Just reading this article. Glad I live in NJ and not Mass
Just reading this article. Glad I live in NJ and not Mass
Wow, that's worse than NY making window tint an inspection item...
I was going to write something snarkier but I'll settle for it sounds like a Nascar Pit Lane monitoring team of officials trying to catch teams cheating. 
Almost all my E36 M3 is in violation somehow, a lot of stuff in very big ways (ls turbo trophy truck lol) not to mention 3 cats that started life na and are now turbo. If this ends up being real, it's Very bad for me. Scary.
Man that is seriously big brother. Is inspection fraud so much of a problem there that this is even necessary or are they creating a problem to fix that doesn't exist (at least in substantial quantities?)
There's arguments to be made either way in terms of the inspections. I'm not a huge fan of them but when I lived in California, who doesn't have safety inspections, it was sometimes downright scary to be sharing the road with people that have a complete disregard for even the most basic maintenance and still drive like shiny happy people.
It is real folks. I am an inspector and mandatory training has started. I may actually let my license laps because of so much big brother that is now going to be part of the new system.
I am all for a more uniform system and for weeding out those stations that don't really inspect any safety items but this new system is like we are all now guilty of cheating on inspections.
I actually think that I am very thorough in my inspections but that being said I also know I have just plain forgot to inspect things.
Somthing to note is that in the current inspection we do not open the hood so unless things change there will be no inspection of anything under the hood. It is strictly a safety inspection from the exterior and asking the cars computer if everything is good.
Good. I can usually make the computers in cars think everything is ok :)
the article talked of checking all emissions equipment the car is supposed to have.. from the beginnings of emissions equipment. They even singled out cold air intakes (Which have no effect on emissions) as being not in compliance. I would hate to try to bring an LS swapped car through
This adjustment is going to be REALLY hard on a whole lot of the population. Massachusetts has had a cut-off date for emissions and such. When a car is a certain number of years old the emissions equipment is no longer required, it's fair game for modifications, engine swaps, all sorts of things. This new stricter approach is going to force all of these older cars to be removed from service. The air pumps and recirculation canisters, air rail exhaust manifolds, cats, brackets, valves and such have long since been removed and tossed out. This plain and simply will end hot rodding in Massachusetts for good. Not sure what the numbers are for money spent with aftermarket vendors and shops across the state, but all of that will dry up. A lot of hardship will have to be absorbed here.
Normally these sort of things are just a lot of doom and gloom that never comes to be, but the contracts have been signed and money spent, and evidently, inspectors being trained. This is seriously the end for a whole industry in Massachusetts; custom shops, installers, vendors, buyers, all gone soon. Even cruise nights will change or disappear. With no m ore modified 60's, 70's or 80's cars present, they'll either look like an antique Model A and B gathering or the parking lot at the mall with a whole lot of shiny wheels.
This is a very serious occurrence that will change the world for a while lot of us ! ! !
Removing cats has always been illegal, so no change there. The ride height thing was ignored but lowering a car 2 inches or more usually makes it handle worse, so no issue there.
The rest of it may be problematic though, especially for the older, more classic cars....
It is going to suck for a very small percentage of the cars I inspect. I help out a shop every now and then in a relitivly affluent part of the state to I won't see much if any of this.
The real interesting thing is that this got through and is now law with out any vote of any kind by the public. I really see this as government over reaching. It is also going to kill the used car market and put car ownership out of reach for the group of people that can least afford to not have a car. I really see this as an attack on the low income people. Really annoys me. The high end modern car owners are not the people working the tough jobs and living check to check. It will prevent low income people from being able to live in the suburbs because they can now not afford a car and the public transportation is abismal. This really is class segregation under the guise of better emissions.
We currently can pass a car that does not get an emissions test even if the check engin light is on. I wonder if hat will change.
I'm interested to see what happens with this. I'm in the process of moving from MA to CA and dreading having to get my Miata legal for here, but it seems like I might have had to do it anyway.
Dean, what's the law in MA with airbags? For instance, replacing a steering wheel with an aftermarket one? My legalese is not good enough to figure out the MA regs from their online resource and I've been curious.
If the srs light is on you fail
if the srs light does not come on at start up and go out it is a fail.
If the car had an airbag and it is removed and I know this I think it would be a fail but I am not sure. I think the way around this would be if it was an option that you could get the the same year make and model with out it then I think it would be a pass but I would want to look that one up and or call the inspectors hotline to confirm.
Learn what the actual changes are first before you get too upset.
We had a similar situation here. Not yearly inspections, but safety inspections (for the purposes of transfer) were updated recently and it didn't take long before everybody was talking about the big changes, with examples that were not even close to true, and how most modified cars would no longer pass. What they actually did was mostly update the record keeping portion of inspections and there was little functional difference for the actual safety check.
docwyte said:Removing cats has always been illegal, so no change there. The ride height thing was ignored but lowering a car 2 inches or more usually makes it handle worse, so no issue there.
The rest of it may be problematic though, especially for the older, more classic cars....
Without a doubt. My 77 Fiat needs an air pump powered off of the intake cam. 99% of them were removed back in the 70s because they would fail, seize, and stop the cam dead. You know what happens to a fiat when the cams don't turn right.
And what of my saab that about to undergo T5 conversion. Yes, it will have emissions for the later NG900, but not the original 87 it is.
Left MA in 1990. There were crazy stupid issues back then. Seems like the Big Brother is getting bigger.
As a state inspector in another state I would have to rethink my plans as I would have major issues with being observed and micromanaged by a state employee who is paid by the hour Vs. myself who is performance pay.
BTW: Someone is going to get to see mad ass crack.
The actual changes are just as they were described in the article. I visited the garage that works on my Mustang and does the yearly inspection. They already have the new equipment in the back of the bay covered up just waiting to be utilized.
The owner confirmed that the biggest problem is going to be with the cars that have had the emissions equipment removed during the old emissions cut-off date system. With the new standards requiring that this equipment, if on the car when new, now be required to be on the car once again a while lot of cars are going to fail and be taken off of the road, most likely for good. If a forty-plus year old car is going to now require an EGR valve and air pump again, stock exhaust to provide the air rails for the pump and everything else, it really does appear that the "hobby" will take a bad hit come October first. I'm only repeating what my mechanic/inspector told me. I think that it's wishful thinking this time around that things won't come to pass as they're described. With additional state income on the line due to longer inspection times and a consideration of dropping the flat inspection rate and switching over to an hourly rate instead, a state like Massachusetts is going in full speed for sure. Hell, they'd pretty much tax your taxes if they could get away with it.
Usually the way engine swaps work is you bring over all the emissions stuff from the newer motor you're putting in. That satisfies the smog folks.
Federal law prohibits backdating a motor, so you can't put an older motor into a newer chassis. When I put the LS into my 951, I had to have the air pump, cats, 4 O2 sensors from the LS....
that's true Doc, but I am not doing a motorswap, the engines are almost the same except for orientation, head, and injection/ignition systems. The only change would be me putting a much newer injection/ignition system onto an engine 10 years older
As a Californian I am just going to sit here and eat popcorn. That is actually worse then what we have here. That is saying something.
Federal law prohibits installing an older motor only in cars that are still under the emissions umbrella. In Massachusetts, once a car reached a certain age, you were allowed to do pretty much anything that you wanted. Old Chrysler Hemi engines from the fifties installed in '63 Chevy Gassers, 215 Buick engines from the sixties installed in 80's TR7s to mimic TR8s, 40's Mercury flatheads installed into 50's Fords and Mercury lead sleds. Everything was allowed. The hoods were never opened during the safety checks, only lights. horns, wipers, etc. (safety equipment) were looked at and the older cars were exempt form emissions checks. Engine swaps of any year into any year were no problem at all once the cars fell out of the emissions cut-off dates/rolling emissions law. October first will change all that. I sure hope not, be really nice if some sort of stall might take effect over privacy issues or malfunctioning equipment (like last time) or anything at all, but this time it looks like it's for real. Honestly, I wouldn't mind one bit if this new "law" brought all of those rediculous pick up trucks back down to earth and forced the removal of those flame thrower style multiple head lights, wouldn't mind that one little bit. I'm totally in favor of the law if it can accomplish that alone!
Never understood why turn signals get checked. 
nutherjrfan said:Never understood why turn signals get checked.
Wait? They actually have turnsigals in cars from Mass? I have never seen one used
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