Vehicle inspection experts enter here....

[Bmarshall91]

Ok, so I have this 1978 camaro that I just inherited. I'm 99% positive that it did NOT come factory stock with a catalytic converter. Do I need to have a cat on it now to pass inspection? My father had it registered in Virginia and they MADE him put one on, but now that it's back in Pennsylvania, I would like to take the cat out because it has a MEAN rumble when no cat is present. Anyone who can steer me in the correct direction will get much rep! thanks.

[mauser]

If it was born without a cat it can live until the end without one, if it was born with a cat it has to have it to be legal. You need to know for sure if the cat was factory equipment or not.
OR (I may be wrong but I think I understand this correctly) if your annual mileage is less than 7500 you can qualify for an exemption from the emissions inspection even if it was original equipment.

[Mabuz]

I'm not 100% sure, but I think a pass/fail of inspection would mostly depend on where you live in the state. Any county surrounding Pittsburgh requires emissions testing, my old home county did nothing of the sort.

Regarding federal law though, I think it states something about tampering with an installed catalytic converter is a felony...whether that implies only to OEM cats I'm not sure.

Found this, so I think it may only pertain to OEM:

http://www.catalyticconverter.org/law/

And found a PDF from the EPA you may want to look over (I didn't really bother reading it, just skimmed through):

http://www.epa.gov/OMS/cert/factshts/catcvrts.pdf

[knight0334]

Very few cars after 1975 came without cat's, you may want to contact a dealership to look up what they came with. Removal of it could result in hefty fines.

And if it is a honey-comb type cat - you wont lose any power it on. Newer honey-comb type cats aren't like the pellet types that really restrict an exhaust, mufflers do more to restrict an exhaust than the new cats.

[Michele]

Does it take unleaded gas only?
If it doesn't chances are it was NOT born with a cat.


Oh, I had a 1979 car that was born without a cat. Took leaded gas.

[pandemic]

I'm going to take the dive here and say you're going to need a cat.

[brian]

OR (I may be wrong but I think I understand this correctly) if your annual mileage is less than 7500 you can qualify for an exemption from the emissions inspection even if it was original equipment.

iirc it's 5k.......i use that loophole to get my wagon through......
keep it under the milage, and anything goes, or can go.

[Exbiker]

As far as I know GM cars have had converters since around 73.

Just called my dad and had him look under my Mom`s 78 Vette Indy Pace Car and it has a Cat. I also remember my little brothers Z28 in 78 had one cause we gutted the CAT.

[ALS]

All GM cars came with catalytic converters after 1975. Yes you need a catalytic converter for inspection. Now here is the difference between the factory catalytic converter and the newer ones. You can get high performance aftermarket versions that flow much better over the OEM originals.

[Perkascene]

The staying under 5000 miles only works after you've had the car inspected once. For the first inspection, you need all the bells and whistles.

So, if it was original equipment, you need it. Also, if it had an air pump or anything like that, then you're going to need that for inspection too. You can't tamper with smog equipment anymore. They will do a visual inspection to make sure the cat and other smog equipment is there. If it isn't, you'll fail.

My suggestion would be, leave the cat on since it's there. Run it through the inspection. You'll get a readout from when they put the sniffer in the tail pipe, since it's too old for OBD 1 or 2. If you're really close to failing, leave the cat on. If it's running pretty clean, take the cat off and run a hole saw through it. It ought to purr after that. When inspection time comes, put some of that "Guaranteed to pass" stuff in your gas. It's supposed to lower tailpipe emissions.

Another option is to get antique plates for it. No inspection of any sort required, safety or emissions. It has to be in really good shape and original though. They'll deny it for having non-factory wheels on it. They'll even deny it if the windows aren't rolled up when you take the photos for submission for the tags.

I did this with a 1986 Toyota MR2 for a few years and it worked.