Seymour Snerd
Lifetime Supporter
Ron R has a terrifying thread about dealing with the Caifornia government but it's specific to smog control equipment. I thought it might be a good idea to record some actual experiences with the whole process with SPFs. So here's my first installment.
First step for me (after getting my SB100 sequence number two years ago) was getting a brake and light inspection. Jim C kindly gave me the contact info for the place he used(Ruppels in Burlingame) but in talking to Dennis Peck, Bay Area SPF dealer, I found that Dennis now uses a place a block away from his new shop in San Carlos (Sam, at Vancea Auto Service, 383 Quarry Rd, 650-591-3234) so I went there. Trailered the car (it had 1 mile on the odo, all in my driveway). All Sam did was verify the lights were all illuminating, and then drove it around the block to make sure the brakes worked. So, no headlight aiming, no backup light needed, no 4-way flasher, no jacking or wheel or clip removal. I did have to add a license plate lamp, but SPF provides a harness rolled up in the center of the rear clip for this purpose. Sam's logic, I believe, is that in the case of a new roller-based SPCN he doesn't need to closely inspect the parts that were factory-assembled. I like that logic.
The license plate light I used was from Autozone: Pilot Automotive part # CZ-224W for about $15. It bolts on where the top two plate bolts go and has a long two-wire red/black pigtail that you simply connect to the long SPF two-wired pigtail. I mounted it to a Cruiser Accessories Part # 79050 plastic plate bracket from O'Reilly's that I attached using two of the spoiler retention holes on my Mk II. Neat, clean, and reversible.
PS: Bay Area guys: Dennis is now housed with "San Francisco Sports Cars"
San Francisco Sports Cars: We Buy and Sell Exotic Sports Cars
which is packed with interesting cars. Definitely worth a visit (bring a checkbook). The old Redwood City shop now holds just some overflow cars (including a Lotus 70 F5000).
Next up: CHP VIN assignment/inspection, hopefully next week.
First step for me (after getting my SB100 sequence number two years ago) was getting a brake and light inspection. Jim C kindly gave me the contact info for the place he used(Ruppels in Burlingame) but in talking to Dennis Peck, Bay Area SPF dealer, I found that Dennis now uses a place a block away from his new shop in San Carlos (Sam, at Vancea Auto Service, 383 Quarry Rd, 650-591-3234) so I went there. Trailered the car (it had 1 mile on the odo, all in my driveway). All Sam did was verify the lights were all illuminating, and then drove it around the block to make sure the brakes worked. So, no headlight aiming, no backup light needed, no 4-way flasher, no jacking or wheel or clip removal. I did have to add a license plate lamp, but SPF provides a harness rolled up in the center of the rear clip for this purpose. Sam's logic, I believe, is that in the case of a new roller-based SPCN he doesn't need to closely inspect the parts that were factory-assembled. I like that logic.
The license plate light I used was from Autozone: Pilot Automotive part # CZ-224W for about $15. It bolts on where the top two plate bolts go and has a long two-wire red/black pigtail that you simply connect to the long SPF two-wired pigtail. I mounted it to a Cruiser Accessories Part # 79050 plastic plate bracket from O'Reilly's that I attached using two of the spoiler retention holes on my Mk II. Neat, clean, and reversible.
PS: Bay Area guys: Dennis is now housed with "San Francisco Sports Cars"
San Francisco Sports Cars: We Buy and Sell Exotic Sports Cars
which is packed with interesting cars. Definitely worth a visit (bring a checkbook). The old Redwood City shop now holds just some overflow cars (including a Lotus 70 F5000).
Next up: CHP VIN assignment/inspection, hopefully next week.
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