boy I sure played hell trying to get my car inspected. Remember when I took my CAT off and put a straight pipe in its place...well time came for the inspection...I figured I would just take it back to the place where I got it last year cause the guy didnt care and just put the sticker on without looking and seeing that we dont have emissions here in the town I thought it would be no big deal...well it turned out the place was closed today..I thought cause it was Monday but to my suprise.

I went to another place and they told me it would be about a 30min wait cause I needed to have it put on the lift, I told them that becuase of my y-pipe I could only go on a drive on lift, he told me well then your got to go some place else, guess cause they wanted to look under my car. SO I took it next door and they have a Lube type bay where they go under the car so I drive it on there and he walks downstaires and asks me "what year car is this?" I told him 87 and he says need a CC on here and there isnt one..I was like, AH OH!!!! what now?
So I taked to him for about 30mins and found out that the reason the other place was closed was not because it was Monday but because he got shut down and fined for his inspection practices...I gues someone NARCed him out or set him up...

Anyway the country folks asked me a bunch of question like where do I work and what do I do....I told them that the other guy just gave me a sticker..I had only lived in this town for 3 years..and to make this long story short, I guess they were just feeling me out to see if I was NARC cause they ended up giving me a sticker and told me just this once cause next year Im on my own cause we do go to emissions testing...they really liked my car and loved what I have done to it as far as appearance stuff and the way it sounded.....BOY WAS I LUCKY!!!


NOW, what about next year?

 

do all counties in NC do emissions? if not, make friends with someone in a non-testing county, and register your car there.

 

my county doesnt do emissions til next year but the guy says that since my car was suppose to have a CAT that it should still have one even if they dont test..

 

Sounds like an odd experience indeed - glad you "made the grade" though

 

yeah..fed. law says you gotta have a cat if it came equiped with one.
put one on there, gut it out or run a straight pipe through it, as long as the shell is there, they won't care.

 

Unfortunately, the emissions testing is expanding through 2005 in NC.

From what I have found out (I live in Union Co/ Monroe), any emissions equipment (that was factory equipped) must be in place and not tampered with, in order to pass the visual inspection.


I also heard from a cop friend that emissions testing for pre '96 vehicles was supposed to end on Dec 31, 2005 (they are going to a OBD2 test). But according to the NCDMV site, a visual will remain in effect as well as the tailpipe test. He has a built up Mustang and always has trouble getting it inspected, even by his buddy!

I have never understood if the car is within the acceptable range of HC's and CO's, why then do you have to have the equipment? Only if it fails should a car owner be required to equip/ reequip his vehicle.

I can't remember what my readings were from my last test, but they were so incredibly small.

Go to the NC DMV web site for a copy of the entire inspection procedure. It is quite informative.

 

Not too long ago, one of the car mags asked the same question. A guy from EPA wrote a letter in response. Basically what it comes down to is the sniffer is only an indication of what the emissions are for your particular model. The factory has to certify each one through the full battery of tests, and do the sniffer on the test vehicle to get establish the basis for general testing. Doing the full battery of tests that shows the true emissions would be very expensive and impractical to verify the general publics' vehicles are within the requirements for the year and model.

Another case of "Be careful what you wish for."

 

Find an old case and hollow it out!What he said!

...and yes, visual inspections will continue here in NC.

...unless you know someone! hehehe...