I am surprised that no-one has mounted a legal bid against the state, IMO there are some grounds that the state is acting unfairly:

In order to a device to gain CARB status, it should not be very expensive to go through the procedure, instead of thousands of dollars (where/who does this money go?) there should be a flat fee of $50-100, after all they smog test a car for $30 or so, why can't they test a car device for a similiar amount?
Its as if the state has a monopoly on CARB testing and as a monopoly charge obscene amounts of money for its "services".

The "fail if it looks different" sounds borderline legal to me, I can think of no other circumstances in law that wield such power over people with such an arbitrary "test".

I am very surprised that no-one has mounted a legal challenge to Californias smog laws.

 

It's a states rights thing, they can do it if they want to. California has had special emissions regs since... hell, somewhere in the mid 60's. They have consistantly been testing to levels a few years ahead of the federal standard.

It would be nice to live in Florida if the job market didn't suck. If it has four wheels and can move itself, it's legal down there.

 

don't you know? its all about IMAGE! no matter what kind of car you have... u gotta fix it up
yep.

 

you can always pay tha guy to pass you. just gotta ask around, prices generally range from 300-500$ to my knowledge

 

the others are right..as long as you have carb stickers on the aftermarket parts you're fine..i actually smogged today with i/h/cam gears and skunk IM..pass visuals luckily because he couldnt tell the diff with the IM and i had a valve cover where the cam gears arent visible..you should be fine