California Smog and High Flow Cats

[GunnyG]

Originally Posted by Nessal

I think the sniffer test will be a thing of the past. Last I heard, they are going to switch to just OBD testing. They will plug their computer to your OBD port and if all the readiness test are ok then you are good to go.

I think we all hope that's the case before the 2010's require SMOG. I know erk5000 had to get one because he came as a military transfer from out of state. Good to see he passed with all he has on his car. If its OBD, then it's LT, HF cats for me!

[Dtrimpi87]

Originally Posted by Nessal

I think the sniffer test will be a thing of the past. Last I heard, they are going to switch to just OBD testing. They will plug their computer to your OBD port and if all the readiness test are ok then you are good to go.

Originally Posted by GunnyG

I think we all hope that's the case before the 2010's require SMOG. I know erk5000 had to get one because he came as a military transfer from out of state. Good to see he passed with all he has on his car. If its OBD, then it's LT, HF cats for me!

Yes the sniffer test wont be required on 2000 and newer vehicles anymore after January 1st 2013. There will however still be the visual and OBDII check. I'ts the visual that keeps us from being able to have longtubes and highflow cats. In CA you wont pass a visual If the cats are not in the factory location. I would imagine it wont be too hard to find someone to help us pass the visual when the time comes though.

[SD2011SS]

Originally Posted by erk5000

I have JBA high flow cats, Doug thorely cat back, Dynomax mufflers, & a tune. I passed my smog test here in Oceanside, CA. I told the inspector what I had in my car before hand. He said he would do a friendly smog check for free & if it fails then I'd have to go fix the problem and not pay for the smog check. If I pass then I pay and smog check is complete.

Where did you go??

[SBMARO'11]

high flow cats illegal but i dont care i got the hook up or else i would fail with my long tubes as well

[erk5000]

Originally Posted by SD2011SS

Where did you go??

T & T Auto Smog Test located in Oceanside, CA on Coastal Hwy.

[jag107]

Thanks for the shop info, erk!
My question is, what smog inspection place is going to crawl under this already low car and look at the cats, and also, how will they know if they have been moved from their factory location? Do they have some kind of book with measurements of where cats are supposed to be located for every make and model? How could they know the difference between a factory or hi flow cat, do they look that different to throw a red flag? I have a hard time believing these smog test guys are that knowledgable about cars, maybe I'm wrong though...

[Dtrimpi87]

Originally Posted by jag107

Thanks for the shop info, erk!
My question is, what smog inspection place is going to crawl under this already low car and look at the cats, and also, how will they know if they have been moved from their factory location? Do they have some kind of book with measurements of where cats are supposed to be located for every make and model? How could they know the difference between a factory or hi flow cat, do they look that different to throw a red flag? I have a hard time believing these smog test guys are that knowledgable about cars, maybe I'm wrong though...

As of right now, from my experience, visual inspections are sub par. They may or may not become more stringent in January when we are only required to get the OBDII and visual inspection. Most places use a mirror on rollers to look underneath the car. Some may put the car on a lift. Two big indications of someone running aftermarket cats are long tube headers, and number of cats. If you have long tube headers there is no way to mount your cats in the factory position. 2nd, number of cats, SS Camaros come from the factory with 4 cats, 2 per side. If you only have 2 cats, chances are you replaced them with aftermarket cats. This is only my opinion but I believe the visual inspection will be relatively easy to get around as long as everything is good when they run their OBD tests.

[SS Drifter]

You just need a big photo of oem manifolds and cats hanging under the car.

[erk5000]

Originally Posted by Dtrimpi87

As of right now, from my experience, visual inspections are sub par. They may or may not become more stringent in January when we are only required to get the OBDII and visual inspection. Most places use a mirror on rollers to look underneath the car. Some may put the car on a lift. Two big indications of someone running aftermarket cats are long tube headers, and number of cats. If you have long tube headers there is no way to mount your cats in the factory position. 2nd, number of cats, SS Camaros come from the factory with 4 cats, 2 per side. If you only have 2 cats, chances are you replaced them with aftermarket cats. This is only my opinion but I believe the visual inspection will be relatively easy to get around as long as everything is good when they run their OBD tests.

I agree with what he says. As long as your OBD passes will determine if he takes a look at your cats but then again it just determines from shop to shop.
Make sure you ask the person that does it if he will do it for free first if in any case it fails.
I just straight up told the dude that did it the truth. That I have a tuned camaro with high flow cats and cat back exhaust. He said he would run it up and if it passes OBD then we are good. Maybe being in the military had something to do with it too ha.

[evilbeef54]

or just keep your stockers if you are that worried about it and take the 2 hours every 2 years and swap em back to pass smog if you are THAT worried or cant find someone to pass you, just another excuse to get some wrench time in...

[Run4two]

evilbeef54, you read my mind! I was thinking about this 2 hours ago while driving. I want to put LT headers on and have little automotive experience and was thinking I should do it to get the experience for smog time.

[Dtrimpi87]

Originally Posted by Run4two

evilbeef54, you read my mind! I was thinking about this 2 hours ago while driving. I want to put LT headers on and have little automotive experience and was thinking I should do it to get the experience for smog time.

Do it