Car is to be smogged this year, now do DMV send you a reminder for that, or is it something you should do on your own ?

I understand it should be all factory setup, correct ? i.e.

* Stock air cleaner (including air tube hooked up to the outside of the exhaust manifold)
* Timing set at 0

What about gas tank, gas cap etc ? I have a problem with the gas tank, happened when I replaced the fuel tank (plus it's one of the 91's, probably had pin holes at the neck anyway, the recall thingy ya know)

Cat converter, mine looks old as crap, bolts are rusted stuck, should I leave the current cat and just try to pass and see if it still works ?

Exhaust, after the cat converter I have a glasspack muffler, with a turndown pipe, ending before the rear end, shouldn't be a problem though ?


I've heard several things such as, run a bit of acetone, run the engine warm, but not too hot, etc etc



ANY advice/help here would be most welcome.

 

I don't think they will check the fuel tank, but they will check the gas cap. If you are due for smog, you should get a notice from the dmv with your registration that will tell you it is due for smog test, and whether you have to take it to test only or not. You will need all of your smog equipment hooked up including the air pump and the heat riser tube to the air cleaner, and a stock or CARB approved air cleaner housing.

 

I was asking whether the DMV informs you or not, since it's almost July now and you'd figure they'd give you time, when you registrationb is due in September *L*.

So a rubber filler neck should pass ? I still got some problems with it, I don't fill it up 100 percent due to that.


How can I know for sure a cat converter is bad ? And if so, can I get a high-flow 3 inch replacement (one that IS CARP and EPA approved) ? No way in hell one can go dual exhaust, even with two cats, or a dual in dual out cat ?

All my smog equipment is still hooked up though, except for the stock air cleaner.

Will emission legal headers lean it all out a little bit, help it not to run rich ?

O2 sensor, Bosch makes it run a tiny bit rich right, stock Denso would be better ?

 

Technically, you can't run dual cats unless the car came with dual cats. If you had a tpi motor, you might put dual cats on it and noone would notice whether it was supposed to have them or not. With tbi your out of luck on running dual cats. You can't really tell if a cat will pass without doing the test. You should be getting notice of the need for a smog check with your renewal form. If you don't get the notice from the DMV that smog is due, go ahead and reregister it.

 

Exhaust, after the cat converter I have a glasspack muffler, with a turndown pipe, ending before the rear end, shouldn't be a problem though ?

Most likely no one will test it if the pipe doesn't go out the rear (they won't crawl under the car).

 

DMV sends out renewal notices about 2 months before its due. You should get it sometime next month.

If nothing has changed, a smog test is only valid for 90 days. So if you were to get a test 91 days before your registration is due and run into some person following a book to a T you might have an issue. Also a test at a regular facility when you need 'test only' wont work either, then you end up paying for 2 tests.

 

Person following the book to a "T" has nothing to do with it. When you have a smog test performed, the results are sent to Sacto via computer and put in the data base for your vehicle. If you don't complete the registration procedure, on the 91st day after the test, the computer flushes it. If you try to renew 95 days after the test, there is no record of the test on file, you have to redo it.

 

Yes your car can pass a smog check with a bad filler neck. My Firebird had a bad filler neck (don't stand anywhere near it with a lit cigarette after a fill-up), yet it passed the smog check just fine. As mentioned before they just check the gas cap and will fail you on that, yet the gas tank can be swiss cheeze and pass. Does that make sense to you? I finally replaced the tank recently and the filler neck just fell out when removing the tank! It turns out the prior owner had tried to seal it with RTV.

Lon

 

I may just run out to the junkyards and find me another tank, reinforce the neck joint before I put it in, and "rinse" it with tank sealer. I should go for hmmm which year did they start having the baffled tanks ? '90 ?

Has anyone ever heard if one can run a dual in dual out cat ?

Regarding exhaust hmmm so I should just get some exhaust pipe, and hook it up after the glasspack, run it all the way over the rear end and then out hmmm does it matter whether I have single out.. or dual out ?

 

I think the law requires that you run the cat spec'd by the manufacturer. You don't have to run the oem cat, but it must be the same type, so the only way you can run a dual in dual out cat is if the original equipment was a dual in dual out. After the cat, what you do with the exhaust system doesn't matter, unless you have one of those sts turbos. Your current exhaust would be perfectly legal. It is just as Don says no one will crawl under the car on a dyno to put in the sensor.

 

I have a 87 iroc 350 tpi i just get smog and i know the guy and i was asking about duals and he said they will not smog them because the was not make with them he said to wait tell the car is 30 years old and you can do any thing you want to

 

Unfortunately, Arnold repealed the 30 year law. If your car is 1975 or older you dont have smog tests, but the years dont roll forward anymore. However, I can guarantee that Angelides will try to pass some law to make all cars 10 years and older illegal.

 

Exactly, I know, because that's the reason I finally gave up on my '76 Fiat Spider project Just as she was going to get away with no smog.


So I could run a 3 inch cat, and then maybe run it into two hmm what .. 2 1/4 pipes with mufflers ?

 

If you have a digital temp gauge that reads over 500 degrees F, drive the car 5 miles on the freeway, and then check the temp before the cat and then after the cat. There should be a significant change in temps. It they're the same, or within 50 degrees, the cat is bad. Make sure you do it while the engine is running. As far as the filler neck, as long as it's not leaking and you can't smell gas your OK. I believe the stock air cleaner should have the thermostatically controled tube/flapper valve/vacuum hoses/temp sensor.

go to this web site and put in your licence plate #:

DCA BAR Vehicle Smog Test History

It will show all tests since 1996. You can also put in the VIN# if there has been any licence plate changes since then. Make sure you mark the VIN dot before entering the VIN#. Note the dates every two years. If it's been 2 years since the last one you will need a smog. If the last one was a change of ownership it may need one if your in the 2 year cycle.

 

for performance the best bet is a 3 inch intermediate pipe with a muffler. Two 2 1/4 inch pipes might flow a bit more, but it wouldn't make a lot of difference with a single cat. I think the hassle of trying to fit 2 intermediate pipes would be very difficult. Throwing away the glass pack and getting a good performance muffler will probably help a lot. If you want the appearance of duals, get a 1 inlet 2 outlet muffler. Don had some mandrel bent 3 inch iintermediate pipes made up, I don't know if he has more. It would be a bit of a drive from San diego, but if uyou send him a p.m. to get a price for the intermediate pipe and muffler installed, you might find it worth the trip. Also with the intermediate pipe removed, he can look in and tell you the condition of your cat. Don is Dyno Don who responded to your question a few of posts up from this one.

As far as Angelides making cars 10 years old illegal, I doubt it. Aside from constitutional issues of protection from siezure of personal property, probably 80% of his voter base are the working poor. They don't have the option of buying new cars just because the governor thinks it would be good for smog control, so he is not going to do something to upset most of his voter base.

 

If you live or can get to the L.A. HARBOR AREA you should pay someone to pass it.

 

I live in San Diego, can I get my *** up to LA, hmmm yeah *L* longest drive so far with this car but hey funny thing is, this car actually spent a couple years in Torrance, smog checks show it being there.

OK, last time my car was smogged, was March 10th, 2005. It got smogged hmmm a month or so before I bought it fro mthe used car dealership. Before that one, the smog check years were 2000, 2002 and 2004. So I would have had to smog it this year, but since the delaership smogged it, do I still need to smog it this year ?


I actually like the glasspack I have, because it's not one of the louvered ones, it's a bit louder tiny bit deeper than stock exhaust, but it's actually very quiet, perforated center, two stage packing I guess. But yes I've been thinking about having something more like dual tip/pipe exhaust, since I heard longer pipe after the muffler makes it sound better. (To give an idea of how well this muffler actually quiets it down, when I remove it, heck even with the cat converter I have to be careful and I always slow down when I see a cop *l*)

 

If your filler neck leaks, it will not pass. Any visible fuel leaks are automatic fail.

If it smells like fuel and the tech actually bothers to see where it's coming from (which is very rare), and can see that there is a visible crack anywhere where near the gas tank (i.e. the filler neck) he can fail you on the spot.

However, getting a tech that determined to fail somebody is rare and you should be fine. Just take your car there with 1/4 of a tank. And also, if you take it to a dealer, they should fix that free of charge. Why not take advantage of it?

 

Because I cut the neck off, and put a rubber one on, however the old part of the neck is still at the solder joint. Basically, one could say, I "tampered" with the tank

 

Since your car was smogged March 05 by the dealer that was a change of ownership and is not considered a biennial. Showing 2000, 02, 04....06 would be the next biennial, so, yes,your car should be smogged this year. And since 2000 was the last smog in the file, it either came from out of state, or, there was a plate change prior to 2000, or, it was non-opped.

 

Actually the file shows smog checks in 96 and in 98, it had problems passing in 98, up in Torrance, tested three times within 3 1/2 hours, one aborted, one failed, one passed. Ever since, pass ... pass and pass

So I need to test it this year, oh yeah great *L*.

OK, so I guess I'll see tomorrow if Harbor Freight carry thermometers, reasonably cheap. Above 500F, how high should the thing go .. would up to 600F be enough ?

 

That should probably do it. And if you run it at 2500 for 3 min in park/neutral that should get you a ball park reading front and back.

 

hmmmm thinking right now, should I buy the thermometer and check my cat.

Or simply buy a new high flow 3 inch cat, and make the entire exhaust 3 inch, only problem is, finding a dirt cheap perforated center 3 inch in 3 inch out muffler to run after the cat.

Any chance any or both temp(s) will go over 600F ? Like 550 before the cat or higher and way way above 600 after the cat ?