How To Trick/Pass Emissions?

LXSC

Registered User
Now this may all seem far fetched and semi-retarded but bear with me. Lets say that my 3.8 L is swapped for a more desireable 302-331. Then lets say I need to pass emissions to get it back on the road. Now lets say I want to avoid as much hassle as possible. What should I do? I want to keep the VIN it has so as to not have to report to the Insurance company that I now drive "Hot Rod". What can I do? Should I fabricate a temporary exhaust that puts an additional catalytic converter behind the ones already in place? Is it possible to tune the car with 92+ octane to the point of the exhaust comming out smelling like roses? But seriously, I need any and all opinions, stories, success, failures or anything else before I actually do go out and have a multi-catalytic converter exhaust made up.
 
LXSC said:
Now this may all seem far fetched and semi-retarded but bear with me. Lets say that my 3.8 L is swapped for a more desireable 302-331. Then lets say I need to pass emissions to get it back on the road. Now lets say I want to avoid as much hassle as possible. What should I do? I want to keep the VIN it has so as to not have to report to the Insurance company that I now drive "Hot Rod". What can I do? Should I fabricate a temporary exhaust that puts an additional catalytic converter behind the ones already in place? Is it possible to tune the car with 92+ octane to the point of the exhaust comming out smelling like roses? But seriously, I need any and all opinions, stories, success, failures or anything else before I actually do go out and have a multi-catalytic converter exhaust made up.

Unless they do away with emissions testing, I'll be faced with the same problem on my 347 turbo SC. If you replaced the 3.8 with a stockish 5.0 factory t-bird motor, it would probably pass without any problems. But if you get carried away like I am on this car and delete the smog pump, delete the EGR and delete the cats, it's not going to pass.

Not that I have any personel knoweledge about this, but there are always loopholes and exceptions. For example you might want to research the requirements for registering a car that is out of state (province in your case). In Missouri it is possible to skip saftey inspections and emissions testing and still get your license plates/stickers, if the car is out of state and the plates are expiring. This comes up alot with students attending out of state colleges or when people are forced to work for a few months at a time in a state other than where the car is registered. You are required to sign an exemption document claiming the car is out of state and promise to have the car inspected within 10 days of it's return to the state. They do perform random audits and will ask for proof of those inspections, but that's not a problem unless you tell them the car is back in the state.

In the U.S. each state has different laws concerning emissions, saftey and insurance requirements. Don't know if Canada is the same way, but might be worth checking into.

David
 
tbirdfan1993 said:
If you put a 5.0L into your SC, do you have to put like a hood scoop on it?

Not if you use the t-bird motor. It fits under the stock hood with plenty of room to spare. Some of the mustang intakes will not clear the stock hood. Here is a pic of the one that was installed in my 93 SC.

347oldmotor.jpg


David
 
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passing emisions test

i know an exhaust leak is bad, but in this case causing one wouldnt be a bad idea, i remember i had one wen i had my test on purpose and i passed, they dont check for leaks here really, just that the cats are present
 
well here in CALIFORNIA, the state with the most toughest SMOG LAWS in the world, they will run the VIN number and make sure the ENGINE matches the VIN number. My 86 Grand Prix is registered as a 82 GRAND PRIX and has the VIN number of a 82 and they ran the VIN number and it turns out that in 1982 the only V8 305 was a diesel model not a gasoline type. Well one smog station turned me away, talking about i need to take it to the CHP and have it CERTIFIED and what not. oh well whatever. I go to my dads long time friend and he asks me the same question, that if they switched the engines, i say i dont know, its stock, u can check the CATALYST sticker on the engine bay, he does, and says okay whatever lets run it like a V6 5.0L because the computer wasnt letting him switch to a V8 5.0L for that year. So he runs it as a V6 5.0L and it passes with flying colors, oh well, nobody at the DMV is that smart enough to know that there isnt a V6 5.0L in the world.
 
Just installing a few cats is a shot in the dark as the face gases need to be the right mixture for them to cycle properly. When I say cycle, the EEC will move between rich/lean to keep the cats working properly. Its a closed loop system that does an ongoing balancing act with HC/CO/O2 where the O2 sensors provide a measure of whats going into the cats. (I didn't know this until reading an article about OBDII code P0420).

This really means you have to burn a chip for the EEC, or get an EEC for that engine. Then of course, you'll need some compatible cats. I would think that a hot-rod shop would have equipment and know-how to measure the gases and tune the EEC settings. :)
 
Last year my car wasnt passing emissions so i had to BY law take it to a shop to have atleast 250 dollars worth of labour to repair the damage and smog free if this didnt fix the problem i could get a waiver but only after i show proof i had work done i think the car burns a tad bit of oil like a Qt every 2months on a 15 years old car this isnt bad but i think im gonna wait till spring to put her on the road and fix the minor things wrong with it over the winter months then try the test station again has anyone every try those test free bottles you put in as a additive to pass a test just wondering if those work?
 
in pa if you do an engine swap now you have to claim your car as an R title
R meaning reconstructed or rebuilt cuz they have an anti tampering visual inspection now and the vin says there is supposed to be a v-6 and they see a v-8 there is gonna be problems, that is if you drive less than 5k a year you can get exempt from the emissions law, i dont know how it is in other states, but pa sux.
 
Missouri has a law that was passsed some time ago back in 92 that the engine has to fit the car example Mustang ford used a 4 -6 and 8 Cylinder but never used a 460 big block i think if you were planning a motor swap i would very carefully research your states laws on smog and emiission laws i know this by experience AFTER planting a V-8 in a S-10 and driving it for 8 months only to find out i had to remove it and put a different motor in it i did go bigger tho it had a 4cyl i used a donor Camero and put a SFI 3.4 liter but the anti theft was a pain in the you know what lol live and learn :D
 
In Illinois if your car does not pass emisions you can get a race car exemption. Its done thru the epa. not the licence people. Once you have that the licence people will also send you a letter that the car is exempt. In this state there is no limit on mileage. Thats what I had to do.
 
When I did an engine and tranny swap in my car, I needed an etest and safety. In Ontario, there is a check list they go through and one of the things they check for is an exhaust leak. Mine leaked at the headers and they fixed it. They overlooked the engine mods as it was tested at a performance shop. I've got new cats, o2 sensors, and egr (big cam and other serious mods). I ran the car hard before the emissions tests to get the cats good and hot. It passed with flying colours even though the new engine has only 500 km on it and I haven't fine-tuned the idle.

There is a large acceptable range (for the original engine type) which is supposed to take into account the age of the vehicle and miles on it.

Good luck.
 
Where in Canada are you from?
in BC, you can get your vehicle "Z" rated through ICBC, which means that you will be out of the "emissions tested region" for a x days out of the month and emissions testing is not required.
Im sure there has to be similar loopholes in other provinces. To find out what your province is like, call an idenpendant insurance broker, they may have some suggestions
 
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