New LS1 Owners - Newbie Tech - To have cats or not to have cats?

Ive been wondering about this for awhile now and I wanted to know why didnt people put cats on their cars. I know obv. that there is less restriction but dont we all have to get emmissions testing on our cars?? How do you get away with an off-road y-pipe or true duels with no cats?? Isnt there a fine for that? Let me know.
Thanks,

Matt :cheers:

Yes , there is a fine for that and you will be hard pressed to find a shop who will do that for you. It's a 2500.00 fine and if you have emissions testing where you live , they will check for it.

No cats here. I dont like them, im more of a dog person anways. Ive heard of different dollar amount on fines but I have never seen any actual proof. I also heard that they fine the shop and not the individual. But again I have never seen any hardcore evidence.

check your area for emissions testing. out here in west texas, they hardly enforce emissions(if at all) and no one around here has the tail pipe sniffer thingy. and yes, that is the technical term. lol. ask around, and if no one, or the majority of yo ask dont have them, you will be able to get away with not having them.

dont we all have to get emmissions testing on our cars?? How do you get away with an off-road y-pipe or true duels with no cats?? Isnt there a fine for that?

Where I live there is no emmissions testing what-so-ever, so there is no way that "they" would know if I had cats or not. But it is suppose to be illegal to modify a stock "correctly functioning" exhaust system in any way,shape,or form (except back to stock). So you are out of luck either way...

So Unless I get pulled over and then the cop decides to lay down on his back and see that I have no cats, I don't have anything to worry about as far as having no cats is involved. But yes I would get fined like $250 for modified exhaust if a cop decided to be a jerk. No one that I know of has ever had this happen.

Check your local laws for emmission testing before you decide

it just depends on how strict the area is, again, ask around there.

You don't live in the metro Memphis area , do you? In Nashville and the surounding counties , you have to go through emissions testing to renew your tags. If you are OBDI or older down to 1975 model year , you have to pass a visual and a sniffer test, OBDII and up , diagnostic plug in check and visual check. It's gotta be the same in Memphis, eventually the whole state will have to test.

You don't live in the metro Memphis area , do you?

I go to school in Memphis (CBU), but I actually live 15 minutes away in Marion, AR. BUT I have a friend that lives in Germantown that does not have to pass any kind of emmission test either. It just depends on the district I guess...

Yea I live in AZ near phoenix and on wednesday I have to get my tags renewed. Which means I have to have my car emmissions tested. Maybe ill just get the 2 year renewal and install headers and whatnot afterwards. :cool: Ill let you know what happens and ill ask a few questions while im there.

my dad used to own a car dealership he said every so often people came to check for emissions and it was $10,000 fine..:eek2: but that seems like a lot of money...i doubt it is that big....i think he was just trying to get me to keep the cats...however, that sure didn't work...haha...no regular emissions here in florida :nod:

I live in west Texas and have no emissions on my car (LT's and TD'd). They don't test out here for it and if they did, I would consider rigging a second exhaust system to install that would be use in passing the test, and just change it out one day out of the year. Has anyone thought of this and if so what was the outcome?

just go to a muffler shop and bring cash, you won't get a reciept btw.

I live in west Texas and have no emissions on my car (LT's and TD'd). They don't test out here for it and if they did, I would consider rigging a second exhaust system to install that would be use in passing the test, and just change it out one day out of the year. Has anyone thought of this and if so what was the outcome?
a friend of mine has a 95 Z28 (OBD I) and he has a pipe rigged up with two clamps, where he drops the section of pipe, puts the cat in, clamps it up, test and pass, goes home and swaps in the catless pipe

I live in Arkansas and they dont test for emissions, so I guess I'm kinda lucky in that area.

If you have to pass emissions in your area but you want the LT/ORY/Catback setup that alot of people have, then get the FLP LT's. You get a set of Off Road Test Pipes, and a set of High Flow Cats......just change to the cats on test day. When you get a ticket (IF YOU DO) for no cats....that should be a "fix it ticket" so you can just change them out, then go to court and prove that you have cats.

On second thought.....for the budget guys. FLP's are kinda pricey.....You could do Pacesetter/ORY/Catback setup.....then buy a 3" catted y pipe......do the same swap out thing.

There's always loopholes.....you just gotta find it

I found that the car was almost unbearable without cats. The fumes will make you change your mind in a hurry.

:secret: You can pass the plug in emissions test by resetting the computer to clear the SES light, then put 100-150 miles on it stop and go city driving, any more and the catalyst system will reload. Down here in Texas your allowed two system not readies and still pass emissions, I just did it, at 100 miles I still had three not readies, 150 miles, only one not ready, the catalyst system, not sure where the cutoff mileage is, but after the catalyst system reboots, your SES light will come back on, and you will fail, so you have a small window of opportunity, but it works, and it will buy you another year, to get a tune....Good luck :thumb:

I found that the car was almost unbearable without cats. The fumes will make you change your mind in a hurry.

I kind of like the fumes :) No cats for me either.....had one (of the two) go bad each year they were on the car. Haven't had to replace one in over a year now :)

No cats here

Getting O2 sims for the two rear O2 sensors, or getting a custom tune to remove the sensors from the computer, should eliminate the Service Engine Soon light / ODBII codes and thus let you pass... see http://www.ls1tech.com/forums/showthread.php?t=218350

Some sponsors with online sales who sell O2 sims:
http://www.afterthoughtsauto.com/ - $34 each
http://www.fasttoys.net/ - $90 pair
http://www.horsepowerengineering.com/ - $70 pair
http://www.lgmotorsports.com/ - $89 pair
http://www.motorsporttech.com/ - $89 pair
http://www.quicktimeperformance.com/ - $90 pair
http://www.yearone.com/ - $119 pair

I found that the car was almost unbearable without cats. The fumes will make you change your mind in a hurry.


Mine was horriable too untill I tuned it. It was so bad it would make my eyes water if they wind was blowing towards the cab. It cleared up when I got my A/F ratio straight.

all my sports cars have off-road pipes. every year when it comes time for inspection I simply swap the off-road pipe for the catted pipe. It dosen't take too long and the shops around here will simply fail my inspection if I take it in with the off-road pipes. I've never had any bad fumes, and I have the OR pipes mainly for the sound. especially on the 5.0's, they sound wicked.. :headbang:

Here in Ky there is no emmisions testing. Every redneck around here the first thing they do when they buy a new diesel truck is cut the cats off and run a straight pipe. There probably scared to do emmisions testing YEEEHAWWW.

No cats on my car either. Well, sorta...I purchased a set of stock cats cheap and gutted them. So if you look under the car, which you really cant without a jack. It appears :secret2: as if there there. I had the rear o2 edited out of the computer so there would be no codes set. Also I had to get the corvette sensors for the front to keep the 1153's away. I have my good ones in the garage and if I ever have a problem I can swap them back in like 30 minutes. There was a noticable difference in the smell after removing the cats. Smells like fuel and muscle! ARGH, ARGH, ARGH!! :drive: :burn:

Maryland just does a plug in on new cars. If you dont have any SES codes they assume everything is there and functioning properly.

just go to a muffler shop and bring cash, you won't get a reciept btw.
This is the way i get by with no cats also.

The answer is easy, have a brother-in-law that does inspections

Ask around it is easy for the OBD11 computers to pass inspection without cats.

in pa if you stay under 5000miles/year, you are emission's exempt. cost me 40 bucks to get inspected and emissions. next year it will only cost $15