Aaron Klein

I know it's a highly general question and the answer is probably even more general then the question in itself but I have always wondered why when you search for an exhaust header setup for just about any vehicle do they almost all state that they're not legal in states that do emissions testing such as California? Assuming you still use your cat do they somehow cause it to be less effective? Or is it just a general restriction they put on aftermarket parts that assumes any tampering with or modification of exhaust "must" inherently be worse then factory equipment?

MonacaYankee

Pretty much the last part.

Aaron Klein

ok that's what I thought. It just seemed like as long as the cat is there it should still pass pretty well but I just had to ask so thanks.

tech

I live in California where they do emissions testing and I did smog testing . It like the state just wants money . It cost a lot to get a smog licence and they want the company that makes the part to spend the money with the state to get it tested to make sure that when you use that part it will still pass the smog test . To me it is all bull **** but they say it cleans the air . If you look at when the air started to get cleaner it was same time computers stared to run our cars , and not when they started doing smog test . I feel they should let use mod our car and see if they still can pass a smog test , if the does not pass smog then you will need to start putting back on the stock parts so the car can pass . I believe its al about the money .

bad_idea

Headers are typically longer than stock manifolds, placing the catalytic converter further down the exhaust pipe. Further away from the engine, cooler the cat runs, less effective it is.

Bugout4x4

This is exactly why! Ca. did it first and then other states jumped on the money wagon. Then someone decided that "high performance" parts were "scary sounding" and might make a car "faster and less safe" so they listed all "aftermarket performance parts" as off road only. I was in the business and lived through it and watched it happen year by year.

I became very politically active against every move they made on this but couldn't get enough wimps to come together and fight it in court. Not even the big car companies wanted to shell out to help. They didn't care at all how much this was going to cost their customers... And the shops jumped on the money wagon realizing they could also make a buck off this too.

But the fact that this one was not exposed for what it really was and nipped in the bud gave the power for Ca. to snowball laws like this in every direction, not just on cars.

And you are right... I have shared it here before, but I could take a 55 chevy, computerize it, fuel inject it, raise the operating temp and pass current Ca. smog.

Click-Click-Pull

It's all about the revenue...period. I live in Washington state and have to pass emissions in my county every other year in order to renew my tabs. on my 93 I've been running a header for over ten years and passed every time. Only until last year did the county figure there wasn't enough revenue in it any more being almost every newer car on the road passes and starting this year no longer require testing....

BooGTS

It costs car manufacturers a lot to deal with emissions. Its not just passing the buck by putting more precious metals into the cat. I'd imagine it was more of a PR thing. Do you want to be the car company fighting in court for something that would be spinned as wanting more pollution? See VW for more details...

Bugout4x4

I can see this aspect. And if it had truly been implemented for emissions rather than an indirect deceptive source of revenue and control I would have excepted the change without such a sour taste in my mouth. But they should have challenged and fought the flawed science from the start and nipped it in the bud. Look at what it has spun into now... If California's credibility had been questioned from the start all the residuals that spun off from this would not have been accepted.

Look at the Diesel standards that were forced because of their continuing agenda. To begin with the law is unconstitutional. While they can pass a law affecting new models yet to be produced they cannot pass an ex post facto law that retroactively requires previously produced existing model years to be retrofitted as they did. And because no one has stood up and questioned them for all these years they slid it through even though it is completely unconstitutional.

Now they think they can pass ANY ex post facto law they want, and they will as long as we keep letting them get away with it. And if it didn't snowball and eventually spread across the country to affect EVERYONE and not just Ca I wouldn't care. But it does...

JK253

Hence the 'crush' in the downpipe to boost cat efficiency.


Same. Banks headers and a Thunderbolt hi-flow cat...never had a problem passing. Haven't got a slip in the mail since about 2014 so I think they've started phasing it out and are supposed to be rid of it statewide by 2020.

checkmate3001

Funny Story about headers and California Smog. So my stock exhaust manifold cracked, as they often do. So we replaced it with another stock exhaust manifold that had cracked but we had welded it back together. It was just easier and faster to replace with a different, already welded, manifold.

Took it to get smogged a few months later and they wouldn't pass it because "you have headers installed and it isn't factory". I just stared at them... I couldn't believe it. I thought maybe, just maybe I was wrong and that it wasn't factory, so I took it back to the buddy that gave me the pre-welded part and asked him about it.

No, it was 100% factory. The smog guy was just an idiot and being overly cautious. He wasn't familiar with the vehicle and how the stock manifold looks and because the color was slightly different (a little more or less rust than the rest of the exhaust) he was confident that it must have not be legit...

Blew my freaking mind. I don't use that smog shop anymore.

sneeze357

It's mostly only an issue in commiefornia where every part needs to have it's own carb approval. In other states, it may not be 1000% legal, but if you pass the sniffer test, and you will, then you won't have a problem.

In my state I had to take the Jeep in for an inspection while I was working on the exhaust. There is supposed to be a visual "tamper check" for the exhaust system. If it's not factory, you're not supposed to pass. I took it in there with no muffler, no tailpipe, and the cat hanging with a piece of electrical wire. It passed, I never actually saw them look under the Jeep. Very common around here for people to not have mufflers or cats at all, and even though there is a yearly inspection nobody seems to fail. I'm not sure but I don't think the shop gets to keep your inspection fee if you fail, so why would they fail anybody? They wanna get paid. It's such a stupid game we play.