how do you deal with the smoging issue if you put headers on in a 350? would you be able to pass smog with headers? i live in cali

 

You might pass if you use smog-legal headers for your application.

 

lol really? what do i do with the smog pump and hosing?

 

Seriously, as long as you have a good running car you should pass emissions without any emissions equpiment.

I have a buddy with a 502 pushing 18psi to a procharger and he passes, just leans it out alot and there you have it, so if you have a computer controlled car, I'd say get the car near overheating then go take your smog test. The hotter the more the fuel will burn in the motor.

That or you could always add 5 gallons of rubbing alcohol to your fuel...thats how my another buddy passed with his 350tpi that didnt pass the first time. I think it was like 5 gallons of gas to 5 gallons of rubbing alcohol.

I have to get emissions done as well but am not buying smog headers just to remove them the day after...I figure Im just going to try and pass with what I want the car to run on, if I dont all I have to do is show I spent $300 to make it better and I pass. So cat for $100, O2 sensor $40, muffler $60, air intake $100....
Im not sure how your emissions work and how strict but I know I can pass without having any emissions on so. I guess either buy smog headers and you will DEFINITELY pass or buy what you want and hope you pass then try your best to get it to pass if it doesnt...but leaning the motors out tend to pass everytime, unless of course like I said you have a computer, then it might be a little harder...

 

You install them and use them.
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Not in California.

 

Oops, except California. With their custom gasoline they have...

 

It's not their custom gasoline, it's their visual emissions inspection.

 

I dont get it, how is it there are so many people in Cali with the best of the best vehicles but yet they have the most strict laws for their vehicles???

I've always wondered that, unless most people have buddies who pass them anyway.

 

There's this big phobia about emissions equipment that never fails to amaze me. It isn't as hard as it's made out to be, nor does it rob power like people seem to think it does.

How many threads have you seen that said, "I ripped off all of the smog junk and picked up 2 seconds in the quarter mile"? Oh, you haven't seen them either. That's because anybody who posted such a thing would be a liar. And we're pretty good about filtering out the liars here.

That doesn't mean the factory did everything right. What it does mean is if you are smart about the way you set up your car, you can pass visual inspection and tailpipe sniffer with a car that runs well.

 

Now, now... there's an "and" in there. If they said "I picked up 2 seconds in the quarter because I ripped off the smog junk", then they'd be lying.

 

It all goes back to emissions tests being more about $$$ than test #s.

If they REALLY cared about the results, they'd care less HOW you got good #, as long as you got them.

Pull up...probe inserted...test. Pass or fail. Period!

They shouldn't care HOW you got good #s, as long as you got them. Who knows? Billy Bob in Hicksville Alabama, just might stumble across the cure-all solution on his Moonshine runner!

Then he can share the to the world, make some money, pack up his things, and move to the hills.....Beverly Hills that is!

 

They care HOW you get the #s, because VERY VERY FEW of us out here, have the knowledge, ability, and data bank to be sure that whatever we do to our cars will work under ALL conditions, ALL the time, NO MATTER WHAT; and that it's not just a "fool the inspector" type deal.

Yes it's very easy to put headers on in CA and pass inspection. All you have to do, is get headers that have a CARB EO #, and install them properly. There are PLENTY of such headers: when I lived out there, I used Edelbrock TES for example; SLPs will do it (although you'd have to find them used, since SLP discontinued them); and I'm QUITE sure there are others. Maybe Dyno Don's for example. I just happen to KNOW about those particular 2 because I own them.

I agree, it always amuses me to see people who think they're actually going to accomplish something by hacking off the external emissions devices. Time was, the way those things worked, they reduced power; but, those external little things probably cost less than 10% as much power as the internal modifications to motors over the years. In other words, if a 1969 engine, let's say a 350, produced 250 REAL HP (not "ratings" HP, but real measured actual true dyno HP), and a 1973 350 produced 175 REAL HP (again, not "ratings"), it WAS NOT because of "the smog junk"!!! In other words, you can't take a 175 HP 1973 motor and hack EVERY PIECE off of it, and get 250 HP; I doubt that would get even as much as 10 HP, and more likely, no more than 5. The power reduction was INSIDE THE MOTOR. But since electronic control systems became possible, and EFI especially, the internal motor mods are NO LONGER as necessary as they once were; so you get equivalent power out of it compared to pre-emissions engines, and the devices in some cases actually HELP the motor to either make more power or get better gas mileage.

The phrase people use for all that kind of BillyBob hacking nowadays is "cleaning up the engine bay", which I see as mostly just illiterate justification and rationalization for the same thing. Every time I see people write that, my "hack" alarm goes off. I can't be bothered even helping out people who think that's beneficial, they're too far off base to help to begin with.

It also amuses me to see everybody who DOESN'T live in CA (or who never has) talk about the laws out there being stupid and thinking they know the motivation for them. Anybody that thinks that, needs to drive up the 15 from Temecula in about March or April past Norco and Corona, take a left on the 10 at Ontario, and enjoy the atmosphere. They have a REAL PROBLEM out there, that is somewhat unique, due to the geography; and it requires that EVERYBODY participate in the solution.

However all that may be, all the original poster has to do, is buy the right headers, hook everything back up like it came, and all will be well. The fact that people out there can get plenty of power out of their cars, WITHOUT hacking them to death, should be LIVING PROOF that all of that hilljack "cleaning up the engine bay" crap is misguided.

 

haha thnks dude.