[dancing__narwhal]

Ok first off I'm well aware that a full catless header and exhaust will not pass smog without "getting around it."

I'm wondering though, has anyone in CA successfully passed smog with either:

A. Catless headers with secondary cats intact. That is are the secondary cats enough on their own?
B. High-flow catted headers (for example the ones made by aFe). Can you pass smog with high flow header cats and no secondaries?

Keep in mind I have a 328i with n52...

[Delusive]

1. From my knowledge secondary cats aren't enough to help pass smog since the primary cats are 800 cells and secondary are only 200 cells.

2. Yes, there was a person on this forum that passed with the aFe race cat headers. How many cells it has, I don't know.

CA Smog needs all the important part of emissions status to be ready, they will let you pass with the evap not ready. I remember someone trying to smog their N52 with catless headers and a tune, the tune doesn't make the catalytic status ready so they failed.

[Route 16]

Originally Posted by Delusive

1. From my knowledge secondary cats aren't enough to help pass smog since the primary cats are 800 cells and secondary are only 200 cells.

2. Yes, there was a person on this forum that passed with the aFe race cat headers. How many cells it has, I don't know.

CA Smog needs all the important part of emissions status to be ready, they will let you pass with the evap not ready. I remember someone trying to smog their N52 with catless headers and a tune, the tune doesn't make the catalytic status ready so they failed.

you gettin knowledge tonight maaaaaaaaaaaaaan?

[Delusive]

Originally Posted by Route 16

you gettin knowledge tonight maaaaaaaaaaaaaan?

All from you thanks to all those exhaust setups you had

[jaymesbry]

Well lets just say I failed on my old suby with equal length headers. The guy literally looked at the chart on the hood and went looking for each single one. So yea if you know where the header is on a suby, yea he had his little mirror down on the bottom counting cats.

Even gave me a notice that said I passed the emission part but failed visual.

Dont know why you even bothered testing if it failed visual... but oh well

[dancing__narwhal]

Originally Posted by jaymesbry

Well lets just say I failed on my old suby with equal length headers. The guy literally looked at the chart on the hood and went looking for each single one. So yea if you know where the header is on a suby, yea he had his little mirror down on the bottom counting cats.

Even gave me a notice that said I passed the emission part but failed visual.

Dont know why you even bothered testing if it failed visual... but oh well

Dang that sucks. Thanks for sharing.

Was that recently? I read somewhere that CA shops are supposed to do only the OBD test now... are shops still doing visual inspection as well?

[fazman]

Originally Posted by dgaultiere

Ok first off I'm well aware that a full catless header and exhaust will not pass smog without "getting around it."

I'm wondering though, has anyone in CA successfully passed smog with either:

A. Catless headers with secondary cats intact. That is are the secondary cats enough on their own?
B. High-flow catted headers (for example the ones made by aFe). Can you pass smog with high flow header cats and no secondaries?

Keep in mind I have a 328i with n52...

there are ways that cars with no motors and transmissions can pass inspection even without the vehicle being present at the time of inspection in cali FYI this goes for any make and model car that is obd2

[silver07335i]

Originally Posted by dgaultiere

Dang that sucks. Thanks for sharing.

Was that recently? I read somewhere that CA shops are supposed to do only the OBD test now... are shops still doing visual inspection as well?

I got my 335i smogged a few weeks ago and they definitely still do a visual inspection during the smog check. I watched the smog tech use a flashlight to check the engine bay for a couple of minutes.

[dreyo27]

get a downpipe fix. go to a place in a bad part of of town. They don't actually use an exhaust sniffer on newer cars. turn off jb4/flash stock map. they do need OBD 2 connectivity.

[dreyo27]

also get a PO box in a county without a biannual smog. so you wont have to worry about this again

[pajuis]

I'm at FBO and I passed the Cali smog with a VRSF DP Fix. Setting was right coming out of the box. Smog tech tried looking under the car and in engine compartment probably for cats but it's almost impossible unless on a lift.

[Eagle1oh7]

Dude has a 328i guys. The shop that did my install quoted me $500 to pass my smog when the time comes lol

[autoart]

I heard of someone passing smog with the 1st cat removed but it was not a bmw. I think your car would be harder because the 2nd cat is farther away from the engine.
My friend would drive his car until the 2nd cat was really hot, then he would smog it. He passed it 3x until the tech noticed the 1st cat was gone.lol It was a Nissan Maxima

[nicky dj]

Originally Posted by pajuis

I'm at FBO and I passed the Cali smog with a VRSF DP Fix. Setting was right coming out of the box. Smog tech tried looking under the car and in engine compartment probably for cats but it's almost impossible unless on a lift.

Originally Posted by pajuis

I'm at FBO and I passed the Cali smog with a VRSF DP Fix. Setting was right coming out of the box. Smog tech tried looking under the car and in engine compartment probably for cats but it's almost impossible unless on a lift.

Pajuis, I'm assuming you unmarried your tune beforehand if you had one? Shocked you passed FBO but really encouraging

[JingChai]

Are the headers for a N51/N52 really worth it? It looks like you're spending $40+/HP gained.