Catless Exhaust

[angdefeo]

I am new to the tuning world and could not find any relevant information regarding catless exhaust systems. If that type of system is installed on a car in PA, does passing the yearly emissions inspection become an issue?

Sorry if this has already been discussed, but i am curios as to whats happening in our area regarding this type of exhaust.

[cr8zyjap07]

I'm running catless. i dont have to go through emissions.

[SvicksTc]

i was catless on my turbo setup and wouldnt have passed but i drive my car less than 5000 miles a year so i was exempt....depedning on CEL, Visual Inspection will all factor in on passing....

[angdefeo]

Would installing a downpipe with a high flow catalytic converter allow me to pass state inspection in PA?

[DarkHorse]

If ur vehicle is 97' and newer then u can either put 02 simulators on the catless exhaust to keep the mil out. u can buy a spark plug non fouler and modify it to draw the o2 sensor out of the exhaust track which will keep the o2 sensor thinking nothing has changed which will inturn keep the light out, or you could just have the cat. efficiency codes tuned out of the ecu. All are viable options, you just do what works for you.

[CANNIBALOFDOOM]

taking "cats" off a car is against the law.From what ive heard having anything but the factory cat or oem replacement is also against the law. If you know local cops can be dicks about window tint and other modified car stuff you might as well go catted. ABout passing emissions ive read so many different things about "no cel so they passed" to "they check it and refused to touch my car". Just ask around for places other people with catless have gone to and passed and go there haha It's what i plan to do when i go catless in about a month. Also don;t forget catless reaks to death another way cops can easily spot it. For me i wouldn;t mind egtting a high flow cat. But it is $200-300 cheaper for a catless which pays for the tune and some.

[hempele28]

I have an 03 evo running catless and I have passed emissions. The biggest thing is making sure you are not throwing any codes and its better to know the person doing your inspection. Someone you know is more likely to let a test pipe slide as opposed to someone you do not know. The gains of being catless are worth it to me for the risk. I threw codes until I installed an o2 simulator but once that was installed there were no more codes and i was able to pass emissions.

[CleanNeon98]

I'm running a high flow cat and no mufflers, plan on removing the cat and installing a small resonator soon. Cops will smell you from a while away though.

[TROLL]

Aside from CA, I've never heard of anyone having an issue from the police for cats, but loud exhausts do bring attention sometimes and result in a 'fix it' ticket and a small fine.

As far as passing inspection on an OBD2 car... your car cannot have any CELs and all of your sensors must read in the ready mode. You can achieve this even with a catless exhaust by using a reflash system like RomRaider to turn off your CEL. I'm not positive if a visual inspection is supposed to be required or not but I haven't had them done at my inspections. I go in and can pass legitimately as my car sits which is catless and with a RomRaider reflash to turn off the CEL.

[TNTramair]

if your inspector follows all the guidlines for inspection, your car will fail the visual inspection if you dont have cats on the car...regardless if you throwing any codes or not. now theoretically speaking, if ya know the guy inspecting the car and he's cool, he may over look it. but that doesnt excuse you from having to pay a fine if you get caught.....take it for what its worth. IMO...its not worth the few extra ponies you get from removing cats if you read up on the fines associated with cats and stuff.
with all that said...i dont have cats on my TT car and its not b/c i wanted more power....they (yes we V8 guys have 2 of them) are just too damn expensive and i drive the car maybe 2500 miles a year and get an exemption anyways. eventually it will get a set though.

[DarkHorse]

yo rick, i know a guy who has a set if you would like them. i am sure i can get them to you fairly cheap.

[max2k1]

I had a full turbo back on my car. No cats, no resonators, no muffler and I still passed emissions. I also didnt have any different smell coming from my exhaust either

[vantage08]

I just had a 3IN catted down pipe put on the car with stock Y pipe back till thurs then full 3IN but as long as it has a cat, you'll pass PA emissions. It's made a huge difference so far going from 2.5 to 3IN int a 2.5 Y pipe and back. Thurs the rest of the 3IN is going on..should be interesting.

[Preston]

PA Inspector...pre OBDII...aka 95 down...you will fail the visual unless you know somebody or get a guy that doesn't care. OBDII as long as you have all but one readiness monitor (evap, catalyst, o2 heater, o2 sensor, etc.) you will pass. The guy could still fail you on state inspection though for not having all factory components. Personally I look past a lot of things that aren't safety issues unless somebody comes in acting like an asshole. If you have a pre OBDII car without emissions, but you have the car running very good (tuned perfected) the 5 gas readings will still be within spec to pass, you just need to find somebody to let you slide on the visual.

OBDI...cars gotta run good and have a friend or cash to "persuade" the mechanic to let you pass...my own car...I use another car for my tests (hint hint) to pass the test.
OBDII...this only works once every two years...leave the OBDII connector off and it will pass it with a no communication...you have to hook it up the following year or it won't let it pass again.

Any other questions feel free to ask. Anybody near Washington PA give me a yell I'll help you out, anybody near Pittsburgh, PA I got a buddy I'll hook you up with.

[angdefeo]

I am in Philadelphia. If you know anyone there.....please reach out.

[jpalamar]

Old thread but I thought I'm post. I bought my GTO in Philly. Had the dealer install catless mids and my catback before I picked it up(yes they instaleld it but made me sign a waiver of liabilty and wouldn't warrenty the labor or anything). But after it was installed I got it tuned. Took it back to the dealer for inspection. They passed it. It is all about the tune.

Granted I shouldn't of passed the visual, but you can even gut the cat if you must to pass the visual too.

Bottom line... is it legal?.... NO; can you find shops to pass it.... YES(isn't too hard to find)

[angdefeo]

I need to find one of those shops. I have one in mind but its not time yet.

[Fujito]

Why don't you just switch back to the stock exhaust when it comes time?

That's what I'm doing. My garage is like a car shop with all the OEM parts I have in there.

[supraghost]

my buddy at yti texted me the other day and told me its a $10k fine for first offense of no cat or modified cat in pa. 2nd offense is minimum 2 years in prison

:bigeek:

[jpalamar]

my buddy at yti texted me the other day and told me its a $10k fine for first offense of no cat or modified cat in pa. 2nd offense is minimum 2 years in prison

:bigeek:

You just as dumb as him for even posting this.

[supraghost]

You just as dumb as him for even posting this.

im just saying what they taught him in school lol. seemed a little strange to me but i cant prove it wrong. can you?

[angdefeo]

Why don't you just switch back to the stock exhaust when it comes time?

That's what I'm doing. My garage is like a car shop with all the OEM parts I have in there.


I dont have the ability to do it by myself. Right now i dont have the space or tools to be able to make a switch.

My understanding of yearly inspection is pretty raw. But i think i might be able to get an exemption on the exhaust portion of the test if i drive it less than 5k a year.

[devildog214]

well with my car the cat and pretty much all emissions were removed when i bought it, you just gotta find ones of those places, a gas station usually with a garage, i paid 70 bucks for an inspection. They only asked if i had cats, i dont recall if they looked under it but they did pop the hood. I suggest once you find a place, do a test cat, testpipe surrounded by a gutted cat.

[STI FREAK]

I'd go for hfc, just to be safe.