My 87' fc i bought has had most the smog equipment removed except for the cat. Was wondering if there are any more guys out here in ca that also have smog parts removed and how hard was it to pass the test.

 

I hear you need 3 things to pass smog in CA.
An airpump,a good Catalytic converter.....and LUCK!

 

All you need to pass the sniffer is an air pump, ACV and a good cat. In order to pass the vsual, everything has to be there and match the emissions diagram. Some tech's will let things slide, some go by the book. It's their job on the line, so try not to take it personally.

With a little creativity, the emissions equipment could be present, but not necessarily functional. Or shady smog.

 

The only part you can get away with not having on the visual test is a pre-cat. There is no EGR test, but it does need to be present.

 

I need to do a smog and have a Borla exhaust and no cat. My friend has a Rx8 fully stock and wanted to know if I could use his exhaust on my S5 Rx7 FC

 

the guy i just bought my car from just took off the catalytic converter and put a straight pipe on it. anybody know how hard it is to throw the cat back on?

 

I've done it on an '88 TII. It has Racing Beat Turbo Back exhaust, so I pulled the pre-silencer, and bought a Bonez high-flow cat. I took both to a Midas shop and asked the guy to weld the flanges onto the cat and match up with the pre-silencer.

Once he was clear that the cat was going in to replace the pre-silencer, he was gung ho to make it. The guy even brought it over to my house once he had tack-welded the parts together to make sure he had the fit right.

Anyway, when he was done, it bolted right in. I re-installed the split-air pipe and will be taking it into the testing station next week. It's a Colorado test, but I know the guys can be as particular as CA at times. Once had them fail a Pathfinder which had perfect emissions readings, because a pipe wasn't plumbed correctly.

I expect it will be a bit more complicated with a straight pipe, but I've found the local Midas guys can be pretty good friends when it comes to this kind of stuff.

Good luck!

 

No. Why would you think an exhaust from a different car would have a hope of fitting?

Exhaust parts all bolt up unless someone has had things welded in place. You'll likely need to source a split air pipe, air pump and maybe ACV. It's impossible to say what you need for sure without looking at the car.

 

I am very glad we dont have such strict rules in AUS. I think it would be rather painful getting ur modded cars to comply. How do you guys go with seriously modded cars.

 

You move out of california, keep it as a race-car, or you "know a guy".

 

It's a pain. I have another car with a hi-flow cat. I have to swap it back to a regular cat every 2 years to pass the smog.

 

actually the EGR valve is supposed to be tested as well. if they are caught not checking it then the tech may be fined.

may not be necessary for dyno loaded smogs but in non enhanced areas they almost always tested my EGR valves. i had to replace one on a vehicle as it failed the vacuum and idle drop test. i was a bit irked since these engines don't even need the EGR valve to pass easily for NOx.

in non enhanced areas they visually inspected that all the emissions equipment on the underhood label was present, they checked the engine timing, they vacuum tested the EGR valve and checked for specific idle drop amount, they checked to see if the CEL was functional, they tested the vacuum cap and the evaporative emission system for leaks and they finally did the sniffer.

i semi even recall one being rejected for not having the precat.

i suspect they may be a little more relaxed in enhanced areas since the vehicles already have a tougher time passing the rolling load sniffer test.

**** nation, california is.

 

^ Yes, cars in this area always have to do the 2-speed dyno test. The printouts I get automatically have the EGR test marked as "N/A" along with a few other things. It's been the same way no matter where I've taken the car to be tested.

There will also be differences for S5s too. If certain things have been tampered with, you'll just fail the CEL check. Another reason I like having an S4.