MA inspection friendly header?
 

Hi guys,

I'm looking to upgrade the header in my stock BRZ with the main goal to eliminate the torque dip and make the engine a bit more agressive across the rev range. However I would like to get a header which is MA inspection friendly so I don't have to revert to stock every year just to pass. Also having something that the dealer might not pick up on would be good (but maybe unrealistic?).

Ideally I was looking at the openflash header + OFT combo. Will this pass inspection - I know the OFT can defeat the CEL but that be enough to pass? I know that they don't do a sniffer test anymore in MA but they do plug into the OBT II port, will that test detect an aftermarket tune?

If its down to the tester doing a visual inspection for a cat I would be willing to take my chances :thumbsup:

Would other catless headers such the nameless exhaust + OFT tune be a viable option?

I realize the only safe option is get a catted header but I don't think I'll gain much performance for $$ at that point and should just stick with stock...

I did try to search for this in the individual header specific threads but couldn't find anything clear about the MA inspection.

Thanks in advance!

1) your dealer will see it

2). Mass inspection is basically just an obd scan.

Need to have no cels and no more than 1 not ready readiness monitor. The monitors can not be removed by tune, that will get you a trip to a special state station. They can however be forced ready.

Basically. Your ability to pass inspection in mass with aftermaeket header/exhaust comes down to the inspector being ok with the noise and your tune not having just turned off the readiness monitors in question

Hi Model_Citizen thanks for the info.

Ok so I'm going to roll with whatever the dealer says, I'm ok with that.

With the readiness monitor, you mentioned it could be "forced ready" - how can that be done?

Also are there people out there who have passed MA inspection with Catless header + tune? Just trying to get an idea of how common it is...

Thanks!

1. Get stock header.
2. Gut it
3. Receive instant ELH with OEM looks and same power as fancy aftermarket one.
4. Crack a brew and obtain hookerz. Laugh.

Look here
http://www.ft86club.com/forums/showp...58&postcount=1

Enjoy hardly any power gains, fail the inspection anyway and scratch your head wondering why you didn't just buy a header.

Erm, he'd fail the inspection with a header.

1) talk to your tuner, im not your tuner, as stated its done in the tune

2) yes, Ive done it catless with evap deleted.

Mass is obd scan, no visual or sniffer.

Theres also a grey area law on exhaust noise, but its sorta subjective to the inspector.

Well the law is you cant modify the exhaust to be louder than stock. You might run into an inspector that takes it seriously, or you might run into one who doesn't care. Luck of the draw really. But if it is just a header, my guess is that they wouldn't even notice.

Exactly,

Noise is entirely subjective to the inspector. The code things however are a bigger deal, and have been discussed on other forums, nearly positive i've posted the links here in the past.

http://forums.nasioc.com/forums/show...ght=inspection

http://www.golfmkv.com/forums/showth...ght=inspection

Wouldn't he fail with either? Why not just get the header then? People are still popping a code with the gutted manifold from what I have seen.

I hate that some states have regs like that though. I guess I should be grateful that I don't have an inspection after the initial one.

Thanks for the info so far guys.

I think the "gut the header" approach is cool but unless somebody showed me 1 hp difference between that and an aftermarket header for an NA setup (not into FI), I'm going with the aftermarket header.

I don't plan on going too loud with my setup, it may be the catless header+ stock everything else or at most header + the TRD exhaust which is supposed to be just a set up from stock.

I have a catless header and OFT tune from Shiv. Passed mY first inspection few moths ago no issues

I'm just north of you in NH and I know plenty of people who have passed MA state inspection catless and with plenty of modifications... If I pass inspection in NH you will too, a lot of times a o2 spacer is used to fool your ecu, I don't know a ton about the fa20 platform but you should be able to do a tune using an access port or similar and pass with flying colors. I ran lean when I switched a cated header back to a titanium catless FYI