Jarlaxle
Well-Known Member
So...when did A bodies get cats? I'm looking at a couple later ones, but don't want to end up with a car I can't register.
Catalytic converters
- Thread starter Jarlaxle
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Check with your DMV about cat replacements. CO just this year, made a rule that all replacement cats had to be CARB cats vs 50 state cats regardless of what the car came with origionally.
dano
Evil Handy Man
^^This, check your state and DEQ boundary requirements.
IMO, and just IMO, if you need to put a cat or a pair of them on the car, the visual of seeing them there would make them happy. A well tuned carb, powerful ignition and proper timing will be good enough to pass with mild cams.
Walk through summit racings search engine and seek out high flow cats. I was in the same position a good 25 years back in New York when the state started to follow the Cali. rules on emissions. In order to have my ‘79 Magnum pass the inspection, visual as well as tail pipe test, I used twin high flow cats. The car passed as a later ‘80’s car really well. The techs were impressed that I could pull it off.
As a note, to add insult to injury, back in the day, NYS added Big Brother video cameras to every shop OK’d by the state for yearly inspections to check up on the shops to make sure the car actually was on the dyno rollers to test the vehicle “At Speed” as if it was rolling down the Hwy @ 55mph.
Walk through summit racings search engine and seek out high flow cats. I was in the same position a good 25 years back in New York when the state started to follow the Cali. rules on emissions. In order to have my ‘79 Magnum pass the inspection, visual as well as tail pipe test, I used twin high flow cats. The car passed as a later ‘80’s car really well. The techs were impressed that I could pull it off.
As a note, to add insult to injury, back in the day, NYS added Big Brother video cameras to every shop OK’d by the state for yearly inspections to check up on the shops to make sure the car actually was on the dyno rollers to test the vehicle “At Speed” as if it was rolling down the Hwy @ 55mph.
ACME SS
Well-Known Member
Say what???? Move to Idaho!
I retired to Florida with no testing.
That NYS dyno emission testing was scraped since they charged the shops a huge amount of money for the dyno rollers and everything else included which NYS didn’t give a crap about. It came to a point that very few shops could afford them, even with bank loans, and inspections went undone by the public and long wait times piled up lesveing thousands of cars without inspections getting tickets jamming the court system.
It was disbanded in short order. I myself waited something like 2-1/2 weeks for my inspection. I was just happy I passed!
Drive exempt cars. Problem solved. They're cooler anyway.
1975
Quick way to tell is the instrument cluster will have an unleaded fuel only sticker on it. The floor pan will also have a bump in it for cat clearance .
Im lucky, we have no emission testing in our county.
Quick way to tell is the instrument cluster will have an unleaded fuel only sticker on it. The floor pan will also have a bump in it for cat clearance .
Im lucky, we have no emission testing in our county.
Jarlaxle
Well-Known Member
No tailpipe test, just visual.
Jarlaxle
Well-Known Member
Crap baskets.
In CO they test on a Dyno and run the vehicle on a program. The tester has to keep the vehicle speed on a line that moves up and down. I assume it is simulating the real world. The first time the tester did it he kept hitting the brake to maintain the speed. I imagine an untalented tester could make the test fail just by how he keeps the speed on the line.
It is getting pathetic.
Colorado the new California
It is getting pathetic.
Colorado the new California
You are probably right, CA is emissions KrAzY.
I think it was federally mandated in 75.
I think it was federally mandated in 75.
Yote
Well-Known Member
If your car is 1973 or older, you do not need to add cats to your car except in California. If your car is 1974 or newer, it all depends on what state you live in as to that states requirements for emmissions but at the same time, federal law prohibits the use of a 1974 and newer vehicle without cats that are as good or better than the ones that came with the car originally.
mopowers
Well-Known Member
pishta
I know I'm right....
Same **** here, the tester put my Mazda in first gear and then accelerated to 15 MPH watching the line (must keep it between the lines here) . The machine recorded a certain RPM and a big red flag went up. The tester stopped the test and told me he had to abort the test and he could not continue on this car because the RPM's exceeded the test protocol at 15 mph. I told him shift the F'n thing into 2nd! (I think I used those exact words) He told me the test must be carried out in L or first gear. I told him the friggin rear end dictates the speed at a certain RPM in 1 gear and there is no way to FIX that. He told me he could not continue and don't bring it back. SOo...Smog referee wrote me a note telling the next joker than you CAN test in 2nd gear IF the gearing prevents X RPM's to roll at Y MPH. What a F'n waste of time. I told this story to another guy 'in the know' and he said the station was probably on probation and they were walking on thin ice already. Then it failed (in 2nd) because the fuel pump was bad and it leaned out holding 25MPH under the roller load. That truck was cursed back then!
CA cats: They are the SAME cats but if they carry the CARB stamp or suffix, they have to be warranted for 100,000 miles, not 30K like the old "49 state" value. So its just the warranty you are buying for 3X the price with the CARB stamp on them.
Everything 1975 and older is exempt in California, no testing ever.
‘76 was the first year for catalytic converters. Not a coincidence.
My ‘74 Duster, California sold car, never had a cat.
***Edit***
I was mistaken, 1975 was the first year for catalytic convertors on A-bodies. The rest remains true.
‘76 was the first year for catalytic converters. Not a coincidence.
My ‘74 Duster, California sold car, never had a cat.
***Edit***
I was mistaken, 1975 was the first year for catalytic convertors on A-bodies. The rest remains true.
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1975 was the first year the feds required cats. Many states now don't have requirements for vehicles 25 years old and older. Look at all the JDM's now being imported with no restrictions. Washington state(not the Dirty City) did away with emission requirements. The failure rate was so small, it was deemed unnecessary Please check you state's emission requirements..
There's no catalytic converters listed in the 1974 Chrysler passenger car parts catalog and no mention of converters in the 1974 Chrysler service manual. They first appeared in the 1975 parts catalog and service manual. The following was taken from the 1975 Chrysler technical service bulletin number 11-01-75 :The Clean Air Act requires more stringent emission controls on 1975 model vehicles. In order to accomplish such control levels and still maintain acceptable driveability and operational integrity of such vehicles, Chrysler Corporation will be installing a catalytic converter into the engine exhaust systems of many of its 1975 vehicles.
roccodart440
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How many states aren't "visual only"
I'm in NYS and it is visual only for 1995 and older. They never put my 69 dart GT on a lift. It just gets a sticker in the parking lot.
I'm in NYS and it is visual only for 1995 and older. They never put my 69 dart GT on a lift. It just gets a sticker in the parking lot.
There was something to that effect noted in the CO (or should I say CA) law. That the cats with out the CARB rating were failing at a quicker rate so CO decided to require the CARB cats.
False. Your memory is failing you. Even in California, the trucks were the last to get converters. You never heard of the Little Red Express truck?
The 1978 model year was the last year that trucks were built without catalytic converters.
1979 was a sad year. No more big blocks and every truck got the converters except heavy duty units.
You are close.
1975. I’ve parted out a few A body cars. The ‘75 models first got the converters and a different floorpan with a bulge to allow clearance around it.
ir3333
Well-Known Member
...i've often wondered how we'd test test if we stuck a couple on our classics?
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