California emissions questions
 

Hello!
I was wondering what would make me fail a smog check in California. For my car I would like to swap out my headers for uel headers most likely by Rev works and then also swap out my front pipe for a high flow catted option. I was told by someone that even with a cat on the front pipe I could still fail smog. Is this true for catless headers as well? Ideally I will change out my headers front pipe and over pipe. Is this just a pipe dream (lol) or in theory could I still pass smog?
Cheers!

removing the primary cat (changing headers) will fail you right away

best bet is to keep your oem parts and re install them before you get a smog

and that's after like 5 years right? or 6?

Yea that's prolly the most realistic way of handling this. And as far as the headers go, lol at your insta fail comment. I figured that's how it would work haha thanks

Unless someone makes a header with a heat shield that looks OEM, then we're all kinda SOL in terms of smog check. Swapping back to stock is really the only option at this point.


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Forgive me but what would the oem style heat shield accomplish?

PASS visual inspection

would any of the popular exhausts (perrin resonated catback or milltek catback) fail a smog check? i guess i don't have much to worry since the car is new, but just curious.

By definition catback should never fail anything since it's from the catalytic converter back. But I guess it's not impossible

Anything catback is legal as long as its under 95 decibels.


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Like @86_ZN6 said, it will pass visual inspection. I don't know if it would pass the tailpipe test.


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While I have the attention of people more mod savvy than I, are their any associated possible long term health issues that could arise from not having a heat shield? I mean for the engine I guess

A long the same lines of questioning....

Would bigger injectors (for E85 or FI) and a tune be a problem for smog check (assuming no E85 or FI is installed on the car during smog testing, and assuming all emissions equipment is intact)?

Basically what I am getting at is do the injectors need to be swapped back to stock for smog because that would be a major PITA.

No. Ceramic coated headers are actually better than a heat shield anyways.


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For E85: if you're NA with all emissions equipment you'll be fine.

For FI: I'm not sure, because if you swapped everything back to stock except the injectors wouldn't it run too rich? That's my guess. Visual inspection you'll pass. I'm not sure if you'd pass the tailpipe test. I've never gotten that far into the mod process on a car.


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Sorry I should have clarified:

Take major FI bits off.
Bolt on stock headers and intake and emissions equip.
Leave the bigger injectors in there.
Flash an NA tune for the bigger injectors (so you don't run super rich)

Would this work?

I'll break this down simply:

California does visual inspection, OBD scanning, and tail pipe (sniffer) testing.

- For visual inspection, you cannot modify anything in the intake tract unless it has a CARB exemption. Intakes sold with CARB exemption will be labeled as such and have a sticker on them that the smog tech can read. You cannot touch anything in the exhaust from the header, up to and including the second cat unless those parts have a CARB exemption as well. In a decade or so, you will find some aftermarket cats with CARB approval, but up until the 8 year emissions period, no aftermarket cat will be legal to use. A turbo kit with a CARB exemption will retain all emissions equipment...and I have yet to see a kit out that does that. It might happen..don't hold your breath. You can do whatever you want after the second cat. Even a straight pipe...totally legal as far as smog goes. However, if it's over 95db you can get a ticket from the police for it.

- For the OBD scan your car must be done with all its readiness monitors (this means you can't just reset the ECU right before going in for a smog...generally it takes 25-200 miles of driving). Your car cannot have any emissions related codes either. If you have a tune, the OBD scan will not detect it. If your tune disables codes for cat efficiency, etc; the OBD scan will not detect it.

- The sniffer is pretty self explanatory.

Can you cheat these tests? The answer is yes. But it's getting harder and harder. Some techs don't know exactly what they are looking for so you might be able to sneak past the visual. I have done this with a car running a JDM header that had a heatshield that looked OEM. As I mentioned above, you can sneak past the OBD portion with the right tune in place. You will not be able to sneak past the sniffer though. So if you are running non CARB parts and a custom tune, you better hope the car still farts nice and clean.

My 350Z passed with non-CARB exempt Stillen headers because you couldn't tell it had headers since that engine is stuffed under that hood pretty tightly. It also had a Unichip. The sniffer was a little dirtier than normal for the HC reading, but just under the limit. I needed to replace spark plugs though they were pretty old. It does depend if the tech knows what they're looking for or if they even care. With this car a header mod is really easy to notice when you pop the hood. A lot harder to fool them.


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Cali is brutal. Time to move or overthrow your local government.

California no longer does sniffer on new cars, btw.

Visual and plug-in only. It's a money grab imo. The only thing they should be doing is sniffer.

On new cars, the OBD system is better at judging an emissions problem than the simplistic steady-state tailpipe tests anyway. From the perspective of CARB, it makes sense. It saves the shops time and doesn't hurt CARB's agenda.

Maybe it depends on the county? Because I had to smog my BRZ since it was purchased in Arizona. Brand-new car with a few hundred miles on it, got the visual, OBD, and had to run on a dyno with the sniffer in the pipes. :iono:

Did you get it done before the start of the year?


http://www.smogtips.com/new-smog-law-AB-2289.cfm

"Set to begin January 01, 2013; Model year 2000 and newer vehicles will no longer require the tailpipe emissions test portion of the smog check process. AB 2289 will require late model vehicles be administered the smog check's visual and functional tests only."

I'm not sure places are actually following this. I got my 2007 Scion tC smogged in March and they still put a sniffer in the pipe.

If we were to run aftermarket headers and got pulled over, is that a ticket for messing with the cats or a simple fix it?

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That would be like a 10k fine for every missing cat, from what ive heard.

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To be honest, I don't think a cop would be able to tell. There is still a cat underneath the car. It's a fine, but I believe significantly less than if you were to remove BOTH cats.

yeah, mine was done before the start of the year. Good to know.

$2500 fine. Only certain cops have the certifications that qualify them to ticket you for it, however if they are suspicious they can call someone out that has those certs.

2500 bucks. Lol. I'll wait for some catted headers. How about a high flow catted front pipe? Would I be ok if I bought catted headers and a high flow catted front pipe, would that set up get me into trouble?

I believe under California vehicle code 'V C Section 27156 Gross Polluter Air Pollution Control Device', you are not allowed to disconect, modify or alter ny emission control device (cat). From what I understand, you may replace a broken cat, but only with a factory part or part approved by the California Air Resources Board.

So technically, even installing a catted header would violate the CA vehicle code.
If you get caught..

It's so ridiculous I can't swap out my headers legally but this guy in the giant diesel pick up next to me at the light is just pouring out plumes of black smoke...

This wont work. You cannot change the cats period. The only time it is permissible is when it is old and/or failing. Then you can have a stock cat put in (or an OBDII carb certified cat which costs thousands of $$$).

That being said... there are ways of disguising the header catted or not. A simple shroud or heat shield from another vehicle even can be adapted to "cover up" said area. You will have to get creative.

Even after having said that, most cops will not really be able to tell 100% since the headers are underneath the motor. So 9 times out of 10 I would think the cops wouldn't hassle you unless your car had a big fat shiny turbo sitting in front of the motor and bling bling intercooler pipes everywhere and blow off valves galor...etc. Then they will definitely call someone in to inspect you.

Fucking California...

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They can't do that anymore either. As of a few years ago, all diesels 1998 and later have to have a smog check. They do the visual inspection, OBD2, and a visual smoke test. I just sold my 335d so I know all about it. ;)

CARB cats are not thousands of dollars. My 1988 535is failed smog and I had to replace the cat. I purchased a 50 state, CARB approved, magnaflow for less than $200. However the car does have to be 8 years or older before you can use anything other than an OE cat.

So what I've learned is that swapping the headers and the midpipe is technically illegal. What about the overpipe?

Overpipe should technically have a CARB EO #, but I doubt a smog tech would notice it down there, it's pretty well hidden. When I get mine, I'm coating it black.


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