95 GT 5.0 - not passing CA smog visual inspection

08GT500 said:

Hi, The comments above are true, indeed. It would be near impossible for a Car to pass a Sniffer Test without Cat’s. Yes, it has occurred, where they are gutted, and then actually passed the test.
You don’t have a Check Engine light, which leads me to believe you are 1) Running a Cat delete Tune, or 2) you are running Anti Foulers on the 02 Sensors that will basically tell the CPU “All is well”.
If you want advice on how to breeze through an Inspection without affecting your current setup, buying a Catted X pipe setup that will Bolt in place, and removing it & replacing it with your Bassani Off Road setup once you have a Sticker is what we do in Mass. It’s not terribly expensive- depending on your Budget, it’s not Illegal- who’s going to care once you get a valid Sticker?
Speaking to a Shop owner who will level with you on this in Cali. is the best idea, to lay out your, &’ showing him your options. I can say with relative Certainty you can likely get away with (2) Cat’s, your Car came with (4)- But having your Car running pristine, & not dumping Fuel at Idle- you should be fine.
I’m curious, if you didn’t know you had no Cat’s, and the first (2) or Upstream Cats are not really easily visible, you may have the upstream Cat’s installed, just not the Stock Downstream Cat’s.
One Member of Stangnet lives in Cali., and posted this...
“I've legally passed CA smog with only two cats. If you're asked, just tell the truth: you bought the car without cats, so you had to buy an aftermarket replacement midpipe. If the shop keeps giving you a hard time, just go somewhere else. Most shops aren't that picky on the visual. The one I go to in West LA just checks if you have cats, not how many.”
The BELOW is an OEM REPLACEMENT of your STOCK setup, specifically to be identical to your California Emissions Catalytic Converter setup.

Hi, The comments above are true, indeed. It would be near impossible to pass a Sniffer Test without Cat’s. Yes, it has occurred, where they are gutted, and then actually passed the test. If you want advice on how to breeze through an Inspection without affecting your current setup, buying an X pipe setup that will Bolt in place, and replacing it once you have a Sticker isn’t terribly expensive- but who’s going to care once you get a valid Sticker? It’s also a good idea to speak to a Shop owner who will level with you on this in Cali., but being the State that’s not already adopted, but plans to exceed Cali’s Emission guidelines- I can say with relative Certainty you need only (2) Cat’s, your Car came with (4)- But having your Car running good, not throwing Codes- you should be fine.
I’m curious, if you didn’t know you had any Cat’s, look at how the first (2) (or Upstream Cats) are not very easily visible, you may have the upstream Cat’s installed. Here’s a (4) Cat System for your 95’, it’s an X Pipe- but just for illustration purposes...

Note how it may not be easy to see the Front (2). The NEXT is a 95’ Mid-Pipe (2) Cat. X Pipe Setup..
You can Bolt this directly into Place of your current Off Road H-Pipe, looks like this: Call AM or Summit and tell them to give an exact fit of your Bassani X Pipe, with a Catted one- so, Unbolt, then remove- rebolt-DONE!


The 2 lower Pipes show, what I’d wanted you to see. If you are OK with just (2) Cat’s, and you SHOULD BE, you don’t need (4) Cats, if you were a 1996 Mustang GT, then you would likely NEED to be, but you’re one year shy of an OBD-2 Computer platform, being OBD-1, you will likely be fine with just having (2) Cat’s.
Verify this- and then you swap out your Setup, for a Week, Drive it a bit with the Cat’s, get your Sticker, 8 Bolts later- you’re back to where you were, where your performance is. You must be running Anti-Foulers on your 02 Sensors, or you’d be throwing CPU Codes. Remove them and thread 02’s into the Bungs on your new Catted H Pipe. You can get these much cheaper than shown, just examples..
Biggest point I also wanted to put on the Table, is the NEWER CATBACK Systems have very much less restriction that it’s made out to be, the Sound May be a little less raspy- but not always, and Bassani makes some good assemblies that lose 10-15HP MAX, you can get that back with running under Drive Pulleys. You can also purchase Cat’s that have high flow numbers, drop your mid Pipe- if they’re Stainless to CRbon Pipes, TIG Weld them in with ER309 Wire, StInless to Stainless with 308-316 Wire, Arc- Same Flux covered 3/32” Rods. 60-75A DC Pos.
Cats Cost 80$ -100$ apiece, or less- cutting out the section in your Bassani Pipe to Slip fit/Weld Cat’s in- 1 per side- Bolt it up. You won’t KILL your Performance with High Flow Cats, so don’t be so concerned, or just buy the X Pipe with Cats that Bolts, unbolts. Don’t worry about Driving it, you can just tell them you’re waiting for Parts to come in- about a Week, not something dangerous- just 02 Sensor Wires or something.
Have anOrder slip you printed out, that’ll be enough for any Cop. Don’t let it bother you, talk to the Shop Owner- you’ll be fine!
Cheers! John

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08GT500 said:

If you type in California Cat’s emissions, or the like- Stangnet has some good archived articles regarding this, take a peek, they made it work, too. Same issues, except they were not given any allowances as you had for a few years.
“No. Cats Vs High Flow Cats” is helpful regarding Sound/Power, on Stangnet, and. “Catalytic Converters” in the 94’ 95’ Mustang specific area, Google any question, put “Stangnet” on the end of the sentence, you’ll be amazed about how many times this came up, and people said places to go you may be familiar with.
Going to a Muffler Shop, unless it’s Custom installs, will likely tell you they want to put OEM back on the Car- and rip you off in the process. Talk to a reputable Speed Shop (Not Advanced, or AZone types) and you will find answers. Even a Friend of a Friend that does Inspections, works at a Dealer, or a Tuning Shop, then, you’ll get a straight answer.
Some parts will not ship to California if they are Performance, ship to a Ffiend outside Cali, they ship to you, or to a Business in California you may know, IF you run into that. They really ARE getting ridiculous! No worries, however. You’ll get there, less issues than expected. Many spots don’t like the guidelines and will be less apt to follow everything to the Letter.
Good luck! John

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Hoytster said:

@98Mustang2017
One thing to keep in mind, his car is a 95' which would have pre-cat 02 sensors only (obdi), so he could have the cats removed without a cat delete tune or MIL eliminators on that car. It would still be very surprising to see a pushrod 5.0 pass Cali sniffer test requirements with no cats.

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