The cars are hugely altered to make them legal in California to begin with... adding a spark arrestor to the saw is not so bad but still doesn't make the saw legal in california - if the EPA says no, they said no.... and just as a tit for tat... gross polluter cars should be made illegal... modding imports can't be anywhere NEAR as bad as a 1965 anything that gets 3 miles per gallon but has 1000 hp and shoots smoke and flames out the back... but the EPA doesn't frown on that... lol (i know going a little extreme here, but still)
going completely off topic here... back in the day when the older generations were growing up they could build the hell out of their cars, but if my generation gets caught doing it (OH NOES! he put an INTAKE on his car!!!) it's the end of the world, and tickets are written. or you spend twice the money on a CARB legal part...
going back on topic here...
Get a good carving bar for whatever saw you end up using to carve, maybe the cheapest route (woodland pro) wasn't such a good idea, the tip has a little chunk missing from it now... and it happened while my saw had a loose chain. could be user error, who knows.