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Colorado emissions changes?

6872xtc

6872xtc

make mine modified
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First off, I don't know if this should be in the garage, secondly, I DO NOT want this to be a discussion about politics, nor the governor of Colorado. I will try to keep my opinion to myself.

I heard someone say that they had a decent source telling them that Colorado is adopting California emission standards in the next year or so. They already snuck into effect the California VOC regulations, and didn't even bother to retype it, just said "as per California regulations " . So, has anyone found or heard anything pertaining to this?

And how bad could this hose me as I contemplate cutting the cats off of my project '01 GMC? (I wanted to decrease the possibility of problems after the cam swap.) And 280K on them anyway.

@Bent77 @mrk5 @Capt Ron have you any information?

@skunked would you mess with an '01 with modifications?
 
Are they banning Camaro’s because there’s to much copper in the brake pads? If not then I think you’re ok.
 
6872xtc said:
First off, I don't know if this should be in the garage, secondly, I DO NOT want this to be a discussion about politics, nor the governor of Colorado. I will try to keep my opinion to myself.

I heard someone say that they had a decent source telling them that Colorado is adopting California emission standards in the next year or so. They already snuck into effect the California VOC regulations, and didn't even bother to retype it, just said "as per California regulations " . So, has anyone found or heard anything pertaining to this?

And how bad could this hose me as I contemplate cutting the cats off of my project '01 GMC? (I wanted to decrease the possibility of problems after the cam swap.) And 280K on them anyway.

@Bent77 @mrk5 @Capt Ron have you any information?

@skunked would you mess with an '01 with modifications?
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I haven't heard anything about it but because of Rona I have not been meeting with car dealer/law enforcement friends like I used to. I believe it's only going to get worse.

I am already planning my exit from Colo because of the outrageous fees/rules when it comes to our hobby. I couldn't care less about the politics crap but when it cost me almost $100.00 just to RENEW the license plates on a trailer I have owned for years and OVER $500.00 just to apply for a title for the 84 K5 I bought from Jack {no license plates mind you just to title it in my name}, something's gotta give. {Rant Off}
 
In CA you need to have all the emissions equipment that originally came with the vehicle for anything after ‘75. So if they’re going to adopt the CA laws then you’d be required to put the cats back on to pass the visual and sniffer.
 
I'd like to say I hope it don't happen, but don't see how it's not going to happen eventually. The Colorado Auto Dealer Association is a pretty good Lobby that fights stupid legislation. I get emails from them at work normally on stuff like that and haven't noticed anything on the radar. They fought off a similar thing when Hickenlooper was the gov.

I'm going to have to look further into it.
 
Thanks for any input. I was about to get the sawzall out this Saturday. I should probably hold off on that.

I thought that I understood that CA requires swapped engines to keep the emission equipment for what they had from the factory. Like a '90 with a '04 engine would require cats and a sniff test like it was an '04.
I may be able to eliminate the EGR since I am going to use an LQ9 from an '04 Escalade which doesn't have EGR. But rear O2 sensors and cats may have to stay. Not sure if I would end up having to put them back on in the future.
 
I’m not too familiar with swapped engines, but it would make sense that the emissions equipment and sniffer readings would be the same as the engine that was swapped in.
 
6872xtc said:
Thanks for any input. I was about to get the sawzall out this Saturday. I should probably hold off on that.

I thought that I understood that CA requires swapped engines to keep the emission equipment for what they had from the factory. Like a '90 with a '04 engine would require cats and a sniff test like it was an '04.
I may be able to eliminate the EGR since I am going to use an LQ9 from an '04 Escalade which doesn't have EGR. But rear O2 sensors and cats may have to stay. Not sure if I would end up having to put them back on in the future.
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Well, my 8.1 is breathing free without cats since I'm not in an emissions county. My S10 is too, but it came to me that way.

I don't mind the idea of putting them on other than the cost. The question is how on earth would the state deal with the sheer amount of swapped vehicles at the point of the new requirements going into effect. Would they grandfather the units that were completed prior to the change? Require testing only? Would the goons at the Aircare stations get spread statewide? Adopt the CA standards for emissions referees? All up in the air right now I guess.
 
Swapping engines in California is an iffy deal. The swap needs to be approved by carb,inspected, and issued a bar code for inspection stations to use for testing, and there aren't many allowed. But they do want all the controls and equipment for mfg year of engine.
The 1975 and older exemption is for the biannual inspection. 75 an older cars are expected to maintain all emissions equipment. CHP could do road side inspection, and issue fix it tickets to modified 75 and older cars.
I haven't seen a road side inspection since the early 70's, other than temp commercial sites on back roads.
So Ca. now has a California compliant catalytic converter rule, cats must carry California cert number. This number adds @ 100%
to the cost. I wonder if Co. is adopting that as well. New car are given 6 year exemption from biannual inspection, and no Dyno test. Just visual and computer scan, 2000 and up.
 
skunked said:
@6872xtc ditch the cats but keep them on the shelf in case you need them later.
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That's the thought I had.

I know some guys who are and have swapped newer engines in. They will be in a pinch if things go extreme.

And @ZooMad75 , I would guess that government won't think about the disaster it will cause getting older and swapped vehicles in compliance. They would see it as a tax windfall by creating revenue and jobs. Not that I expect them to admit that, it would be completely about the environment.

If they were to only go back to the 2000 models, that would help a lot. My '90 Jimmy would not need addressing. Living in an emissions free county for so many years makes this rumor spooky. And I'm not even one of the many who have deleted a late model diesel truck.

I guess it's a waiting game. Maybe someone will hear more before it gets enacted.
 
New york is almost as bad as cali in emissions rules and tax / title fee's .

And since eary 2000's when they started plug in testing for 96 - newer i am amazed there is no testing for diesel . There is so many deleted diesels around its hard to find a clean one unless its still under warranty.

And in new york the DEC = DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL CONSERVATION police can give you a ticket for black smoke . There normal job is mostly wildlife and land pool protection but this crosses over to this 1 part of auto laws .
 
Lucky for me Utah only has it in the most urban areas. My side of the state is safe. They also did away with annual state vehicle inspections a few years ago for non-commercial vehicles.
 
A little clarification here. Having a little caffeine clears the mind some I guess.


The coming adoption of california emissions standards is particular to the zero emissions segment. This will come into place for the 2023 model year. Manufacturers will be required to sell more zero emissions vehicles. 4.9% in '23 and up to 6.1% by '30.

This was adopted this year but has no bearing on existing vehicles. Meaning those of us non-cat equipped scofflaws are in the clear for now.

I have not found any news report to indicate of coming legislation to tighter regs on older vehicles.
 
ZooMad75 said:
I have not found any news report to indicate of coming legislation to tighter regs on older vehicles.
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Same here. I do think it's a bit silly to require emissions compliance on project vehicles or occasional cruisers like my '84 Jimmy.

I wish there was a show car or mileage cap exemption for emissions-required counties like mine. Kind of like the antique plates.
 
regal403 said:
Same here. I do think it's a bit silly to require emissions compliance on project vehicles or occasional cruisers like my '84 Jimmy.

I wish there was a show car or mileage cap exemption for emissions-required counties like mine. Kind of like the antique plates.
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The classic plates would have worked, but you still would have needed to get the emissions test done first. But the plates are good for 5 years. Problem is they rolled it back from being available to any vehicle 25 years old or older to 1975 and older. The change was made in 2009. So if you had classic plates prior to the change you were allowed to keep them. Since you just bought it this year it's no bueno.

The plates did have a 4,500 mile per year limit on them. To and from shows, club activities, conventions, parades or special occasions. My Dad has a set on his '85 El Camino he still drives.

Sadly no other option.
 
I have not heard about any specific actions being taken, but I know that matching CA emissions was one of the governors stated goals when he was elected. So I've figured it's only a matter of time.

I'm thinking they will start requiring emissions testing across the entire state. Currently my area doesn't have to. My hope is that it will wait until my plates renew in 2021 and the crew cab will be eligible for collector plates. In an area that does emissions testing you would have to have the 1 test and then never again unless the vehicle is sold. Since I'm in an emissions exempt area, I'm hoping to not need that first test. Then hopefully if they start requiring emissions for my area, I will be grandfathered in. Unless they totally change the collector plate requirements too.

Otherwise, if I have to emissions test the crew cab, I'm out of luck with a 454 in a truck that came with a TBI350. Luckily the C10 daily driver is a 73 so it would be okay even with CA emissions it sounds like.

I've actually been holding off on some stuff I want to do with the crew cab until I know for sure how the emissions requirements are going to shake out over the next couple years.
 
frankin5 said:
Just Federal law violation.
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Shhh...don't rat me out dude.. (realizing that I outed myself on a public forum)

Plus I'm pretty sure a modern sequential port injection big block is cleaner than the tbi 350 that would have come in mine.
 
ZooMad75 said:
Plus I'm pretty sure a modern sequential port injection big block is cleaner than the tbi 350 that would have come in mine.
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That's the thing that really gets me. Just put an analyzer in the tail pipe. If it's cleaner than it's supposed to be, why does all the other stuff matter?
 
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