INADVERTENTLY PENETRATED TCA WHILE ATTEMPTING TO LOCATE HHR AT DUSK WITH REDUCED VISIBILITY CAUSED BY SUN POSITION.

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IN ATTEMPTING TO LOCATE MY HOME BASE; HHR; I WAS ON A HDG OF 280 DEGS FROM SLI VOR. I SET THE VOR TO 109.1; THE HHR LOC; TO MAKE SURE I REMAINED S OF THE CENTERLINE TO RWY 25 HHR AND OUT OF THE LAX TCA TO THE N. I WAS AT 4500' MSL JUST IN CASE I WAS W OF HHR. I WOULD BE FLYING THROUGH THE NEW SPECIAL RULES VFR FLT AREA OVER LAX AT THE PROPER ALT FOR NWBND FLTS. ACTUALLY I WAS E OF HHR. I BECAME AWARE THAT THE LOC NEEDLE WAS STILL PEGGED RIGHT; INDICATING I WAS STILL S OF THE RWY CENTERLINE FOR 25 HHR; ALTHOUGH I HAD BEEN FLYING FOR A CONSIDERABLE PERIOD OF TIME. TAPPING THE METER CAUSED THE NEEDLE TO PEG TO THE LEFT; INDICATING I HAD FLOWN THROUGH THE LOC AND INTO THE TCA. THE HAZE BELOW ME MADE NAV BY VIS GND REFS IMPOSSIBLE. I PERFORMED A 180 DEG TURN AND EXITED THE TCA. PENETRATION INTO THE TCA WAS N OF CPM AND I WAS APPROX 1 MI INTO THE TCA. THE DIFFICULTY OF HAVING ADEQUATE GRAND VISIBILITY IN HAZY SUNSET CONDITIONS; COUPLED WITH THE VOR NEEDLE FAILURE; CONTRIBUTED TO THIS INTRUSION INTO THE LAX TCA. CALLBACK CONVERSATION WITH RPTR REVEALED THE FOLLOWING: ACFT WAS A RECENTLY COMPLETED HOME-BUILT; CAPABLE OF SPDS 100 KTS FASTER THAN HE WAS USED TO. FSDO REQUESTED A RPT OF THE INCIDENT AND HE ELECTED TO FORWARD A COPY OF THE REPAIR ORDER CONFIRMING THE NAV RECEIVER WAS MALFUNCTIONING. HAS A LORAN ON BOARD THE ACFT NOW. NO FURTHER INFO FROM THE FAA.