Emissions question

[bsimms89]

I have only worked on cars that were old enough that they no longer had to pass emissions regulations in New York (25 years old or more). Before I started working on my camaro I was curious of what exactly they test for during an emissions inspection and if since I am planning on going with a larger cam if when this cam is installed even with a proper tune will I fail an emissions test? If this is the case does that mean that everyone who has modded their cars have a shop that fudges the numbers on their inspection?

I am still in the planning stages but I am planning on going with a comp cam 231/247 617/627 with a 3200 stall, 3.91 gears from LPE, and american racing headers as a street setup. I am just curious of how people predict this will be in retaining reasonable driveability and how it will effect my inspection in New York?

[scites]

I was wonting to know the same thing..im just wanting to go with a TSP VVT1 220deg and dont think that will pass emissions.

[axis]

It all depends on what your state tests for. With a little searching or calling around, you can find out what your particular state requires. Personally, I wouldn't trust anyones answer from any board, concerning emissions. If you're that worried about it, you need to hear it from the source.

That being said, it's all in the tune. A good tune will pass all emissions except for visual (if you're running high flow cats), and possibly sniffer. It is illegal to physically move or remove a set of working cats, which is why they fail the visual test. I don't know for certain that high flow cats will fail a sniffer but common sense tells me they should.

[Kelly@PCMofNC]

Do you have a sniffer test in NYS?

[DuskSS]

Originally Posted by axis

It all depends on what your state tests for. With a little searching or calling around, you can find out what your particular state requires. Personally, I wouldn't trust anyones answer from any board, concerning emissions. If you're that worried about it, you need to hear it from the source.

That being said, it's all in the tune. A good tune will pass all emissions except for visual (if you're running high flow cats), and possibly sniffer. It is illegal to physically move or remove a set of working cats, which is why they fail the visual test. I don't know for certain that high flow cats will fail a sniffer but common sense tells me they should.

Why would a hi flow catalytic converter not pass emissions?
that's it's entire job and if it didn't work why would anyone buy them?
That would be like buying a Tablet with no CPU..

We ran high flow cats for years even on the sniffer down here and the all passed easily.

I would assume today's hi-flows are even better than those.

and at least down here the law will not fail you visually for replacing cats as long as they are there you are fine.

as you said most states are completely different.

[scites]

Im being stationed in England and have to pass the test over there. guess i need to see if it passes in september with boltons and HFC's then if they say its fine ill try the cam..

[mikeyg36]

Originally Posted by axis

It all depends on what your state tests for. With a little searching or calling around, you can find out what your particular state requires. Personally, I wouldn't trust anyones answer from any board, concerning emissions. If you're that worried about it, you need to hear it from the source.

That being said, it's all in the tune. A good tune will pass all emissions except for visual (if you're running high flow cats), and possibly sniffer. It is illegal to physically move or remove a set of working cats, which is why they fail the visual test. I don't know for certain that high flow cats will fail a sniffer but common sense tells me they should.

While it is illegal to remove working cats, why can't you just say that they failed and you replaced them? They can't say no...

[axis]

Originally Posted by DuskSS

Why would a hi flow catalytic converter not pass emissions?
that's it's entire job and if it didn't work why would anyone buy them?
That would be like buying a Tablet with no CPU..

We ran high flow cats for years even on the sniffer down here and the all passed easily.

I would assume today's hi-flows are even better than those.

and at least down here the law will not fail you visually for replacing cats as long as they are there you are fine.

as you said most states are completely different.

Highflow cats are quite a bit less effective than OEM ones. How can a cat with half the cell count work just as well as the OEM ones? Like I said in my statement, I don't know for sure but it seems as though they would fail a sniffer test. I know I can still sometimes smell raw fuel with mine, even after they heat up.

Some states are quite finicky when it comes to their emissions testing. CA is the worst but i'm sure there are a few others that are bad as well. Cats don't typically fail on a 2-3yr old car.

Originally Posted by mikeyg36

While it is illegal to remove working cats, why can't you just say that they failed and you replaced them? They can't say no...

As I said above, how many OEM cats have failed within 2-3yrs on a stock or nearly stock car? I don't know if they make you prove it or not, just telling you what the law says. I live in Arkansas and we don't have emissions testing at all.

[04GOAT-11SS]

New York has no sniffer test. They do a obdII test for 96 to 2 model years old (2011), a visual for 25 years old (1988) to 95 and just a safety for cars older than 25 or less than 2.

Most places will just hook up the state computer to the obd port while doing the emissions portion of the test and not even look around or open the hood. So, as long as you have no codes stored and your monitors have run you'll be OK.