i put headers on my 88 GTA and we had to delete the smog pump and the air tubes. Will i still pass PA emissions? I have some people telling me that it doesnt make much of a difference, and i have some people telling me that i shouldnt even bother taking it to get tested cuz i already failed. Help please?

 

What kind of test are they going to perform. If its just a visual inspection you should pass, if they hook it up to the sniffer more than likely you will fail, but there are some guys on here who have done some crazy stuff to pass the sniffer.

 

If it's a visual, you probably wont pass. I believe they check for the smog pump and AIR tubes. UNLESS, if you have had the car titled in your name for at least a year, and you drove it less than 5k miles since your last inspection. If that's the case, then your car is exempt from any emissions testing, visual or sniffer. I believe they only do sniffer tests in the Philly area, but I could wrong about that as I'm closer to you(Johnstown) than to Philly.

What you should do is call up a few shops and ask them. If you find one that says it will be fine, tell them thanks and hang up. Then call them back a couple days later to set up the inspection but don't tell them you called earlier. That way they won't be looking specifically for this on your car. But make sure you get the name of the guy who answered your questions, that way you can request that he be the one to inspect your car. Also, smaller shops are more likely to "overlook" things than the bigger shops and dealers are.

The 5k miles/year loophole is the one I plan on exploiting once I swap my 3.1 to a 350 in a year or so.

 

well ive only owned this one for like a month and a half, so the exemption. And yes i get the sniffer. i'm in god damn allegheny county with all their strict emissions crap. I'm putting a new cat on it. it might help a little. One of my teachers at my tech school said that if i get the exhaust hot before they do the emissions testing it will appear cleaner if tested hot. He said thats how he got his 88 gta to pass a few years back

 

Yeah, the hot exhaust makes sense. The O2 sensors don't kick in till they hit about 600F I believe. So the engine idles rich until then. I don't know how much difference it'll make though. Another thing you could try is to take the O2 sensors out and spray some carb cleaner on them to clean out any gunk. My POS Neon keeps kicking out codes for a malfunctioning O2 sensor until I do that. Lasts about 2k miles till it starts lighting the SES light up again. Might help it run a bit cleaner.

The only other option would be to title it as a classic. It's old enough and they don't have to pass emissions either. I thought about doing that with mine, but you can only drive a few thousand miles a year. Although, in PA you can't really drive them all year long and expect them to last anyhow. The insurance is probably higher too though.

What really sux for me is that I live literally 200 yards or so from the county line, and over the line there is no emissions testing at all. No visual or sniffer.

 

If you have a visual inspection, you will FAIL without AIR tubes and an air pump. Otherwise, you have violated federal law by removing them. They pump extra air into the catalytic converter to help it do its job of removing carbon monoxide and other harmful emissions from your exhaust.

 

Wouldn't going from manifolds to no AIR headers do basically the same thing as having manifolds with AIR? The increase in air going to the cat would make it run hotter?

I wonder how much the AIR setup helps emissions in warm climates compared to cold. Alaska vs Florida for example.

 

i thought only antiques were exempt from emissions?

 

You do have to meet age requirements, depends on the state. MD is 20+ years, VA is 25+, CT is 25+, not sure for PA.

 

Are you under 5k for the year? If so thats an automatic exempt in Pa.

 

its under 5k for the year, but ive only owned it for like 2 months. I wouldve had to have owned it for that year. That doesnt make any sense but its in the car code on the dmv site

 

If the car is in a good state of tune and you get it nice and hot, it should pass a sniffer. The key to getting the motor up to full temp is the combustion chamber temp. The motor becomes more efficient at normal operating temperature.

 

The cat is still the same distance downstream from the exhaust port, so the gasses have cooled about the same amount. The injected air is there to finish the combustion process and turn carbon monoxide into carbon dioxide. The headers need to have the air tubes and the air pump to do this job.

 

You can double check on the PA DMV website, but if I remember right, classics are exempt also. Of course you pay for that by being limited in how much you can drive your car, but for some people the trade-off is well worth it.

Actually, I found a detailed description of the inspection procedure to be followed in PA, and it doesn't mention anything about the AIR tubes. It does say that the AIR pump has to be there though.

Here is the link: http://www.pacode.com/secure/data/06...5/s175.80.html

The emissions inspection procedure is about 2/3 of the way down the page.

Here is the list of emission inspection exempted vehicles:

http://www.pacode.com/secure/data/06...bchapBtoc.html

Section B, lines 4, 7, 12, and 14 should be the ones that are relevant.

 

back from the dead, but was wondering what OP did for emissions inspection...