Hey guys, i know theres been a lot covered about this and i know must of you are going to say its suicide but im going to get my car inspected. I put a fresh cat on but have no air pump. Doesnt anyone know if my chances are increased/decreased by blocking off or not blocking off the air inlet on the main cat?

BTW i have S5 N/A With JDM Swapped S5 TII which is why i have no air pump. A friend of mine swears up and down his old 10AE passed with no air pump and my rotary specialist that helped with the swap says it should pass the sniffer test.

I am in Texas and they arent quite as strict as CA or some of the other states.

 

I haven't tried it that way. If there is enough 02 in the exhaust to allow the cat to oxidize the HC's, then it will work. Make sure that your O2 sensor is working and that the car is going into closed loop.

There is no visual test in Dallas, as far as I can tell.

Good Luck and let us know how it goes.

 

inspected for smog? if its for smog inspection they will fail your car on visual because the car requires a smog pump. pay for smog without the car just papers

 

A big maybe. Depends on how well your car is running.

Leaving the hole open gives it a chance to suck in fresh air so you should probably leave it open.

If there is a visual and they do their job correctly it will fail for no air pump.

Here in CA I have never smogged an FC without an air pump and had it pass. They always fail.

 

Visual here is like 25% chance, i've been sent away once before on a previous car for aftermarket intake. We don't have "smog tests" or stuff like california and some other states, they just hook it up to a machine, and do a sniffer and 2 speed dyno test, test the gas cap then either put the sticker on or give you that state mandated form that explains possible causes and, of course has the new car add on it

The JDM Motor only has about 4k miles on it since the swap, and appx 35-40k pre-swap. It runs really good so i'll leave the cat unblocked, cross my fingers and let you guys know how it goes.

 

it depends on the test...

if you have a 15 25 mph dyno test, with less strict than CA numbers, than it'll pass the 25, and be about 50/50 for the 15mph...

if you have to do an idle test, which is the hardest for a rotary, then it probably wont pass

be cool to see either way though, good luck

 

Sniffer at 15 and 25 mph. There is time to go into closed loop. If your car does not go in to closed loop, you got no chance.

Don't worry about a visual. I have never had anyone do any visual on any of my old cars. Technically, you cannot remove smog control devices and pass. The techs have no significant training for a visual test nor do they have any reference material to check against. All they want is to test the emissions and check your gas cap. They don't care how you get there.

 

Wow the technicians in Texas must be retarded not to be able to look at the emissions decal and see that it is supposed to have an air pump

If it is half as strict as CA numbers then it might pass... if it is anywhere close to CA numbers then it will fail as a gross polluter.

Anyways take it in and keep us posted! Post your results as well... as a smog technician this kind of stuff really interests me.

 

ok, so heres what happened... I put a fresh tank of gas, a can of seafoam, then a bottle of RXp for good measure. Went up to the place and first off they had no idea what my car was.. tried to put the front wheels on the dyno... ::duh:: Then it took them half an hour to get a good idle reading. Then after about another 15 minutes of running it and trying to test it they "aborted" because of "low flow reading" They asked me if i had a cat, and i replied truthfully, yes i do its practically brand new. Then they went to blame it on my 3" exhaust saying theres too much space in the big pipe to get an accurate reading... riiiiggghhhtt...

Anyways, any idea on what else might be going on? I'm going to try and take it somewhere else tomorrow, i'll keep you updated

 

That test is computer controlled. If the system threw a fault, it will abort faster than Nancy Pelosi.

Really it sounds like they were fairly incompetent. I had a clue-less dude on my car when I was first getting it into smog condition. He couldn't even get a spark signal to the computer until I helped him. The low flow may have been a condition caused by your 3" exhaust or it may have been caused by their competent setup in your 3" exhaust.

Advice, go to a shop known by performance guys as competent. Ask around your area.

Good Luck.

 

It's kind of a win-lose, i don't wanna get sent away right away by somebody competent to notice i have no airpump, at the same time i want someone competent to successfully run the tests lol.
i'm gonna hittup another shop tomorrow.
would an exhaust leak, or having the air inlet on the cat open cause the low flow btw?

 

Nobody is going to look for your airpump. They don't even know which end of the car is driven.

Really.

 

Absolutely... sorry didn't think of that on my other reply. Plug that hole up. Low flow conditions can be caused by their equipment being faulty but it is more than likely being caused by the exhaust leak.

3" exhaust would not cause a low flow condition by the way. Not in my experience anyways. I just smogged a mustang GT today with 3 inch exhaust. Heck my TII has 3 inch exhaust and it reads fine.

 

ok, if there is any exhaust leak its between the down pipe and cat as its all kind of pieced together. I put 2 exhaust gaskets between the cat and down pipe to limit the leak, what other options are there?

 

Take it to a shop and have them help you with the sealing up of this joint. They can get it done.

I don't think you can pass safety inspection with an exhaust leak anyway.

 

honestly save yourself the ridiculous a$$ hassle and get the smog done the "legal" way...

the ****'s of CA have really screwed things for anyone that likes "older" cars...

anyone out here will tell you that the smog emissions laws are horrible...

if people truly cared that much about smog they wouldn't care about visual and solely base it off the actual emissions the car is putting out and not the parts/lack-there-of that it is equipped with.

 

Well, plugged up the air inlet and went to a different shop. They didnt seem to have any trouble getting a reading, but i failed miserably, as expected...
They did a 2 speed idle test

High speed 2293 RPM
HC standard: 220 Reading: 1002 FAIL
CO% standard: 1.20 Reading: 7.21 FAIL
CO2(%) Reading:10.2
Dilution Standard: >6.0 Reading: 17.41 PASS

Low Speed 752 RPM
Well, plugged up the air inlet and went to a different shop. They didnt seem to have any trouble getting a reading, but i failed miserably, as expected...
They did a 2 speed idle test

High speed 2293 RPM
HC standard: 220 Reading: 2519 FAIL
CO% standard: 1.20 Reading: 5.10 FAIL
CO2(%) Reading:11.7
Dilution Standard: >6.0 Reading: 16.8 PASS

Next step i guess is to get an air pump. within 15 days

 

Man that sucks that you got stuck with a TSI.

I would hit the local section and see if there is anyone on here that is a smog tech that can help get you some readings so you aren't wasting money on re-tests.

 

They shouldn't do a two speed idle on an rx7. They can bypass the tach signal in the computer if they are too dumb to get a correct reading. That should have been ran on the dyno. Two speed idle is for all wheel drive vehicles or vehicles that can't physically fit on the dyno for whatever reason.

I was a state inspector for texas when I was in college.

 

^^ My TII is way cleaner. No airpump, and one after market cat. Of course it isn't ported and that does make a difference in terms of emissions.

Here in CA that guy would fail as a gross polluter no joke.