How She Look???
TECH Enthusiast
Joined: Jul 2002
Posts: 653
Likes: 0
From: Mannheim, Germany
tones2SS pmed me thanking me for the compliments but commenting about how he doesn't want to mod is car in fear of illegalness.
I was gonna PM him back but I figured I'd post my response here for those other people out there afraid to mod.
My words of encouragement:
I can totally understand your concern with trying to stay legal. I was disappointed when I couldn't fit my carsound cats because of ground clearance. For now, I'm ok though since I'm in the Army in Kansas, which has no state vehicle inspections (I was suprised by that too).
I'm from New Hampshire originally though. I would recommend looking around at what other people are getting away with for legalness. A custom exhaust shop like Lou's Custom Exhaust in N. Reading will prolly give you a sticker or else refer you to someone who will. Another thing is you could ask some ricers (because there are a lot of them) where they get their illegal cars inspected.
A cop isn't going to give you ticket unless you're being stupid or speeding. A year ago, when I lived by the seacoast in NH, the cops were issuing tickets to ricers left and right for simply having "a modified exhaust". I knew one guy, who's prelude wasn't even as loud as a stock SS, who got a ticket. I lived right in the middle of town and drove past the same cops that were giving these tickets 2-3 times every day and they never gave me so much as a dirty look. All I had for a muffler was a 12 inch dynomax bullet which is a straight through pipe with fiberglass wrapped around the inner wall. Cops hate ricers but they like our american muscle cars.
Nobody is gonna give you a problem for lowering an inch. you'll still have over 5 inches of clearance under your kmember. I think the MA minimum is 4" My front is lowered about 2" and I have about 4" of clearance under the K. If I had to do it over, which I will, I'll lower it less so I have more clearance for my new dual exhaust.
I had 3 garages that wouldn't inspect my car in NH since I had a bullet muffler and then I went to small shop and the guy said that he spoke to state inspection rep 2 days prior and he said the rep basically said that loud exhausts have more to do with how theyre driven than anything so as long as there's a muffler the driver will be getting the ticket, not the inspection shop. LS1's have so much low rpm torque, it's fairly easy to be quiet. Keep in mind that most people who are mechanics by trade, don't know jack about modern performance. You've prolly already gone to a shop and have the mechanic see your engine, see the plastic intake and look at like it's from outer space or something.
My brother had sweet 94 blazer with 36" super swampers. He purposely put it as high as he could, legally, and even lowered the bumpers a inch. Several places wouldn't even bring it into the garage because they said it was illegal until one place actually looked up the reg in the book and he was exactly at the limit. It may be a hassle to get it inspected the first time, but it's well worth it IMO.
As far as internal mods go, you just need to be consious of the sniffability of your setup but there are plenty of members from CA with heads/cams who are passing.
Maybe you just need some nitrous!
Well, I kind of went psycho on the length of this PM but I hope I've given you some encouragement. Remember, most of the crap you here about mod restrictions are targeted at ricers because they drive like... ricers!
I want to at least see your car lowered with rims, lid, the stuff below, and a catback!
Some really cheap/easy stuff that makes a huge difference:
-Polyurethane swaybar bushings (front and back) and endlinks
-Poly trans mount
-Short shift stick (not even a shifter, just the stick makes a huge difference)
-lower it! (I cut my springs and I'm very happy with the results/price)
ok, I'm done now...
::steps off soap box::
I was gonna PM him back but I figured I'd post my response here for those other people out there afraid to mod.
My words of encouragement:
I can totally understand your concern with trying to stay legal. I was disappointed when I couldn't fit my carsound cats because of ground clearance. For now, I'm ok though since I'm in the Army in Kansas, which has no state vehicle inspections (I was suprised by that too).
I'm from New Hampshire originally though. I would recommend looking around at what other people are getting away with for legalness. A custom exhaust shop like Lou's Custom Exhaust in N. Reading will prolly give you a sticker or else refer you to someone who will. Another thing is you could ask some ricers (because there are a lot of them) where they get their illegal cars inspected.
A cop isn't going to give you ticket unless you're being stupid or speeding. A year ago, when I lived by the seacoast in NH, the cops were issuing tickets to ricers left and right for simply having "a modified exhaust". I knew one guy, who's prelude wasn't even as loud as a stock SS, who got a ticket. I lived right in the middle of town and drove past the same cops that were giving these tickets 2-3 times every day and they never gave me so much as a dirty look. All I had for a muffler was a 12 inch dynomax bullet which is a straight through pipe with fiberglass wrapped around the inner wall. Cops hate ricers but they like our american muscle cars.
Nobody is gonna give you a problem for lowering an inch. you'll still have over 5 inches of clearance under your kmember. I think the MA minimum is 4" My front is lowered about 2" and I have about 4" of clearance under the K. If I had to do it over, which I will, I'll lower it less so I have more clearance for my new dual exhaust.
I had 3 garages that wouldn't inspect my car in NH since I had a bullet muffler and then I went to small shop and the guy said that he spoke to state inspection rep 2 days prior and he said the rep basically said that loud exhausts have more to do with how theyre driven than anything so as long as there's a muffler the driver will be getting the ticket, not the inspection shop. LS1's have so much low rpm torque, it's fairly easy to be quiet. Keep in mind that most people who are mechanics by trade, don't know jack about modern performance. You've prolly already gone to a shop and have the mechanic see your engine, see the plastic intake and look at like it's from outer space or something.
My brother had sweet 94 blazer with 36" super swampers. He purposely put it as high as he could, legally, and even lowered the bumpers a inch. Several places wouldn't even bring it into the garage because they said it was illegal until one place actually looked up the reg in the book and he was exactly at the limit. It may be a hassle to get it inspected the first time, but it's well worth it IMO.
As far as internal mods go, you just need to be consious of the sniffability of your setup but there are plenty of members from CA with heads/cams who are passing.
Maybe you just need some nitrous!
Well, I kind of went psycho on the length of this PM but I hope I've given you some encouragement. Remember, most of the crap you here about mod restrictions are targeted at ricers because they drive like... ricers!
I want to at least see your car lowered with rims, lid, the stuff below, and a catback!
Some really cheap/easy stuff that makes a huge difference:
-Polyurethane swaybar bushings (front and back) and endlinks
-Poly trans mount
-Short shift stick (not even a shifter, just the stick makes a huge difference)
-lower it! (I cut my springs and I'm very happy with the results/price)
ok, I'm done now...
::steps off soap box:: 
