Headers in MA

[69Firebird]

Anyone have any experience with Long Tube Headers in MA?

I know that because you need to move the Cats a bit that they are technically not Emissions legal, but from what I can tell as long as its tuned properly the car should pass the OBDII Test they run at Inspection time.

Had anyone put Long Tubes on another car? Have you ever had any issues getting an inspection sticker?

Thanks!

[69Firebird]

http://massvehiclecheck.state.ma.us/about_whywhat.html

Massachusetts apparently as of October changed their Emissions testing requirements.
They used to have any car '84-'95 on a Dyno and used an exhaust sniffer, but now it looks like they only use OBDII checking on newer cars. Looks like I can get rid of the Cat on my '85 Trans Am.

I don't see anything about a visual inspection of emissions equipment, maybe just passing the OBD is good enough?

[JMM1181]

Good luck with headers, I had them put on my last car which granted was a Hyundai Tiburon, but it led to a series of nightmarish battles with emissions testing, needless to say almost a year passed with a failed inspection sticker and I had to get rid of my car mostly because of the hassle. I did have all 02 sensors plugged in, a hi-flow cat, and was throwing no codes. I should add that I also had the ECU reflashed which would certainly cause it to not pass due to the altered A/F & timing settings, but even before I had the reflashed ECU put in it was not passing. I think it might be a gamble, MA has gotten absolutely ridiculous with their emissions testing lately.

[Super83Z]

As long as you have no Check engine light you can pass. Just need to be friends with them a bit if the car is on the edge. So they look past things like exhaust volume or cats being moved.

[latemodel3]

Originally Posted by Super83Z

As long as you have no Check engine light you can pass. Just need to be friends with them a bit if the car is on the edge. So they look past things like exhaust volume or cats being moved.

x2

[ZZcamaro]

Yep... get friendly with a local performance shop. If they are a good performance shop I promise you they do it all the time!
If you want a good deal you can check out the Group Buy thread in the LS3/L99 forum.

[tones2SS]

If you get long tubes in Ma, you would have to swap them out before every car inspection and throw the original ones back on and so forth.
The inspections in MA are T-O-U-G-H!!!

[JMM1181]

Originally Posted by tones2SS

If you get long tubes in Ma, you would have to swap them out before every car inspection and throw the original ones back on and so forth.
The inspections in MA are T-O-U-G-H!!!

exactly, I really don't care that people still believe you can be 'pals' with a guy and have him pass you, because the computer hooks now directly into the Registry and matches VIN with the actual readings , and no matter how much the guy knows or likes you, you are SOL if you can't pass the computer section (every 2 yrs for newer cars) short of putting it back to stock for inspections.

[Super83Z]

Originally Posted by tones2SS

If you get long tubes in Ma, you would have to swap them out before every car inspection and throw the original ones back on and so forth.
The inspections in MA are T-O-U-G-H!!!

This is not true. The LS1 4th gen F-bodys cats were located so far from the engine that Long tubes are perfectly legal. The same may be true for the 5th.

Originally Posted by JMM1181

exactly, I really don't care that people still believe you can be 'pals' with a guy and have him pass you, because the computer hooks now directly into the Registry and matches VIN with the actual readings , and no matter how much the guy knows or likes you, you are SOL if you can't pass the computer section (every 2 yrs for newer cars) short of putting it back to stock for inspections.

Its not a "belief". I don't think you have much understanding of how an inspection works. When they plug-in they are just searching for codes. That is all. The rest is a safety check. As long as the headers retain any emissions connections and don't relocate the cats they are perfectly legal. The only time you would need to be "pals" is if you relocated the cats and don't want them to say anything about it.

[theholycow]

Originally Posted by Super83Z

When they plug-in they are just searching for codes. That is all.

In RI they plug in to the OBDII connector and stick a sensor in the exhaust while the car is on the dyno. I guess if your buddy was really willing to risk his inspection license, he could put the sensor in another car's tailpipe. I don't know if the system is smart enough to detect someone doing that.

[JMM1181]

Originally Posted by Super83Z

Its not a "belief". I don't think you have much understanding of how an inspection works. When they plug-in they are just searching for codes. That is all. The rest is a safety check. As long as the headers retain any emissions connections and don't relocate the cats they are perfectly legal. The only time you would need to be "pals" is if you relocated the cats and don't want them to say anything about it.

Ok, I wrote above that I spent almost a year trying to get my car to pass inspections without a single CEL (as in 'code' or check engine light), I attempted to pass on at least 5 separate occasions, I believe by now I do happen to have a pretty good understanding of how inspections work thank you very much. The emissions testing is more stringent now in MA, they will check for stock A/F ratios in addition to the normal tests they run, if anything is off it will not fail but show as 'system not ready' - as long as it's considered 'not ready' you will be rejected. Believe what you want, but like I said, good luck, you'll be dealing with it and not me.

[latemodel3]

Originally Posted by 69Firebird

Anyone have any experience with Long Tube Headers in MA?

I know that because you need to move the Cats a bit that they are technically not Emissions legal, but from what I can tell as long as its tuned properly the car should pass the OBDII Test they run at Inspection time.

Had anyone put Long Tubes on another car? Have you ever had any issues getting an inspection sticker?

Thanks!

just put them on i'm gonna and if you have trouble with inspection contact me i'll hook you up

[Super83Z]

Originally Posted by JMM1181

Ok, I wrote above that I spent almost a year trying to get my car to pass inspections without a single CEL (as in 'code' or check engine light), I attempted to pass on at least 5 separate occasions, I believe by now I do happen to have a pretty good understanding of how inspections work thank you very much. The emissions testing is more stringent now in MA, they will check for stock A/F ratios in addition to the normal tests they run, if anything is off it will not fail but show as 'system not ready' - as long as it's considered 'not ready' you will be rejected. Believe what you want, but like I said, good luck, you'll be dealing with it and not me.

That's why cars that get headers get a custom tune also. Re-flashing the ECM will not take care of it.

[tones2SS]

Originally Posted by Super83Z

This is not true. The LS1 4th gen F-bodys cats were located so far from the engine that Long tubes are perfectly legal. The same may be true for the 5th.



Its not a "belief". I don't think you have much understanding of how an inspection works. When they plug-in they are just searching for codes. That is all. The rest is a safety check. As long as the headers retain any emissions connections and don't relocate the cats they are perfectly legal. The only time you would need to be "pals" is if you relocated the cats and don't want them to say anything about it.

Is this from fact?
I thought long tube headers pushed the cats further back down the car and thus not making them legal? I may be wrong.