Just Purchased my first 308 (well first Ferrari ever)!

It appears the rear injection rail may be installed. Need better photos to tell. Get more photos, if possible.

 

Yes, rear rail installed. A good thing! Hopefully, forward is too. Then you can purchase Ebay items to complete, get cat converters, a micro switch to restart timing at idle, etc.......

 

You are welcome. Check my thread on my 308...
https://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/threads/308-gts-26355-1978-model-16k-original-miles-purchased.565962/

You will find a great deal of experts on FerrariChat. They have helped me a great deal. Use the search feature first when looking for answers to a problem.

 

Antique / historical plates.???.... CA now requires smog check every two years, if not 75 or older. They changed the law. So, some folks gave up their original Calif plates for nothing to gain. Typical CA laws.

 

Nope, same test for 76 and newer cars, regardless of Antique or Historical plate. A recent change. A local friend learned that lesson recently. He got the smog notice. Full check.
You will need all the smog equipment on for those stations which look for it.
The smog station will have to read the exhaust from your car. Large fines to stations which do not follow the law.

 

Ron, where in SoCal is your car?

 

My understanding is that the title doesn’t actually change until the vehicle has an emissions test cert filed in the dmv system unless the car is sold with its status as ‘PNO’ planned non operation. It can’t be operated legally on the streets and must be off public roads. Not sure just signing a liability release gets the owner off the hook.

 

Perhaps swap for an injected car from another state? Carb cars have a slight premium usually but an “i” may be easier to live with. I have some air injector rails you can have in case yours are crap. I sent my air injectors to someone in this group from California who sent me so much 308 stuff in return!

 

Your smog adventure with this car is an open ended, and open checkbook, operation. Once it is yours you will be paying to see this through. CA will be giving you no breaks. I know you have your heart set on this car, but as a California resident I strongly suggest you find a car that can pass smog - or at least has all of the equipment to pass smog - unless this car is coming to you at a price that more than makes up for what could easily be thousands in parts and labor. If this adventure cost you a five figure bill to resolve I'd hardly be surprised.

 

Well the air injection rails (at least the rear one) are there so that's sorta good news. You'll need two cats and an air pump though and this being a '78 is the next to last year of the carbs so it's going to be a Rube Goldberg nightmare of complicated hoses, diverter, check and electro valves that they used in an effort to beat it into compliance at the time. There's a reason why pretty much everyone had ditched carbs by around 1980. So you've got your work cut out for you.

You won't get a title in your name until it passes smog. This is the reason I passed on a '79 GTS when I was shopping for my first Ferrari. I went with a QV that had a CA plate, all the equipment and a fresh smog certificate. It's much less stressful for a California resident and every bit as satisfying. I have zero regrets.

I know you want to do this deal but sometimes you have to step outside of yourself and not let you heart take you down a sketchy path.

 

I agree with what has already been said.

The “Spare Parts Catalogs” for 308s show diagrams of every system and every part for our cars. Commercial sites, such as Ricambi America (https://www.ricambiamerica.com/), also show retail price and indicate parts that are NLA. Often you can buy used parts for less money particularly from private sales such as the marketplace here on FChat. There are lots of people in States other than California who have removed all the SMOG equipment and don’t want the stuff.

Looking at the photos you've provided, it looks like rear bank air injection manifold is still intact. That would suggest that the air injection plugs are still there too. Likewise, your photos show the front bank sniffer tubes are still intact so likely that the front bank air injection manifold is still there. What you lack on the air injection side of things is the air pump, its brackets and pulley, the air diverter valve and the associated plumbing.

You also lack the catalytic converter(s). This is no great calamity if you have “test pipes” installed which is a bridge between exhaust manifold and muffler. A lot of us have had to replace our cats because they have worn out over time. If its just a matter of replacing the test pipes with catalytic converter(s).

Otherwise, the car looks nice. It always pays to have a professional technician or concours judge go over the car to let you know what is missing or variant from stock. A professional technician can evaluate some of the mechanical stuff such as engine compression and suspension condition.

I do agree that, unless you like projects like this, it is best to buy a car with all systems intact.

Hearing that it is a California car and that the prior owner, maintenance technician and SMOG shop owner have colluded to forge prior SMOG certifications is really sad to hear.

 

Walk away.
I wanted a local GTB a few months ago. Just not worth it. Try the Montana thing until you get caught if you “must” own it. Half the big money cars at the local cars and coffee do it... I personally wouldn’t enjoy looking over my shoulder every time I drove it.

BTW, what is happening in California will happen everywhere, and worse. It’s coming.


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Personally I don't have any problem with skirting the rules if you can. The current exemption was supposed to be a 25 year rolling but at the last minute somebody cut a deal and got it frozen at 1975. When it comes to environmental pollution then let's talk about the millions of people who commute solo every day in a pickup truck with a 7 liter engine. A handful of old Ferraris driven every other Sunday don't even register. I hope you can work this out but if you can't there are enough compliant 308's around to make you happy.

 

There is another avenue, but it is no less pleasant. This is the process from some years ago and I am unsure that the Referee is still giving this out. You need to call them and ask.

1. You take it to a smog test, and you fail.
2. You make an appointment and take it to a Referee. You will fail again, and he will tell you what equipment is missing and has to be there. You will tell him that the specific equipment for your car (that specific year and model) are NLA and he then will give you three phone numbers to call to buy this equipment. They of course do not have them for your Ferrari
a. An injection rail from a 1978 does not go on a 1979 car. It may look the same, but it is not the same year.
b. If those places say "yes, we have this piece (for example, a muffler) then you have to buy it and install it
c. If not, those places will send you a piece of paper that says they cannot supply those parts.
3. You make another appointment with the state Referee, with the piece of paper, and all the equipment installed and well as NLA pieces not installed. He will do another smog test taking into account what is missing.
4. If he passes you, he will give you documentation of what needs to be on your car for future smog test and what's OK to be missing
5. You go on your way.

This process accommodates SMOG equipment that is no longer available by having three state affiliate used parts dealers certify that they cannot sell them to you. Things may have changed, so talk to a referee.

 

So what happens in two years? Do you have to do it all over again? I'm sure they don't make it easy, otherwise everybody would be doing it.

 

There's a pamphlet at every smog station about contacting a referee. It is not easy to actually talk to a person, they really try to get you to do everything else first. But when I finally got to talk to a referee he was great, gave me his number for future problems, recommended (in a back-handed way, no endorsements allowed) shops he knew were good, was willing to talk to muffler shops if I had issues while I was there, sent me to links to the laws, etc.

The problem I was having was muffler shops not knowing the law, it wasn't really a problem with my car. Everything they see is OBDII and so when a non-OBD car rolls in they don't even know that there are different rules, the 308 QV isn't listed in the CA database. So your issues with missing equipment may vary.

 

California AB 210:
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