California and high flow cats
 

So what do my California buddies do about the cats? It's basically the last thing I could do on my NA z and probably will just leave well enough alone and not get into the hastle but curious has anyone ever tried to emissions test with one of the hfc available and passed visual? I assume they still pass actual sniff test otherwise what would be the point and just run test pipes. When I look from the top you can kind of see the cats but not sure how much difference the hfc options would look to see if they would get caught.

In CA all of the aftermarket products are illegal and technically are not supposed to be put onto our vehicles. HFCs are allowed to be sold and shipped in CA because they are labeled for "Off Road Use".
Chances are you will NOT pass smog in CA, they have the strictest emissions, smog and visual tests in the US. Ironic how they won't let us put pollution into the air because big companies want to pay off politicians to have more air to pollute themselves.. but I digress

That being said, I put a pair of Berk HFCs on my Z the 2 weeks ago, lined up with the Fast Intentions 18" resonated CF cat back exhaust, oem headers still.
I know for SURE my Z will NOT pass the Decibels portion of the Smog Test, I know my Z probably will not pass the emissions portion of the Smog test either because of the HFCs. Mine were brand new too so I know for SURE I will NOT pass the visual test. Still Shiny! :yum:

If you have a shop you know that does Smog Tests and you are able to pay them to pass your car DO SO! Easiest way around everything.

If you are unable to find a shop to payoff on Smog then buy a/keep your pair of used OEM Cats and switch them out every time you smog the Z.

Yea if I was gonna go through the trouble of swapping in and out I would just go test pipes. All well guess no hfc for me. That's fine guess I'm done with my build then, intake, exhaust, oil coolers and tune all done.

If you are throwing out codes, you are SOL. That is half the battle. The other is the visual. No more tailpipe testing done on newer cars.

When i took my car to smog when i purchased it (seller didnt smog) the smog guy just looked under the hood , saw everything stock and then peeped down under the car.
Dont know if the cats are really visual from how low the car is (unless they jack it up), but itll be hard to find someone that would take a quick look and ignore it..

When i had my g35 and intakes; im sure they assumed there were other mods elsewhere aswell. Im currently still on stock cats, but this time i have stillen intakes. Well see when its smog time (3 months) to see if theyll take a 'better' look this time


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Stillen G3 intakes are CARB legal.
You should've received a sticker when you bought them...if you got them new.

I have them installed along w/ the FI CBE (OEM Cat) and passed legit smog test.

Yes i did receive them; but i know some smog places that would check the whole car if he or she sees one modification for performance.
When i smogged my z, the engine bay was completely stock. He didnt do a full visual at all.. Just said it looks good and went on with the obd2

On my g35, i had JWT popcharger with the sticker clearly visible, but he went ahead and did a full on look (under and everything)

Same guy, one day apart.


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Reviving this thread, so there are currently no CARB legal High Flow Cats out there for California? If not, my next question is, does anyone know someone (in the Los Angeles Area preferably the west side) that can "take a look" at my HFCs. I know smog is usually 50 bucks but I'm willing to pay a little more to make sure they are "legal".

Most places won't do a visual under the car and if they do most won't be able to tell if they are high flow and won't even care. As stated above, there is no sniffer test, just obd 2. As long as there are no codes and it shows all monitors are ready then it'll pass. That's all the smog places are looking for, their *** is covered.

How often do you guys out in Cali have to submit to this tyranny?

every 2 years lol

So what places in LA have you taken your's too that you passed? Anyone else in LA please chime in. I legit took mine to a smog place in Venice on Lincoln Blvd and the guy immediately failed me even though I'm not throwing any codes or smells because it's a Fast Intentions HFC

I bought my z new so it wouldn't need to be smogged for a few more years if I still had it. With all the mods I had done they wouldn't have needed to look under it to tell that it wasn't legal. :icon17: I have a 1999 Eclipse that actually requires the sniffer test. It has a catback, cai and msd coil. The cai and msd coil both need carb certification and I have stickers for both. When I take it in for testing, not once have any of the places I've taken it to looked under the car. They asked for the carb stickers, stuck the probe in the exhaust tailpipe and hooked up their obd 2 tester and that was it. I'm in the Redondo Beach/Torrance area.

Yeah I'm out in Santa Monica, so then I can pass, just take it to a different smog place is what you're saying?

If you want to come down to Torrance I can give you the address of the last place I took my eclipse. It's right next door to the place that built my z (L-Spec Auto). You can stop in and see what they're up to while your car is getting smogged.