HFC, maybe not for me?

nynhex

So I'm driving my Z the other day and I get lit up by a state trooper. I'm sitting there thinking what now as I offer him my insurance, registration, etc.

He said that I made an improper lane change which I admitted to then he started asking questions about my car. "Why is it so loud, why do you have so much rasp?". I explained I had aftermarket exhaust. He started to look under the car then went back to his.

My heart started to pound as all I could think of were my HFCs which are "ODBII Compliant" per Berk Technologies but it's still not technically legal to swap them out. All I could think of was jail time, court fees, and my life ruined over +5hp and an aggressive exhaust.

He let me go with a warning since I have a clean record and I slowly drove off.

Am I being overly paranoid here or do I have a legitimate concern with running HFCs?

Texas is an ODBII/Scan state for inspection so the sniff/visual is no longer but a random trooper could seriously ruin your day.

Any thoughts on this? I'm considering taking these off and putting my stock cats back on.

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Deadman

if you take them off ill buy them from you

370Z JT

Keep em on. The trooper didnt seemed to really mind the noise. Just drive cautiously and you'll be good.

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nynhex

The problem is what if I do get caught and they pull a visual. I'm not schooled on Texas laws but from my understanding it is illegal to replace a working OEM emissions component.

Is it likely that I will get caught? Probably not, but the idea of jail and/or 10k+ in fines scares the living fcuk out of me.

I'm sure theres TONS of people running HFCs and TPs but I really wouldn't want to be the of the small percentage that gets caught.

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daisuke149

berk HFC and berk exhaust shouldnt be THAT loud unless you were ocmpletely flooring it near the cop or have a massive leak somewhere.

370Z JT

U get jail time? In CA, you take it off and pay a small fine.

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red6spd

If it ever got to the point of jail time court etc I would play stupid and be like "the car came like that" or "I hit something in the road and replaced them with these" How are they going to prove your lieing? But I dont think it will get that far. I'm running around with no Cats and I have been infront behind and even pulled over by cops and they never asked me anything about the exhaust.

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TruKoi

I am still getting used to the sound, a lot louder (the HFC) than I expected - this coming from someone who had downpipes, uppipes, full turbo back on a WRX. It really isn't just on WOT that it starts to resonate sound either, mid point on throttle and you start to make discerning tones. Only had the CBE and HFC on for several days, but have managed to cruise by cops throttling at under 3k RPM.

Just my opinion.

nynhex

Really? I read in CA it's mandatory jail time. Have things changed over there?

I think the law states fines and/or jail time up to blah blah blah. But for me it's just the potential of going to jail or having to pay so much money for someting so stupid is really getting me paranoid.

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Dzel

HFC's should be legal. In Texas as long as you have some kind of resonator on there.

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Lug

I've never even heard of someone getting busted for hfc's in texas

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da mayor

ive seen a cop pull over one mustang and used a mirror to see if the car had cats, which it didn't.... this goes back 8 years.

rare occassions I've seen any cop pull anyone over for that.

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bluelion

I SERIOUSLY doubt you'd get any kind of jail time for that.... if you did get a ticket for it, i'm 99.9% sure you could get it dismissed by just replacing it with OEM by the court date...just get it done at a muffler shop so you have documentation of the work.....i think you're being over paranoid. i think if it was as big of an issue as you think it is, you would've gotten a ticket or be in jail now because the trooper wouldn't of just given you a warning.......

Synack

You don't get jail time for high flow cats. Hell, you won't even get jail for straight pipes. They'll give you a ticket for straights and they won't say anything about the HFC's because a simple visual look under the car will show that you have 2 catalytic converters sitting there like you're supposed to. So you're fine. I had a highflow cat on my cobalt for 2 years and got pulled over and the cop wanted to take a look. He looked, he saw, no problems. The only other thing I can think of that you can get in trouble for is for having WAY too loud of an exhaust, which is hard with HFC's and a catback. You're fine man.

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Red__Zed

they don't usually care that much unless there's a lot done to your car. Even then they usually just want your money.

I would worry less about state troopers and more about the EPA. They will clean out your bank account, though usually only for TPs.

Did you install the cats yourself?