CARB legal catalytic converters

[deanjohnson]

I am in the process of buying an '01 B5 S4 avant from a fellow forum member. The car is currently in CT and does not have catalytic converters installed. The seller has aftermarket cats (though they don't appear to be carb legal). Since I'm planning on bringing this car to California, I'll need the exhaust system to be all nice and legal to get the car registered. Anyone have any experience with CARB legal cats? Am I stuck finding used OEM ones?

[cervantes559]

https://ssl.arb.ca.gov/PartsSearchTo...earchTool.aspx
All carbon legal just enter the info

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[infinkc]

they only have to be "CA" legal if you need to have them replaced or installed, ive never had a smog check verifying that the cats are ca legal. Muffler shops here in california will not install non CA cats on a 96 and newer car, they can be fined just as bad as a smog place doing illegal smog.

I have 034 highflow cats and passed smog with them, also another member recently had no cats from an out of state car, he also got the 034 cats installed and passed.

The other issue he had was the tune on the car, the tuner(actually a very well known one) did not code the rear 02 sensors out properly so the rediness would not set.

You need all but 1 rediness set to pass CA emissions.

PM me if you have any additional questions, i just went through my biannual smog and also helped the other guy with his tune so it would pass the rediness.

You say the seller has cats, they should pass fine here in CA as long as they are not used to death.

[034Motorsport]

they only have to be "CA" legal if you need to have them replaced or installed, ive never had a smog check verifying that the cats are ca legal. Muffler shops here in california will not install non CA cats on a 96 and newer car, they can be fined just as bad as a smog place doing illegal smog.

I have 034 highflow cats and passed smog with them, also another member recently had no cats from an out of state car, he also got the 034 cats installed and passed.

The other issue he had was the tune on the car, the tuner(actually a very well known one) did not code the rear 02 sensors out properly so the rediness would not set.

You need all but 1 rediness set to pass CA emissions.

PM me if you have any additional questions, i just went through my biannual smog and also helped the other guy with his tune so it would pass the rediness.

You say the seller has cats, they should pass fine here in CA as long as they are not used to death.

Like infinkc said, there are basically no CA Legal aftermarket catalytic converters, and OEM will cost you well over $1000 EACH (entire downpipe). Myself and many others have passed CA SMOG with our 034Motorsport High Flow Cats. Are they 100% legal in the eyes of CA for highway use? No, that is why there is a disclaimer for our products. However, I have passed SMOG twice now with our HFCs, and many others do as well. It is very rare for someone to actually check to ensure the cat is OEM; so long as you pass the sniffer test and don't have all kinds of flashy stuff in your engine bay, its very unlikely you'll ever encounter issues.

The main concern from California Highway Patrol's standpoint is that you have cats and pass SMOG, not so much that you are using OEM cats. If you still have concerns, find some trashed OEM cats and remove their heatshields and have them welded onto your cats so they appear factory.

[fshowcars]

Like infinkc said, there are basically no CA Legal aftermarket catalytic converters, and OEM will cost you well over $1000 EACH (entire downpipe). Myself and many others have passed CA SMOG with our 034Motorsport High Flow Cats. Are they 100% legal in the eyes of CA for highway use? No, that is why there is a disclaimer for our products. However, I have passed SMOG twice now with our HFCs, and many others do as well. It is very rare for someone to actually check to ensure the cat is OEM; so long as you pass the sniffer test and don't have all kinds of flashy stuff in your engine bay, its very unlikely you'll ever encounter issues.

The main concern from California Highway Patrol's standpoint is that you have cats and pass SMOG, not so much that you are using OEM cats. If you still have concerns, find some trashed OEM cats and remove their heatshields and have them welded onto your cats so they appear factory.

which is exactly why you guys have one of the silliest states ever! the laws are designed to not even work right lol... and in the end, wouldn't an air test be the ultimate test? or are we fighting for OEM parts manufacturers jobs too?

[deanjohnson]

Like infinkc said, there are basically no CA Legal aftermarket catalytic converters, and OEM will cost you well over $1000 EACH (entire downpipe). Myself and many others have passed CA SMOG with our 034Motorsport High Flow Cats. Are they 100% legal in the eyes of CA for highway use? No, that is why there is a disclaimer for our products. However, I have passed SMOG twice now with our HFCs, and many others do as well. It is very rare for someone to actually check to ensure the cat is OEM; so long as you pass the sniffer test and don't have all kinds of flashy stuff in your engine bay, its very unlikely you'll ever encounter issues.

The main concern from California Highway Patrol's standpoint is that you have cats and pass SMOG, not so much that you are using OEM cats. If you still have concerns, find some trashed OEM cats and remove their heatshields and have them welded onto your cats so they appear factory.

Can you get just the HFC from 034? I'm assuming if I was able to get the HFC I could then install that on the downpipes that are coming with the car?

[papuc14369]

If it helps, I just passed my CA SMOG test using my AWE downpipes with Cats.

I failed the first time because like a noob I cleared my ECU minutes before the test without driving it - failed on Readiness. Also swapped my AWE MAF to my stock one and switched to my stock file - I was paranoid. Otherwise the car passed with flying colors.

Drove the car until the readiness was good, in the mean time I couldn't take how slow the car was and switched it back to my pump file and ended up smoging it on the pump file - again the car passed without any problems.

[sherbet]

I have a set of very clean (zero rust) fully stock downpipes and the cats are in great shape. Im in NorCal, i'd let them go cheap if you are interested. Spoiler alert: I wont ship them lol.

[BlkdoutS4]

I have a set of very clean (zero rust) fully stock downpipes and the cats are in great shape. Im in NorCal, i'd let them go cheap if you are interested. Spoiler alert: I wont ship them lol.

how much is cheap?

[deanjohnson]

Update on the CARB legal cats: I have found someone on willing to sell me his used downpipes and cats. The only catch is that it looks like he wants to keep the heat shields. What are my options for heat shields? The car that this is going on has SSAC downpipes, so I am guessing that it doesn't have the OEM heat shields installed (I also can't check to see if it has the heat shields since I don't have the car in my possession yet).

[infinkc]

Update on the CARB legal cats: I have found someone on willing to sell me his used downpipes and cats. The only catch is that it looks like he wants to keep the heat shields. What are my options for heat shields? The car that this is going on has SSAC downpipes, so I am guessing that it doesn't have the OEM heat shields installed (I also can't check to see if it has the heat shields since I don't have the car in my possession yet).

dont bother with the heat shields, much easier to install and remove without them.

[deanjohnson]

dont bother with the heat shields, much easier to install and remove without them.

I find it a little hard to believe that they are unnecessary though. The exhaust system is going to get very hot, especially with the turbos.

[djinfiniTeeQ]

Like infinkc said, there are basically no CA Legal aftermarket catalytic converters, and OEM will cost you well over $1000 EACH (entire downpipe). Myself and many others have passed CA SMOG with our 034Motorsport High Flow Cats. Are they 100% legal in the eyes of CA for highway use? No, that is why there is a disclaimer for our products. However, I have passed SMOG twice now with our HFCs, and many others do as well. It is very rare for someone to actually check to ensure the cat is OEM; so long as you pass the sniffer test and don't have all kinds of flashy stuff in your engine bay, its very unlikely you'll ever encounter issues.

The main concern from California Highway Patrol's standpoint is that you have cats and pass SMOG, not so much that you are using OEM cats. If you still have concerns, find some trashed OEM cats and remove their heatshields and have them welded onto your cats so they appear factory.

Would love to revisit this today, in 2016 to see if your high flow cat setup is still passing. Just took my wife's very un-modded Toyota Matrix to a local shop in Oakland and the ******s actually sent her to the referee for having a non-stock, non-approved downpipe (he actually referred to a printed list of approved part numbers after going out of his way to inspect closely and said hers wasn't on it), and of course she nor I was aware had been installed previously. Meanwhile, same car, same setup passed in '13 so clearly CA is cracking down like crazy on emissions requirements. She went to the ref and showed him the receipt showing the work performed in '12, and then the receipt showing she passed smog in '13, and they still shat all over her and she had to pay another $500 to have CA approved dps put on even though her car wasn't even smelling or showing a hint of smoke. If you're still passing with anything other than stock dps/cats I'd be amazed and would simply ask where are you going for smog as I'd like to patronize them, otherwise I'll be looking at doing another swap back to my stock dps and cat setup just to pass, and then swap it all over again, lol.

[dannyn424]

maganflow cats carb approved!

[christianb5s4]

That's why I run catless and just find a place that will 'help' out for a couple hundred, not worth the risk of failing TBH. Once your car is flagged in the system for failing once, you've got to go to the much more stringent Star smog locations.

[Audi9]

Just register your car in a smog exempt county. Done

[djinfiniTeeQ]

Lol...I see you're in SF-being in the Bay myself, what county doesn't require smog?

[HighPsi(NorCal)]

Here you go, change of ownership is the counties that you are looking for.

http://www.smogcheck.ca.gov/pdf/Program_Map.pdf

[djinfiniTeeQ]

Here you go, change of ownership is the counties that you are looking for.

http://www.smogcheck.ca.gov/pdf/Program_Map.pdf

Cool, thanks for shooting this over, but how does one change ownership from the county they live in to one they do not? Would think that to be a hang up, no?

[HighPsi(NorCal)]

Cool, thanks for shooting this over, but how does one change ownership from the county they live in to one they do not? Would think that to be a hang up, no?

Dmv will accept a po box but wants a physical address as well, a lot of the UPS Store mailboxes will use a physical address (as one option). I have a friend that lives in one of these change of ownership counties, I set up a po box and use his physical address for all my vehicle registration.

[Audi9]

Dmv will accept a po box but wants a physical address as well, a lot of the UPS Store mailboxes will use a physical address (as one option). I have a friend that lives in one of these change of ownership counties, I set up a po box and use his physical address for all my vehicle registration.

Yep. Took two seconds on the dmv website to change the address

[wpfahl]

Good info on Ca smog


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[christianb5s4]

Just an FYI, registering in a smog exempt county might get you out of smog. But you can still get sent to the state ref if you get pulled over and they 'determine' you have a modified car.

[wpfahl]

Thanks. I am close to a smog exempt county. I need to check with friends there to see if they are willing to let me register there. Ca doesn’t make using go-fast parts easy.


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[christianb5s4]

It's possible to get by although it's always something you have to be aware of. Between the SMOG and threat of getting pulled over and police sending you to the state ref, being smart when driving around is key. I personally have a spare set of midpipes with CARB legal cats just for smog purposes.

[james 408]

In direct contradiction to one poster in particular:

1) I have definitely seen them check the cat id numbers against the database, including extremely stock vehicles.
2) The law specifies similar to stock exhaust, not oem. And many manufacturers make CARB legal cats, they just had to go through the certification process instead of BSing their customers. https://www.autozone.com/emission-co...ter-california
2) hot smog isn't hard to find (ask mechanics or other car guys for a referral)
3) another way besides lying about your resident county or resident state... is to transfer title to someone outside the state, then loan the car temporarily to you. Note: there is a primary use clause requiring CA registration and the definition of temporary regardless of residency, however.

Edit: I don't give a crap about the emissions laws either, but if you're going to advocate for a hot smog to sell product, at least tell the truth while you do it. Fraud much?

[christianb5s4]

Per Jame's comment, California has also gotten significantly more strict since this thread was originally created.