[iverson3yoo]

Hello all, any insight will be greatly appreciated...
I am in the market for new downpipes to improve performance. I know catless will give me the biggest gains, but I live in VA. So to my question...will having catless dp's pass emissions in VA? High flow cats? Catless dp's with catted exhaust? Catted dp's w/ catless exhaust? many options... Thanks in advance

[Foxcolt]

From my time working on modified 240sx's.

Depending on who actually does your emissions (how lazy they are) they perform a visual inspection to make sure all cats are present and in good visual condition. So having less than the number of stock cats on a car is an automatic fail (it was 2 on 240's, not sure how many are on 335's).

If you register for 2 years which you can with an 07 you can go ahead and get emissions done and just replace the stock exhaust every time you need to pass emissions. Just factor in the price of new gaskets everytime you swap out to make sure you don't run into problems.

Aftermarket cats can be a pain since not all states have the same emissions requirements. I've found in general that if a part is rated to pass California SMOG rating that it will be fine for VA emissions.

[zaxjax]

If they do a visual inspection, you will fail.

If they dont and they plug into you OBD and your car does not throw any codes you are fine. Your should have your car tuned when removing any emissions related equipment.

I ran long tube headers, no cats, x pipe and egr delete on my 04 Cobra and passed. No visual inspection and no codes

[Cptn Mo 703]

Re-new your registration first and get the emissions test done. Then install the catless downpipes and you should be good for 2 years. But remember here in VA we have the emissions van so if you go through it and it catches you your going to have to go get a emissions test. Also depending on the tune you get, make sure it turns off your CEL so you can pass state inspections.

[Tuner1984]

Also if you get Catless DP's you should get the BMS DP fix. However if you have the JB4 or Vishnu I believe that they both automatically fix that issue for you. Please chime in if I'm incorrect.

[ceb]

Originally Posted by iverson3yoo

Hello all, any insight will be greatly appreciated...
I am in the market for new downpipes to improve performance. I know catless will give me the biggest gains, but I live in VA. So to my question...will having catless dp's pass emissions in VA? High flow cats? Catless dp's with catted exhaust? Catted dp's w/ catless exhaust? many options... Thanks in advance

And what sort of "improved performance" do you expect? Are the gains worth the socially irresponsible behavior?

[utfenix335i]

335i has 4 cats. two on the DPs and 2 in the mid pipes. I'm doing my swap this weekend. I was told that so long you have 2 your car won't code and it'll be fine.

[Cptn Mo 703]

Originally Posted by utfenix335i

335i has 4 cats. two on the DPs and 2 in the mid pipes. I'm doing my swap this weekend. I was told that so long you have 2 your car won't code and it'll be fine.

You do have 4 cats but the o2 sensors are where the dp's are. So if you go the catless dp route you will throw a code unless you have a tune to fix it. You can get rid of the cats in the exhaust and have no issues.

[zaxjax]

Originally Posted by ceb

And what sort of "improved performance" do you expect? Are the gains worth the socially irresponsible behavior?

Lol! We have a comedian


I havent seen too many stock E90's hanging out on the forums.

[iverson3yoo]

Sorry have had this car less than a month still learning all the acronyms. What is BMS? and CEL?

P.s. Thanks for all the responses so far...helpful

[zeel]

OBD test + tune with code clearing = pass.

Just see if you can find out which method your location uses.

[BushidoN54]

Originally Posted by Cptn Mo 703

Re-new your registration first and get the emissions test done. Then install the catless downpipes and you should be good for 2 years. But remember here in VA we have the emissions van so if you go through it and it catches you your going to have to go get a emissions test. Also depending on the tune you get, make sure it turns off your CEL so you can pass state inspections.

OP. As long as you have rear cats and a tune/downpipe fix you will be fine. I havent found a station that doesnt trust the obd plug and even put it on the lift to look.

Mo, what the hell is this van you speak of?

[Cptn Mo 703]

Originally Posted by BushidoN54

Mo, what the hell is this van you speak of?

I always warn people of it on facebook and what not. Theres this white van that sets up on off-ramps for example 66 to 28 south or 29 to 28 south. The sign approaching it says "survey crew ahead" or something along those lines. He sets up all these camera's and sensors on the ground, and basically when a car drives through it and sniffs the exhaust for emissions and if it senses anything out of place it snaps a pic of your plates and you get a nice little letter from DMV saying you have to go get a emissions test done.

He's gotten smart too, before he was just one straight flat roads, but people that had manual cars would shift into neutral, turn off the car and coast through it. But now theres no way to avoid it.


OP here's what you need to do, if you want catless DP's.

1) Go get a emissions done so you don't have to get another one for 2 years.
2) Get the DP's installed.
3) Get a tune that will turn off the CEL (Check Engine Light) the newest Jb4's and vishnu's have them built into them. Make sure it is off. Your Cat's that are built in your actual exhaust have nothing to do with the tune or emissions. I had a Downpipe back exhaust on my car and passed state and emissions test with no prob.

4) Most importantly avoid the white van at all costs.

[BushidoN54]

Originally Posted by Cptn Mo 703

I always warn people of it on facebook and what not. Theres this white van that sets up on off-ramps for example 66 to 28 south or 29 to 28 south. The sign approaching it says "survey crew ahead" or something along those lines. He sets up all these camera's and sensors on the ground, and basically when a car drives through it and sniffs the exhaust for emissions and if it senses anything out of place it snaps a pic of your plates and you get a nice little letter from DMV saying you have to go get a emissions test done.

He's gotten smart too, before he was just one straight flat roads, but people that had manual cars would shift into neutral, turn off the car and coast through it. But now theres no way to avoid it.


OP here's what you need to do, if you want catless DP's.

1) Go get a emissions done so you don't have to get another one for 2 years.
2) Get the DP's installed.
3) Get a tune that will turn off the CEL (Check Engine Light) the newest Jb4's and vishnu's have them built into them. Make sure it is off. Your Cat's that are built in your actual exhaust have nothing to do with the tune or emissions. I had a Downpipe back exhaust on my car and passed state and emissions test with no prob.

4) Most importantly avoid the white van at all costs.

So THATS what that is... it sets up on my exit off of 395 constantly... I thought it was a traffic pattern analysis or something. wtf. Well for what its worth guys, Ive definitely driven past that stupid van 4-5 times with catless dp's, and nothing in the mail as of yet.

[Cptn Mo 703]

Here's what it looks like

[BushidoN54]

Yep. Thats the kind I see on the king street exit of 395 nearly monthly...

[iverson3yoo]

Originally Posted by Cptn Mo 703

Here's what it looks like

GAYYY

[utfenix335i]

Downpipes and BMS v2 fix. Waiting on the tune now :-)

[VA330CI]

I've seen that van before. Now i know what its purpose is.

[GTBrandon]

So just to be clear, with a JB4 and Catless downpipes, I will be able to pass OBD emissions? I've heard some say that I need additional equipment in order to pass.

[steezus]

Originally Posted by GTBrandon

So just to be clear, with a JB4 and Catless downpipes, I will be able to pass OBD emissions? I've heard some say that I need additional equipment in order to pass.

JB4 will clear the CEL, but when doing emissions your car will show in a not ready state when they plug in the OBD. You can cop a dp fix. VRSF sells one for like $70 I think. I got my emissions notice a day before my dp install so I lucked out and took it that morning lol.

[HooDat]

Originally Posted by steezus

JB4 will clear the CEL, but when doing emissions your car will show in a not ready state when they plug in the OBD. You can cop a dp fix. VRSF sells one for like $70 I think. I got my emissions notice a day before my dp install so I lucked out and took it that morning lol.

yeah i did my emissions the day before i got my catless downpipes installed haha. beware of those white vans on the exit ramps tho, they're always doing emission tests. I don't know how those work though because i've ran through at least 5 of them and never got an emissions notice in the mail.