California owners and others

[cuban]

here is the deal. I am in tokyo japan and this fall/winter i am coming back to the states for 30 days on vaccation and to pick up a car to be sent to japan thanks to the military.** for you military members it can be done i have all the paperwork already (not much) and a hook up in TMO who knows what they are doing (RARE) anyways i need to find out what mods can be on a 03-04 cobra and still pass emissions? japan laws a pretty strict but i know if it can pass california emissions it will pass here. and we all know how easy it is to find a stock teminator. so what mods could be on and still pass?

by the way it only has to pass once while i am here and the day it passes depending on mods done already it will be swapped for a whipple, and exhaust. the down side is there will be a mystic or redfire with orange lights above the snake.:nonono: along with export tail lights and a front plate.

any help and information will be gratefully appreciated.

 

[Scout238]

CA is bascially no mods without a carb #. Mild mods like cia and cat back prob be fine in japan

 

[CobraBob]

Check with Marc at UnitedStangs.com. His forum has many Armed Forces members and I believe he is stationed in Japan. He has a 2004 modded Cobra and might have some input for you. Not sure, though, if his Cobra is in Japan or in the States.

 

[CobraBob]

Reading your post again, if you only have to pass emissions once in Japan, why not keep it stock and ship your mods over in the trunk. Then go for emissions, pass, and then install your mods. Most of the mods you'll likely do can be done by you anyway. Just a thought.

 

[cuban]

they will not allow parts in the car other than a set of spare tires no rims, exhaust nothing. and it is expensive as hell to ship big items here. if it were not i would ship the stock mid pipe off my old 03 and not worry about it.

 

[xavier296]

A 2.3 whipple is fully carb legal, even comes with stickers to put under your hood. You just have to keep the stock intake setup. Also, most catbacks are carb legal, but NO current midpipes, not even the magnaflow (which used to say it was carb legal). You could bring some pulleys and a maf air filter adapter in your luggage, and then buy a 4" cone filter in japan and you would be pretty well off. Lots of possibilities really. My 600 hp whippled car just passed emissions here in Cali.

 

[CobraBob]

Above all, be absolutely sure that if your car will pass CA emissions that it will pass in Japan. It would be not good if your car was shipped there and you then found it wouldn't pass due to the mods on your car maybe not be approved. I know nothing about CA vs. Japan emissions laws. Just tossing things out to consider.