They are illegal if they are on a car that doesn't have one from the factory. It is the same with most turbos as well. If it isn't carb exempt and it is on a car that doesn't have it from the factory, it is illegal. Check out the carb laws on CARB.com and you will see that there are certain setups on certain cars that are illegal. For instance, my car is smog exempt with the basic Greddy kit w/o intercooler or BOV. Once you add any of those items, the smog exemption is void.

 

I don't know which kits you are talking about but the only one CA CARB exempt is the Greddy kit and it doesn't come with an intercooler.

 

This one.

http://www.edelbrock.com/automotive/...act/index.html

Comes with IC im pretty sure, and has a carb number.

STREET LEGAL TURBO KITS INCLUDE:
* See photo of kit below
* Garrett T28 ball bearing Turbo preassembled with exhaust manifold and elbow, including coolant and oil lines
* Performer X manifold preassembled with secondary fuel rail and four additional injectors
* State-of-the-art electronics to control boosted fuel and timing
* Preassembled Russell fuel and oil lines with adapters
* Large Spearco intercooler with TIG welded cast aluminum end tanks
* Tial blow-off valve
* Edelbrock boost gauge by Auto Meter with A-pillar mount pod
* Ceramic coated Turbo piping and high flow air filter
* All gaskets, adapters and instructions
* O-ring sealed compressor inlet/outlet pipe flanges

 

Yeah, I forgot about that one. They don't make that one for a B series. But yeah, you are right about that. Edelbrock paid a lot of money to get that intercooler CARB exempt and Greddy is in the process of getting theirs CARB exempt. All other kits are illegal. I don't have the edelbrock kit, so mine is illegal, so my point in my previous post is proven.

 

Well, the fact of the matter is that mr.cop isnt going to be pulling over people left and right for having an FMIC, hopefully your neighborhood has more important wrong-doings going on as to allow the local PD to get that bored.

And yes they do make a B series one, they make one for the B16A2 (SiR-II) motor.

And no matter how stealth your kit looks, a big hiss at each shift will throw up redflags

 

full-race makes a nice black anodized fmic.

my contribution to this thread h:

 

I would like to think so. The reason I am so paranoid is I got pulled over the night before I put my turbo on because my exhaust was "too loud". Luckily I didn't get ticketed because I argued with the cop and he looked it up in his little book of "stupid little laws that annoy people and make them hate cops" and it was too vague on how loud it had to be to become "excessive noise". I just want to be safe than sorry around here because the cops have nothing better to do than eat donuts and pull people like me over.

 

Not if you BOV recirculates back into the intake tract. h:

 

Your exhaust is a lot quieter now isn't it? :thumbup:

 

It is still loud until the turbo spools up but yeah, it is noticably quieter.