The paperwork that comes with the Alta 15% pulley says "for off-road use only" and "Legal in California only for racing vehicles". Since this is a very popular mod on many street cars I'm wondering if it is a concern and what makes it illegal.
Can anyone shed a little light?

 

I think it has something to do with CA emissions. I wouldn't worry about it to much as there are many-a-MINI out there with them installed.

 

Thats my guess...

 

I thought about emissions too, but would more air from the supercharger have anything to do with increased emissions?

 

It's just because the configuration has not been tested or certified. It might actually be cleaner, but no testy no legal.

 

I see. I don't imagine this would ever be enforced. It would take getting pulled over for speeding and having an officer who is knowlegable in aftermarket MINI parts inspect under the bonnet. Of course he'd have to catch me first.

 

and remember, the JCW pulley is roughly the same amount of reduction, so it isn't like a completely unknown quantity.

 

Yup, CARB requirements are funny like that. Mods or sunny and 70 year round I vote mods

 

Why is it so hard for people to read the forum headers and post in the correct place. This is a 2nd Gen forum!!!!

Mods?

 

Just saw it. Thread moved.

 

says 1st gen now??? Would be a huge help if the new posts screen would mark the two though

Edit NM Dave posted as I typed

 

As others said, it's emissions related. CARB has strict requirements for product testing before an aftermarket modification can be sold and certified. I wouldn't read too much into it, the visual inspection isn't as intensive as many say, and there are shops with varying degrees of scrutiny :-P. 15% Pulley is a great mod! Big improvement in power!

 

Every time i've been pulled over the cop just writes me a ticket and moves on. They don't have time in a city like LA to worry about whether you're running a reduction pulley, Carb certified airbox, etc. The only time you'd run into any issue is Smog visual inspection.

 

Or getting caught at one of those illegal street events that is known to occur in SoCal

 

Where?!?

 

Seems like a good time to remind folks to read NAM's Site Guidelines, paying particular attention to:

5. LEGAL
Posts relating to street racing, excessive speeding, or violations of other laws are prohibited. If you want to race, take it to a legal venue.

 

Who mentioned racing or wanting to race? I think he was just joking...

 

It was just heading that direction and MINIclo was just posting a reminder....

 

IBTL!

 

Oy... NAM is starting to remind me of living in a world reminiscent of V for Vendetta

 

Its not your day if you run into a smog tech or a policeman who looks for AND can tell the difference between a reduction pulley and OEM.

 

The point is to make sure in advance that the tech you're using is "More forgiving" than others. FYI You don't have to get your car smogged until 5 years after you purchase it new, so i'm looking at 2011 before I have to deal with it. By then i'll have moved on to another car or will just use a smog tech that focuses on the facts instead of the rules. In the state of CA if your car comes back from smog having 30% reduced emissions from the factory and they find out that the air filter you're using doesn't have a smog filter, it fails... go figure :-). It's about busting people's chops, not about improving the air quality.

As for getting pulled over, CARB is mainly a source of revenue, if you get a ticket here you don't have to fix it, you can just walk in and pay 15-20 dollars more and leave your car the way it is... I got a ticket for no front license plate, it was 5 dollars if you put it back on, or 20 dollars if you didn't. I just paid the 20 dollars and moved on.

I still stand by the fact that if you get pulled over for doing 56 in a 50 a cop isn't going to ask you to pop your hood, look for carb stickers, take the intercooler off, dig around to see if the pulley is aftermarket, etc. 95% of the cops out here pull people over in chains, meaning they'll nab 2-3 people at once, write a few tickets, and do it again. They're not going to spend 3 hours inspecting cars at each traffic stop.

LA County has over 12 million people in it, and 3 major police agencies, the CHP, LA County Sheriff, and LAPD, how many officers do you think they have total for a given area? 600-700? It would seem like an enormous waste of resources at a time when it already takes well over an hour for an armed patrol unit to respond to VIOLENT police call to have them out spending an hour on each car they ticket.

That being said, I got pulled over for doing 95 on the freeway rushing home at 2 am when I was younger, the cop wrote me a ticket and left, took about 10 minutes. Didn't even ticket me for tinted windows.

I don't really speed anymore, occasionally when i'm on the freeway to keep up with traffic i'll go 10 mph faster or so, but nothing crazy. I haven't gotten a ticket in years, but every ticket i've got the cop wrote it and left, that was it.

The only incident I know of where that anyone got tickets for modifications was when the Santa Barbara PD decided to raid the Socal meet Norcal meet up at the fairgrounds a few years back. They literally set up a barracade for the cars leaving and stopped EVERY SINGLE CAR and issued tickets. Needless to say they moved the meet :-\. If they want to do crap like that, we're not interested in paying THOUSANDS to rent out the fairgrounds to hold a permitted event there :-\.

 

Emissions-related tickets are a handled little differently than other "fix-it" type tickets. If you get a ticket for an emissions item and do not fix it, you will find that you can not register your car until you resolve the fix-it item (either bring the car back into conformance or get a waiver from a referee). If you want to roll the dice on driving the car without current registration, that is your choice, but after 6 months, you run the risk of having the car impounded and ultimately sent to the crusher when emissions items are not in compliance.

 

Well, as with other emissions related issues, CA does not have the resources to regulate all of the emissions crap themselves. There are plenty of repair shops that will sign off on emissions tickets. I'm not too worried about getting tickets, I don't really speed, and when I do, I'm reasonable about it (5-10 mph over). I'm not going to base what I do to my car on how easy it is to restore it to stock afterwards. If it gets that bad, I'll go register it in another state :-).

 

officer: "do you know why i pulled you over?"
me: "was it cuz i was doing 50 in a school zone?"
officer: "nope, its because i can tell by the sound of your supercharger you have an aftermarket pulley, which we all know is illegal in the great state of california!"