I'm in CA, and my 78Z just passed the smog test with flying colors last Saturday. Whew!! In general, runs pretty well and is lots of fun.
Anyway, I hadn't really considered doing any engine performance modifications due to the smog requirements. I gotta admit I don't know a whole lot about these matters, but I understand the car would be very unlikely to pass smog with non-turbo performance modifications like cam, headwork, porting/polishing, headers, etc. Not only that, but it wouldn't even perform very well as long as the stock EFI system is used, from what I've read. Because of all this, I haven't really investigated doing much upgrade-wise to my engine.
However, given the possible "freedom" come 2012 (assuming one has the correct insurance), would it be possible to implement non-turbo performance upgrades, including EMS like Megasquirt, and yet still have the car pass the CA tailpipe test? I'm not that familiar with Megasquirt, but could one develop a "smog-test" map that would enable the smog requirements to be met?
Marc