Will I pass emissions?

[Mark B]

Hey guys,
I may have done a not-so-smart thing. I took my car to get it inspected last month. It failed the sniffer. I figured it was due to my stock cat. It has about 128,000 miles on it and I know that it is just about gutted because I found lots of it in my stock muffler when I installed my Flowmaster Cat-Back System. So I decided to buy a new cat. However, I decieded that I wanted to remove all of the A.I.R. equipment from the car. So I pulled of the A.I.R. pump, hoses & diverter and ordered a cat that didnt have the A.I.R. conection. Once I get the new cat installed, will the car pass the sniffer or will I have to buy a sticker?

[DeWynter]

It should pass as long as they dont sniff it imidiatly after you start the engine. The AIR system just injects air in the manifolds for the firs few minutes to heat up the cat then goes into bypass mode

[Jeff_in_Atl]

The best advise for a sniffer check is to get the car good and hot. Just because the engine is hot doesn't mean the converter is hot. It has to get to something like 1200 degrees before it starts working. So take the car out on the freeway for 15 minutes before you get it checked. Like DeWynter says, the air pump is to pump air into the converter to make it heat up faster to get to work faster.

[Injuneer]

It should pass as long as they dont sniff it imidiatly after you start the engine. The AIR system just injects air in the manifolds for the firs few minutes to heat up the cat then goes into bypass mode

Not on the 3rd Gen cars..... the AIR system feeds the manifolds on cold start, and then switches to the supplemental air connection on the side of the cat. Those cats used a "2-bed" system, with the reducing bed up front to break down NOx, followed by the oxidizing bed in the back for HC's and CO. The oxidizing bed needs the supplemental oxygen from the AIR system to operate.

Whether you will pass with a mixed-bed cat depends on the levels of each pollutant and how hot the cat gets. Also depends on whether the cheapie cats that they sell with or without the supplemental air connection really have a mixed bed when they are supplied without the air connection.

[Jeff_in_Atl]

Not on the 3rd Gen cars..... the AIR system feeds the manifolds on cold start, and then switches to the supplemental air connection on the side of the cat. Those cats used a "2-bed" system, with the reducing bed up front to break down NOx, followed by the oxidizing bed in the back for HC's and CO. The oxidizing bed needs the supplemental oxygen from the AIR system to operate.

Whether you will pass with a mixed-bed cat depends on the levels of each pollutant and how hot the cat gets. Also depends on whether the cheapie cats that they sell with or without the supplemental air connection really have a mixed bed when they are supplied without the air connection.

He said he was buying a new cat so I sort of assumed it would be an aftermarket rather than a stock converter (because of the age of the car). Maybe he needs more info on the type of converter it is.

I got rid of the air pump on my 85 mustang when I went with the Thrush converters and it passed emissions better than when it was new.

[Mark B]

I should be fine then. I got a 3" Magaflow High Flow Cat!! YEAH!!!! Also, I think that the inspection stations do a quick visual check here too. I already removed the AIR components, I am getting a Non-AIR cat put on & and I am going to get rid of the Air tubes coming off of my Edelbrock headers. Is there anything else on the car that will tell the inspector that this car orginally had AIR? I think if he knows that I yanked it off, that he can technically fail me.