Any of the FI kits CARB approved yet?
 

Any of the Turbo or Supercharger kits CARB approved or pending?

I've been trying to keep up but there's just way too much noise in some of these FI threads. Any help would be great.

The Vortech kit is in the process of getting certified. From what I understand this pertains to their complete kit, and not their tuner kit

Simple answer is no

Not yet. Like sdsubie said, Vortech is applying for CARB approval in the near future.

http://www.ft86club.com/forums/showthread.php?t=31633

Yeah, very important for people to understand that Vortech is CARB approved ONLY with their tune. Using a different tune renders it non-CARB approved.

Ive heard mixed opinions but does CARB approval = CA legality? Their tune doesnt bother me because theres not really a way of knowing if its vortechs tune or not lol I doubt the smog tech will care that much to check.

Being CA legal in the future really would convince me to shell out for their kit.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I317 using Tapatalk 2

CARB stands for California Air Resources Board. They're the non-elected lawmakers in California where air quality is concerned. So yes, CARB approval automatically means CA legal.

Vortech does the CARB thing so often, it's almost guaranteed that if they say they're going for CARB approval, they will get it.

It should be noted that you'll only get a CARB sticker if you purchase the complete Vortech kit, as that is the only kit that is going through the approval process. Tuner kits will not get the sticker, even after the Vortech complete kit passes CARB approval.

Of course, nothing stops you from buying the complete kit, then going to a third-party tuner for their custom tune. Technically you'd be in violation of CARB, but as you said - no inspection tech will know the difference.

Edit: clarified complete vs. tuner kit - I realize that there are third party vendors that will sell the complete kit as well, so it isn't necessarily purchasing direct from Vortech.

Yeah I've already planned on buying the full kit as long as there's not problems running it in Cali but I'll probably end up wanting a smaller pulley lol even though it violates CARB. As long as I have the stickers I'm sure the tech won't even care.

They will care if it fails the physical or visual inspection. You will have to take the official install diagram so they can ensure its proper. Get ready to visit the state referee every time you get pulled over and they make you pop your hood. A lot of police officers don't buy the sticker deal and will send you to the referee to ensure it is legit. As long as your tune is clean and the ecu reports that all emission systems are OK you will pass. Last time I went I had an ecutek flash still on my Subaru but it ran even cleaner than stock. The ref even congratulated me. Problem was that all this costs time and money to do.
They also cross reference your sticker and kit over the internet on the carb site. It shows up with pics and all the details.

I agree that you should be ready to have every cop take every chance to send you to the referee station. However the referee probably wont ask for "install diagrams" as you could argue that a third party installed the kit and as such you never received the instructions. On our cars, seeing as how they have CAN communication systems for the ECU's, they dont perform a communication or functionality check with ecu because it would fail regardless (even with a completely stock ecu). And in my time as a SMOG tech I've never had to access the CARB accessory database, but I'm pretty sure the info for accessories isn't very detailed (but I could be wrong).

This is a link to the page that most referees will use:
http://www.arb.ca.gov/msprog/aftermk...es/amquery.php

Hopefully the link works...

I feel so sorry for car enthusiasts in California... Damn.....

Don't. We have an "inversion" layer here that's caused by the mountain ranges. It traps pollution in the Los Angeles basin and is nasty. I'm glad the air here is pretty clean compared to 30 years ago. Other cities in the US are different. You had your pollution blown away because there were no geographic features to block it. Not so in CA.