So I got a state ref ticket in California for my DC headers having no carb sticker. During the inspection, the referee said that my transmission is from an old civic since mine is a 2000 civic and that it's illegal since the engine and transmission need to be the same year. This is sort of understandable, but I just got home and looked up the transmission number and it's the same model number for all 96-00 civics. I converted my car to manual from automatic a couple years ago.

My question is if there's any way to argue that even if I ordered a brand new OEM transmission from honda, the model would be exactly the same as the current transmission.

 

explain to him you are going through an engine change. the transmission has nothing to to with emissions. so he shouldnt havne to worry about it

 

Go to a different location, some refs will poitn out things that others won't.

 

Yeah, after I clean up my engine bay by rerouting a couple wires and the clutch lines to look more stock I'm going to try to go to a different ref station.

Everyone else is wondering why he's pointing out my transmission swap like it's relevant to the citation. Going to throw some grease on the numbers again and pray the next station is nicer.
I even had the EO documents for the DC header but he said it requires a sticker since apparently a sticker validates a header more than the documents that back up the sticker.

 

CA is so stupid. I can't stand it when different REFs say that crap. Go to a different one and print off the Honda part number / information and have it just in case.