Well I was just driving around town as normal today to pick up some supplies, I notice 5 or 6 cruisers on both sides of the road. After looking around and seeing whole bunch of cars being pulled over, I get flagged to pull over as well.

After being pulled over I was explained that they are pulling people over for checking if all emission equipment is still on the cars and functioning. Well first guys looks at my car, and gets confused as what exactly is all going on in there. So he then call in an expert. And boy was I in for a shock, this guy knew everything that was on the car, and what it should of had. Apparently he used to be a mechanic at a speed shop of some sort from what he told me.

Well to make a long story short, he noted that I didn't have a catalytic converter and no air pump feeding it. Also no charcoal canister, but they let that one slide by. Now I looked it up and seems like there really is no real way around it but "fixing" the problem. Now the ex mechanic said that I can buy an electric air pump and any cat I want and just put it on there.

But my question is, if I just camouflage my center section muffler with a catalytic converter casing and buy some sort of electric air pump but really it would just be welded on the casing of the cat part doing nothing, think I could get away with that?

 

Your car is an 85, doesnt that make it emissions exempt???

 

You would almost have to mount the air pump somewhere under the hood and run some sort of pipe the the "convertor", and wire it up so it runs. This is BS! I'm sure there are far more constructive things for these people to be doing with their time. All just a huge money grab.

 

i got the same ticket in my gsl-se.... if the hood states it needs a cat on the sticker you unfortunately need it... they dont know what cars came with it without that sticker on the inside of the hood. i got off the ticket and proved the hood was not from the car in question....

just because you are emissions exempt doesnt mean you can get rid of whats supposed to be there is what i was told by the MTO

 

the car has to "always" have all the emission related items it came with.

IT doesnt matter the year. If its older than 1987, you just dont need to do the every other year ETEST.

But if they stop you on the side for inspection, you need ALL the emission related items ( or atleast the main ones )

-egr (if car came with one)
-charcole canister
-air pump
-Catalytic converter
-PVC valve
_breather from valve cover to intake ( dem pistons motors)
-etc

To the posted, I think you got EXTREMELY lucky, and the ex-mechanic liked you.

They could of easily slapped you the $ 500 first time fine for no cat, and then a second time warning "if caught no cat in future" $ 5000 fine.

Best way around it, is go with a 3" exhaust system , with a legit 3" catalytic converter.

Get a electric air pump connected with a switch to turn on , on your command. ( if you are worried about taxing the electrical system )

 

Hollowed out cat with electric air pump.

They just have to be there, it they are I doubt they put you on the dyno, and it you fail you didn't know the cat was burned out, and get a legit one.

 

sticker or not, the cop had a book that stated exactly what the car came equipped with stock . as for the testing it, appearently if it doesn't work even on a dyno, Ive been told I could just say its "due diligence".

 

Even with a hollow cat they can still run a heat test to see if it`s legit or not.

 

In reality, you can get rid of the air pump if you replace the catalytic convertor with a newer style 3 way one.

 

Anything to make a buck, or 300.

 

Yeah, and he can say "oh I was unaware, I'll get that fixed right away." If they choose to buy it or not it's the cops discretion.

 

Anyone with stock or street ports and an ECU capable of running closed loop can run a cat anyway.

But more to the point, these emission laws are bullshit. And I'm not saying that because many of us here may play fast and loose with them, but because they are actually bullshit. Where is the evidence that DriveClean has at all improved upon the quality of our air? More then 50% (an estimate) of Ontario's smog producing pollution simply blows over from the US. The only pollutant that transportation is the highest source of in Ontario is NOx. All other pollutants are produced mainly by industry. And consider that passenger vehicles are now emitting negligible amounts of NOx, it is only heavy shipping and big diesels that are the cause. And many of these commercial vehicles are only tested for particulates, not things like NOx. In Ontario, transportation only emits 27% of greenhouse gasses. The remaining 73% is, in order of biggest to smallest: Industrial, residential and agriculture, power generation...then it goes into single digits for the remainder.

DriveClean has always been a massive clustershag. How so? Well, when I purchased my Honda Insight, it had to go through a DriveClean test before the title could be transferred. It's scores? Zeros across the board. Duh! The car doesn't even idle and got 90 MPG on the dyno during the test. Two years later, I had to go through it again. Another report card full of zeros and $37 out of my pocket. 6 months later, I received a letter from the Ministry Of The Environment with a cheque refunding both my tests, and a note explaining how DriveClean will no longer be required for hybrids. I wonder how much money that wasted?

When my RX-7 was tested (in good tune, with a new cat and full emissions equipment), it was allowed to sit in the parking lot to the point where the engine had cooled down to almost ambient. Then driven directly onto the dyno, and tested while the engine still had the cold start 1500 RPM idle. Big surprise, it failed miserably. Then a few days later I went for another test but showed up only minutes before it was scheduled so the car was driven onto the dyno immediately. The result? Pass. And I had to pay for two tests.

Did I mention that most DriveClean facilities actually lose money on these tests? They had to purchase the dyno, and then the price of each test is set by the Province. This is generally FAR LESS then the mechanic's time would normally bring in. I don't know what ever came of this, but there was talk a year about about switching to a simple idle test instead of the dyno. I'd imagine that facilities that shelled out $30,000 - $50,000 for the equipment were a bit pissed.

And then we get to the crux of the matter: almost every damn vehicle passes. There is something like an 84% pass rate, and a 29% conditional pass rate (those numbers don't add up, but they are directly from the Ministry Of The Environment website). In speaking with emissions testers (I work on some of the hardware every once and a while), almost every vehicle passes. The bizarre criteria by which model years are selected for testing (I see that the Ministry no longer has the chart on their website...hmmm...) almost insures that most vehicles pass.

DriveClean has consistently failed to meet pollution reduction goals, probably because they are chasing a source of pollution that doesn't really exist. Most cars on the road are ridiculously clean compared to those built in the 80s and early 90s, emitting really only CO2 as the major pollutant. So if the government really wanted to combat air pollution, they would mandate minimum fuel mileage numbers for all new vehicles. But that would **** off the auto makers.

Or, why can't an individual buy pollution credits like industry?

 

well just bought a used cat and an electric air pump off a Volkswagen . ill see what I can do for a cheap fix. total damage so far is 35$.

still trying ti figure out how to install them without hurting anything.

 

Seems like you ran out of luck recently.

That cat probably isn't going to flow enough if you don't plan to hollow it out. It's designed for a 4 cylinder econobox, not for a ported rotary. When I redo the exhaust I plan to add a high flow cat to the system. Not because I feel bad about the environment, but because just trying to get the car running has been giving me headaches from the fumes. Now I know what my ex was complaining about at DGRR08.

 

Slap one of these bad boys on and call it a day, i was gonna get one, but didnt thinki would have any problems, maybe its time for one now

$39 bucks

http://www.frozenboost.com/product_i...04a9f3530288b7

 

i always wondered how a hollowed out cat on a rotary would compare to the tempertures of a normal cars cat since a turbo rotary's exhaust is alot hotter


What Really ticks me off is the amount nuclear weapons Certain countries have detonated, and yet they make you payout your *** if your car is missing a few emissions items , beause its sooo damaging to the environment

one time i went through a ride program and the girl opp was like your car stinks, and i was like its a rotary engine and she said ok and sent me on my merry way

 

FWIW, VW's with VR6's in the mid to late 90's came with 2.5 or 3" cats that actually flow quite well if they're in good condition, and of course they have the electric air pumps too. Don't know about the 4 cyl ones.

 

When you guys are talking electric air pump, is it something that can be run from inside the cabin, or small enough to hide in the engine bay?

 

Sure glad I live in Alberta.......

 

Straight pipes. Thats how we roll.

 

I really like this .............great idea


hybrid

 

Hells yeah...


I love the part on the inspection that asks "is this vehicle modified for speed or performance"

Then it pays to have a close friend as a ticketed technican....



J.

 

Yeah. easy to place in the engine bay, on my Passat, it fits under the intake manifold on the front of the engine, between the mani and the rad fans - and if you know anything about VW's, you know the VW/Audi design mandate is exactly opposite Mazda's with the 7 - ie., the entire engine and as much of the transaxle as possible should be placed ahead of the front wheel center line, so it's tight up front.

84stock wrote:Yep. My 7's probably closing in on running more years without a cat than it has with.

 

Could be worse. Got forced into a ERASE program and when they told me to rev my car, a bit of smoke came out and they gave me a $365 ticket and pulled my plates. So now I no longer drive the Police Interceptor.

 

I, by no means, was going to get a cat installed. I just want to use the case and put some 2.5" tubes on both ends and have it go over the existing tubing. just held on by clamps. then the pump would feed into an empty casing , and that lump would be switch activated