Can a catless midpipe pass emissions on these cars?

astronut1885 · Aug 9, 2007

I know this may be a stupid question, but I notice most guys are running a catless midpipe on their 99+ cars. I know on my old 87, I had to go on the sniffer for MA emissions inspection, and I know that the catless prochamber I had never allowed me to pass emissions. I know that these newer cars don't get the sniffer here, but rather get plugged in to the computer, but I don't know if having a catless prochamber or xpipe will effect the ability to pass emissions. I also know that the midpipe install is a ****** on these 2v cars, so I can't imagine everyone is removing them every 2 years to go for inspection. So what's the deal? Can I throw an offroad midpipe on my car and expect to pass inspection?

CobraRed_96_GT · Aug 9, 2007

uhm...no. Cats are what make your car pass, you need em. I put my stocker that has 6 cats on it in order to pass while my bro's supra will just barely pass w/ one cat while his stocker had two. I change mine out more than once every 2 years, i take it off all the time for various reasons. I can take it off and put it back on in about 45 mins now

astronut1885 · Aug 9, 2007

I was under the impression that they are a real PITA on the 99+ cars due to working room. How does it effect what the computer tells them? Are the O2 sensors after the cats? I'm still learning on these cars, and haven't spent alot of time under mine since I got it.

Blinkstang · Aug 9, 2007

CobraRed_96_GT said:
uhm...no.

Maybe where you are from, as CA is more stringent. It all depends on the area. In Chicago, all they do is hook up to your OBD2 port on 96+ cars, and check for codes. As long as you have no CEL on, you are good to go. I have passed with LT headers and an O/R H pipe with no problems, as well as everyone else in the local clubs. So again, it depends on your area. If they do the same thing, and just plug in to check for codes, you should be good to go with a set of MIL's or a tuner.

CobraRed_96_GT · Aug 9, 2007

Blinkstang said:
Maybe where you are from, as CA is more stringent. It all depends on the area. In Chicago, all they do is hook up to your OBD2 port on 96+ cars, and check for codes. As long as you have no CEL on, you are good to go. I have passed with LT headers and an O/R H pipe with no problems, as well as everyone else in the local clubs. So again, it depends on your area. If they do the same thing, and just plug in to check for codes, you should be good to go with a set of MIL's or a tuner.

That's friggin sweet. Here they put your car on a load dyno and run it in 2nd and 3rd gear then measure three different pollutant levels and gas cap pressure tests + sniffer.
As for changing the mid-pipe it's pretty straight forward. The passenger side upper to=header bolt is a bit of a pain but w/ some liquid wrench and a ujoin socket it's not too bad w/ a .5" drive. And there are 02 sensors b4 and after the cats on both pipes. Make sure not to run the car w/out the forward 02 sensors for too long

astronut1885 · Aug 9, 2007

I wouldn't run at all without them. I'm pretty sure that around here it's just a plug in. I'm going to end up running a custom tune with Sniper tuning, and can turn off the rear O2s, but I don't know if any of that will hose up the read that an inspection computer will get. Once I have a blower, I won't be able to go back to a stock tune either... I think I know who to call though, a local race shop should have all the info. Since a family member of mine works at an inspection station, I know I won't have to worry about a visual inspection. Hell, I remember one time convincing a kid at a station that the prochamber I had on my 87 was one big high-flow cat when he looked underneath on a safety-only year.

'13_ImpactBlue_GT · Aug 9, 2007

CobraRed_96_GT said:
That's friggin sweet. Here they put your car on a load dyno and run it in 2nd and 3rd gear then measure three different pollutant levels and gas cap pressure tests + sniffer.
As for changing the mid-pipe it's pretty straight forward. The passenger side upper to=header bolt is a bit of a pain but w/ some liquid wrench and a ujoin socket it's not too bad w/ a .5" drive. And there are 02 sensors b4 and after the cats on both pipes. Make sure not to run the car w/out the forward 02 sensors for too long

Thank God the county where I live doesnt do that, Dark Horse passed last year w/ no problems

Superhereaux · Aug 9, 2007

astronut1885 said:
Hell, I remember one time convincing a kid at a station that the prochamber I had on my 87 was one big high-flow cat when he looked underneath on a safety-only year.

funny you say that because i had to do the same thing

i'm running spliced in MIL eliminators on my 'o2. had them for almost 5yrs and have never had a problem (mAd tYTE Splizzin' skiLLz yO). they don't "turn off" the rear o2's, (not sure what hand held tuners do) rather they're just a fixed resistor that tells the computer that the rears are functioning correctly and within spec

StangYellow · Aug 9, 2007

The hardest part about the install is getting the correct swivel sockets for the passengers side manifold bolts. But its very simple to do. Im a MA resident also, and i just swap the pipes out when i have to get a sticker, then put the o/r pipe back on when im done. You will not pass the MA sniffer test with an o/r pipe. But come October, i guess all tests will run off the OBDII sensor and thats it.

astronut1885 · Aug 10, 2007

When my car got it's sticker in May, it only got the computer as far as I know...

Mach1Run · Aug 10, 2007

I passed with mine one last month. But I have the rear sensors turned off to eliminate the CEL a catless pipe will cause. We only get hooked to the computer here on late model cars.

RoadconeTuning · Aug 10, 2007

we dont have emissions testing OR saftey inspections... so my Ceramic Coated Longtubes an H-pipe into flows is just fine even tho as i drive by 4 cats and every plant dies haha

RedDaemon · Aug 10, 2007

my friend just passed w/o cats on his 99 GT

screamin gt · Aug 11, 2007

I passed last week, sniffer test due to not enough info on computer, with no cats.

failed me due to no cats.

I wire tied 2 cat heat shields to make it look like they were there and went back.

passed

Miles · Aug 11, 2007

With my prochamber on, I failed the hydrocarbon test by a factor of 32x

Mustang5L5 · Aug 11, 2007

astronut1885 said:
When my car got it's sticker in May, it only got the computer as far as I know...

But you'd fail visual. MA is just as bad as Cali when it comes to emmissions. Even if everything checks out fine, a sharp inspector will know it has no cats and fail it right there for that. Some won't even take it in without cats for fear of losing their lisences. I remember on my 5.0 without cats i couldn't even get an alignment done because none of the shops wanted to work on a car without cats for fear of getting in trouble.

If you know someone who will "ignore" the missing cats and just hook the car up to the computer then you might very well pass since they are ignoring visual. That's really the key here.

Oh and rumor has it come Sept 2008, all OBD1 cars will now be exempt from emmissions testing in MA. That means i can mod my 5.0 up and not worry about passing the sniffer anymore. I beleive cats will still be part of the visual forever, but not a problem since off-road is way too loud for me and i run a high-flow pipe.

astronut1885 · Aug 11, 2007

Ha, that was always a pain when I had my 5.0, I had the thing modified to high hell with a pig rich HCI motor, so it never passed. I have a friend who does inspections, so I'm not too worried about the visual, and even then, I know a dumbass who would think a prochamber is a cat converter (done it already). I just didn't know if the computer would still give the inspection machine failing information with a catless pipe, or if it will pass the machine. I'd rather save $300.00 and get an o/r prochamber, and gain the extra power too...

markwsoil · Aug 12, 2007

Blinkstang said:
In Chicago, all they do is hook up to your OBD2 port on 96+ cars, and check for codes. As long as you have no CEL on, you are good to go. I have passed with LT headers and an O/R H pipe with no problems, as well as everyone else in the local clubs.

I have the same set up on my '98, but it smells terrible because the six cats they put on from the factory are in my tool shed. Don't they notice that and inspect the car? I'm sure hoping so, because I'm due to have it inspected next year.

Mike97gt · Aug 13, 2007

As long as you don't get some dick you will be fine.. Massachusetts only runs the sniffer on 1995 and older cars.

I am not 100 percent sure of this yet, but we are trying to get the owner of the dealer I work for to move the inspection machine from our chevy store back into the ford dealer. If that happens then the svttech76 everybody passes emissions inspection center will be open for business again..

I used to pass everything even before they made it easier with the OBD2 plug in testing. I used to have to get creative to fool the dyno test.. I had two different ways I would do it.

1. unplug the machine from the phone line, if you did this then the inspector got to choose what test to run and of course I selected the safety only test

2. since this was at a car dealer I had a wide selection of test cars to select from just in case I wanted to use the dyno for some reason.

I used to get enjoyment out of tricking the system because I HATE emissions testing, I find it's a waste of time since very few unmodified cars would fail and the cars that would fail are mostly owned by poor people that can not even afford the diag let alone repair of the car. I have a real problem with taking transportation away from poor people just because it may have a little carbon build up in a EGR passage or cylinder head. There are far more important things the state should do and harassing poor people is not one of them.

Now what i think should be done with inspections is eliminate all emissions testing and instead have a wheels off in the the air safety inspection. A loose tie rod or wheel bearing is a public safety hazard and even the poorest among us should spend money to fix that or just not drive the car.

Miles · Aug 13, 2007

svttech76 said:
Now what i think should be done with inspections is eliminate all emissions testing and instead have a wheels off in the the air safety inspection. A loose tie rod or wheel bearing is a public safety hazard and even the poorest among us should spend money to fix that or just not drive the car.

.. preach on brotha'!! I would be very interested to see the stats on how many cars pass/fail and the reasons why. The shop where i got mine tested had to keep photocopies of everything for the car - he told me the government inspects their records every 2 months!! I nearly died at the thought of how much tax money goes into administrating this BS

Can a catless midpipe pass emissions on these cars?

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