I just talked to a local shop in Southern California about installing sports cats and exhaust on my AM V8. He said that I could only install the exhaust, that if the cats were installed I would fail emission inspection. Can anyone verify this?

 

http://www.arb.ca.gov/msprog/aftermk...ftermktcat.htm

 

Thanks for the info keitheva. So it looks like we are out of luck here in CA as far as cats go.

 

Unfortunately, we are out of luck in a lot more as well.

 

put stock cats on for smog test.

 

You can put highflow cats on and still pass smog.

 

So the cats have to be certified by California to pass smog inspection- visual examination of what is installed? Or is it that they cannot get the emissions low enough the pass the actual test? How difficult is it to get certified? Does any manufacturer bother to get the certification for a small market car like an Aston Martin---California is probably 25% of the entire US Aston Martin market.

How diff is it to switch between the stock cats and sport cats?

 

V10...Yeah he said it will pass but not visual inspection. I didn't know that was an issue.

 

klittle...I was told it costs the vendor about 15K to get them certified here. Don't know how difficult it is to switch them out.

 

leave the cats on. cats clean up the exhaust. there is no way you would pass without it. some high flow cats can pass.

 

We've had a number of California customers who have installed these and no problems with their annual test. You can't actually see the catalysts without taking off the undertray of the car so I would be very surprised if they actually visually inspect the catalysts (could be wrong though.)

Since the RSC catalysts don't throw codes, that means they are operating within the manufacturer's acceptible range of effeciency. On that basis I would be extremely surprised if they didn't pass smog. When we first started offering these, we took the choice to go way overkill on these - they are rated to 1000BHP for the pair, and are more than up to the job. Doesn't make them the cheapest we could have done, or the best margin, but they are of excellent quality.

 

I doubt any AMV8 owner has had their car smog inspected in California--there is a 6 year exemption on newly purchased vehicles. So unfortunately there is no "track record" of whether or not these changes in the catalytic converters will pass inspection.

The last time I had my car up a lift I cannot remember whether or not the cats are exposed, I just know that the Vantage bottom is relatively open when you compare it to other high performance vehicles. Then again, the last time I had a car smogged they did not put it on a lift to inspect the bottom, so it all may be mute.

I guess you take your chances and be prepared to reinstall stock if needed.

 

Ah - wasn't aware of the exemption. We have sold a number of sets to California customers - I assumed the annual inspection applied across the board. The cats on the Vantage would be fairly tough to get a visual inspection on - at least in terms of viewing type, but as you say, I suppose you have to take your chances. It's a fairly simple procedure to install/replace catalysts so you'd probably be looking at a $250.00 bill from a good indy if you had to swap them out/back in again. Bit of a hassle, but I guess if you have 6 years grace it's probably not an issue for a couple of years!

 

I have high flows on my viper and my turbo and have not had a problem yet. If you want to get technical, california law states that you cant modify the exhaust in any way on any vehicle. The only thing that I have heard people getting in trouble for is headers and thats seems to be mostly on vipers.

 

Just the fact that the bureaucrats want to regulate every aspect of our lives here makes me want to go ahead and install them so I guess I will. I kind of hate the fact that you know the only thing they care about is the accredation and licensing fees they can collect, not the emissions. Thanks for the comments guys.