still pass emissions. There's a lot of details for the 45+ year old cars that the techs these days just don't have a clue on and there are no references for them to easily consult, so if it looks good enough and passes clean enough you likely will be fine. But as stated, there are many gotchas out there to trip you up if you don't know them. And also, don't argue with the smog techs even if it is a 20 year old dipsh!t who thinks he knows more than you.

The absolute dumbest part of all of this is it doesn't matter how clean it is, it will still fail if it doesn't "look" like they want it to or have "factory" emissions equipment. Just gotta game it to get it through cleanly.