California State Modification Laws - E36 M3 BMW Mods

[spro]

1- I have an E36 M3 which was modified many years ago. Dinan exhaust, software, intake etc. Have any of you in the bayarea or sacramento area run into issues with the cops given the new california modification laws? Want to understand how worried I should be.

2- Second, I have not received a smog check request with my registration notice for 4 years (car is a 1998). I can' t find any reason why I have not been asked to smog the vehicle. Thoughs? note: My car is registered in a county that requires smog.


Thanks

[JDStrickland]

I do not know of any laws that cover the mods you are asking about. Your car is OBD II, and these are the rules that will govern the things you can or cannot modify. You are required to have the OBD II stuff, and this includes the ECU and CATs. The smog shop would know if you have these items, or not, and not having them is an instant fail.

As much as I would wonder about not getting my car smogged, I would wait for the State to tell me that it is required. This is one of those times when, no news is good news. If nobody tells you to smog the car, just keep your mouth shut. You get registration renewals each year, and they put an S on them in the years when a smog is required. And, if a smog is required, then ought not process your registration papers if you do not have the test done.

[E36 Em Tree]

I had a BMW (before this one) that had the dinan intake, TB, strut tower bar, and tune... i had stickers for all of them but some shops that are sticklers will look up each CARB E.O number, others will see the stickers and just pass on visual. As far as cops, never once had an issue with a modded car being stopped by a cop. I'm also in CA so smog is required every 2 years and usually these cars are considered high emission and they put you on rollers, OBD scan and give the car a nice thorough look around. And in CA you also need smog to transfer title and register (at least as far as the law is concerned)