Nitrious Oxide Systems in Vehicle - What's The Law

[onehundredkvx]

Not really a forum for this. Just wondering if someone knows the exact law in California. I have a vehicle where i use nitrous on the track and drag strip, and tend to drive the vehicle around town every once in awhile. From what i understand now; its legal to have the nitrous installed and fully functionable on the street if the bottle is unhooked from the line. I know i could easily remove the bottles from the vehicle, but i tend to leave them in, unhooked to protect them from damage of moving them in and out and leaving them in the garage. Thanks

[Mr. Knowitall]

You can review the vehicle code generally, here. I am not aware of any specific reference to nitrous oxide in cars.

[Keydo]

There is no specific law against Nitrous Oxide, but where is it documented that

"its legal to have the nitrous installed and fully functionable on the street if the bottle is unhooked from the line."

There is California Vehicle Code Section 27156 and the Federal Clean Air Act that prohibit modifications that increase motor vehicle emissions.

With that said, if the NOS kit you have has a CARB EO number and doesn't increase your emissions, than it will not matter whether you have it connected or not.

With that said, any part that causes modification to the emissions system of a vehicle needs to have a California Air Resource Board Executive Order (commonly known as a CARB EO number).

My guess is that the Nitrous Oxide falls under emissions modifications because you're making modifications/replacing fuel injectors to allow for NOS injection. Regardless of whether the NOS bottle is hooked up or not, a modification exists. So, I don't see how having an unhooked bottle gets you away from emission modifications. I know the bottle isn't contributing to any emissions because it's obviously not connected, but the issue isn't whether the bottle is contributing to emissions, the issue is whether an emissions modification exists.

Now, if you have a CARB EO number, then it doesn't matter. However, I've seen some officers give people emission related tickets even though they have a CARB EO number.

[cdwjava]

Where the problem comes in is when people with these systems have removed mandatory clean emissions systems in their engine in order to install these injectors to operate properly. It is not something I deal with, so I wouldn't know what to look for, but many of the CHP officers I deal with DO know, and they can pick these out with a glance.

- Carl