I want to pot some longtubes and magnaflow high flow converters on my truck but, Ive heard that in California I cannot change the factory position of my cats legally. Is this true I want pacesetter Longtubes but im affraid that if i but them I will have to remove the first 2 cats and this will be illegal. Then i want to replace the factory second set of cats with the magnaflows. They state that 2 of the magnaflows is the same as having 4 of the factory POS. I think the visual test is lame. If im not polluting who cares what it looks like?

 

Longtubes are illegal in CA.

Anything but stock cats (including high flows) are illegal.

Even if you have faulty cats, you must replace then with factory ones.

It sucks, i know. I've researched it a lot.

Your best bet is to get smogged, then put your high flows on. That way you dont need to get smogged again for 4-5 years.

I am going to put on high flows soon as well.

 

Yup, it will be illegal. I think Shifty 85 on this site is the guy you want to talk to. One of the guys gave me some good ideas to egt around the Commi-Fornia laws. You have to do something a little custom with the 02 sensor i think.

The emmission tests shouldn't be able to tell, in fact you may even run cleaner, but they guy doing the visible inspection might rat you out. Get a buddy in the business, and then go about setting up your high flow exhuast.

You mean every 2 years ??

 

I'm willing to bet that the speed shop you buy your parts from, or the installation facility, will know of a "friendly" smog inspection station. As long as the tail pipe sniffer passes your truck, all of the other issues are "visual inspection" items. Consider this: some parts have C.A.R.B. E.O. number stickers, while a similar part from a competing manufacturer does not. It's up to the inspector to look for the stickers under your hood to determine that you have "California Legal" parts. You can sometimes get away with a lot more than you think. Almost all of us with custom tuning will be able to tell you that the SCT XCalibrator device comes with a sticker that says "Not legal for sale on pollution controlled vehicles or in the state of California." But how is that dude with a clipboard to know that you have custom tunes unless you are dumb enough to drive into the smog inspection station with your tuner plugged into your OBDII?

 

I know exactly how to solve this problem.... move out of California. They have the strictest laws in the country when it comes to modifying your vehicle from stock. I left CA about 10 years ago and have never been happier.
But, I do agree with you, as long as what is coming out of the tailpipe is as clean or cleaner than stock, then what does it matter what you modify on on you truck, what it's made of, how it's tuned, or how it was designed??

 

Got any buddies you could refer me to when the time comes?

 

x2...?

 

Indeed. I have many friends who can help with many mods ! Just about anything you can think of.

 

This is not that true.

If the converter is certified for California then you can use an aftermarket cat such as our car-sound converters.

 

Actually, that is only true for specific vehicle models certified by the C.A.R.B. for aftermarket converters. Unfortunately, the Ford F150 has not yet been certified for aftermarket converters, and must use factory cats no matter what.

 

Born and raised here in SoCal, but I have my truck registered in Iowa. This means I don't have to abide by Commiefornia's emission laws right?

Does anyone know of a muffler shop in SoCal that would touch my cats and what not? Cause my shop I goto regularly wont touch my cats but since I'm not registered in CA then I can put high flows on.

 

Losing the pre-cats with LT headers will fail the visual, that's for sure.

Here's what I did on my Expy...I had a true-dual setup:
- gutted the pre-cats so they looked like they were there
- replaced the OEM cats with Magnaflow high-flows, same location as stock. They looked almost identical to the OEM ones anyways
- I ran the OEM exhaust manifolds, but you can run CARB-approved shorty headers if you want (not much gain, though)

The Procharger had a CARB placard, so that part was smog-legal. The custom tune wasn't legal, but the smog tech had no way of knowing.

Passed the visual & sniffer, no problem.

 

Just wanted to say Hi. First post, lots of great info. I am a diesel head, but I decided to get a gasser also.

Got another CA native here. I am in the same boat. I need to redo the exhaust on the truck and wondering about the p-cats? Are they that restrictive? You can't see them unless you crawl up under the truck.

Thanks.
Marc

 

wow so many rules jeeez i would never EVER live there... i think the state of CA would love me thoe because they could write me ticket after ticket

As for the set up i thought you could do it as long as you had working cats and working o2's?

haha get a pacesetter sticker and then a sticker that says C.A.R.B legal and put them togther

oh i just had an idea *yikes* Get the Long tubes save your rear factory cat *gut it* put that behide your Longtubes then put the maggy HF cat behide that!. Would that work? man i donno how you guys live with all those rules Commie-forna indeed.

 

Lots of mis information in this thread.

Long Tubes are illegal Period.

Cats can be replaced as long as they are OBII compliant. However legally if you have 4 you must replace with 4.

Smog Check are every 2 Years unless the car is new and then the first one is not due for 5 years after that it is every 2 years.

Running a tune can be a problem if the tuner has shut off the Rear O2's In California you have to plug the States Computer into the Truck OBDII port and it checks for fault codes as well and readiness status and if not enough of the OBDII monitors have not been run you will fail.

Finding someone to overlook things is getting very very hard due to all these tests that are required. There is a very severe fine and it is not worth it to most shops.

Magnaflow has a high flow cat setup that looks just like the factory setup although not CARB approved last time i checked. So you could probably get away with installing them since they look factory.