California smog legal headers?

Hello! , noob to the Tacoma world but og to the toyota rock crawling world here. Any how this is my first post here and ill get down to it.
I recently purchased a 2006 dcsb trd 4x4 tacoma and after driving it for a few months I have come to the conclusion it has a pretty bad exhaust leak and sounds horrible under acceleration. I want to fix this and figured I might as well put a header on and the full cat back if i am going to spend the money. What options do us californians have that are smog legal? I tried searching but found very mixed results any help would be appreciated.

Thanks in advance

 

Your not the only one having trouble with finding headers. Cali suck!!! And I was born here.

 

I though Afe has some,

http://afepower.com/products?year=2006&make=Toyota&model=Tacoma&fuel_type=Gas&engine=V6-4.0L

But lists that they are only 48 State.

Magnaflow might have them?

 

AFE headers comes with their version of high flow cats....but because it's aftermarket, it's not CARB legal.

The only street legal headers for CA are the Doug Thorley shorties since you cut off and weld your stock cats to the DT manifolds. The DT shorties come with a CARB EO # thats visible for smog inspection....

 

I was thinking about buying the afe setup too sheesh this sucks might go with oem replacment it sounds horrible accelerating under and load and when cold has the flutter sound i see is fairly normal accurance with these motors

 

What's to stop one form installing non CARB headers? If it passes smog, who would know? It's not an obvious mod like a CAI or straight piping the exhaust. Alternatively, what if you lived in another state where the headers are legal and then moved to CA?

The DMV person who looked at my truck during registration took less than a minute. Checked mileage, looked under the hood and that was it. No way they'd notice headers. Same at the smog check place. It passed the sniffer test and he was done. Unless obvious, who's to know the exact headers your truck left the factory with? What if the truck was bought used and you never knew?

 

I dunno that can be risky espeically if i were to drop 1500 bucks for exhaust that i have to take back off. Last time I had my old toyota pickup smoged the smog tech got all up in there and inspected the numbers on the cat, then googled it to see if it was ca smog legal... i want to say he did that on my corrolla to when i had to replace the cat on that.

 

Props to that guy's integrity. Now find a new one.

 

I wouldn't risk non-legal smog parts on any vehicle in California, most places are crazy-strict about it. I've read threads on here from guys with TRD superchargers (completely CARB certified and CA legal) get failed on their smog tests simply because they didn't have the sticker under the hood from TRD saying it was CA legal. They are covering their asses because the state can and will come down hard on them if they don't comply with the rules, so they do the same to you.

TRD used to make CA legal headers, I have them on my '04 and they're great. Too bad they stopped making them, they stopped making all the fun stuff

 

They would theoretically notice when they popped the hood for inspection and fail the visual without EO #s. Same regarding purchase, it would have been smogged when sold. There are some things you can get away with only because you can't tell the difference by looking at it. Such as the many people I know with 80s GM vehicles who swapped out 305 long blocks for 350s under the factory fueling system or a cam swap assuming you know how to tune it right.

 

I think i may check out the thorly ones , but then id fork out for new cats as well, ive been building and welding crawler stuff for 15 years i can probabaly handle that lol that afe setup looks really nice tho damnnnn ill have to sit and think a bit looks like stock manifolds are about 500 each?

 

I used to live in San Diego and my experience was it depends on the person doing the inspection. I had a hell of a time for 8 years dealing with getting my 1988 Mustang smogged. Some shops loved it when I rolled up, before 2009 (if I remember correctly) then it got tougher. The last place I went before moving, the guy didn't question my intake manifold (at the time a Cobra replica), or headers, or h-pipe. He questioned of all things, my MSD distributor "CAP".........because it was red. It wasn't a full MSD distributor, but a replacement CAP on my stock Ford distributor......let me repeat, a stock replacement CAP, because it was red. Now, I no longer have to deal with that crap, even though IL isn't any better than CA.

 

Installing Headers and aftermarket CAI and CatBack exhaust won't adversely affect your vehicle passing emissions in California. You'll need to find a smog check shop that will look the other way for the Visual Inspection portion of the test. That is the only part your truck will fail "Smog Check" in California. Rediculous.
I have JBA Shortys, a Volant CAI and a Flowmaster Catback exhaust. And I have to take it to a shop and pay a lil extra for the tech to look the other way. It's not ideal but then again it's the price I pay for great weather in California. (Sarcasm) Lol

 

Just stick with OEM. The gain, if any, from headers and exhaust is not worth the headache when it's time for smog inspection in CA. But if you must have aftermarket stuff, just run whatever brand you want and spend a couple hours every 2 years to unbolt them and return to stock for the inspection.

 

Yeah but my truck sounds better than yours, so it's worth it lol lol

 

Anyone know what is the approach when moving into the state and registering for the first time?

Suppose I lived in another state where headers, CAI, supercharger, etc were perfectly legal. Then I moved to CA. What would the DMV and smog do? Is it possibe you'd be forced to return everything to stock?

 

https://www.dmv.ca.gov/portal/dmv/?...ntent_en/dmv/pubs/brochures/fast_facts/ffvr29

(quoting from the link above)
The Bottom Line
If you are a California resident and acquire a new car, truck, or motorcycle from another state, it must be certified to meet California smog laws to be registered in California. This includes certain diesel-powered vehicles. DMV cannot accept an application to register a vehicle in California that does not qualify for registration (California Health and Safety Code §§43150 - 43156).

Aren't All Vehicles California Certified?
Not all new vehicles are manufactured to be sold in California. Many manufacturers make vehicles to be sold only in the other 49 states. These vehicles (49-state) are made with smog equipment that meets federal emission standards, but not California standards. California-certified (50-state) vehicles are made to be sold in California.

BUT, there are exemptions!!!!! Read on........
Does This Apply to Someone Moving to California?
If you are moving to California from another state, you may register a new 49-state vehicle if it was first registered by you in your home state, or for military personnel, in the last state of your military service. When applying for vehicle registration in California, you must provide evidence that the vehicle was registered.

(my own opinion)
If you are from out of state and moving into CA with a 49-state (non-CA) vehicle. And the vehicle has engine mods that are not CARB legal (no EO #). My guess is that you'll be able to register it initially. You'll pay your $$$ and receive the CA plates and stickers...... but two years from then, you'll need a SMOG inspection to renew your registration and your vehicle will be scrutinized just like any CA car. If your car still has mods that are not CARB legal, you better find a place with a "blind" smog technician.

 

Highly doubt I could be registered initially and then be failed two years later. Bait and switch.

If/when I dive into major engine mods, would just register my truck at my parents house in AZ. No smog checks there and everything's legal.

 

Dude.... you live a stone's throw away from MX. That's where EVERYTHING is legal. EVERYTHING!

 

Lol nope. Unless Tijuana has a shop that can make it go 0-60 in 5 seconds, not taking my truck south of the border.