Borrow someones stock system and swap out for the test I'm sure some would be willing to lend you one

 

Ron,

There is some good advice here. Can you have the before and after cat values checked to see if the cats are indeed working? The fact that they pass at higher RPM with more exhaust flowing indicates you may have a too rich idle condition unrelated to the exhaust. ...If we find the cats to be faulty, I can replace them, but if your car is running too rich, it could be the root cause of cat failure to begin with.

Also, I have a stock exhaust that I can send you to test with, if it comes to that.

 

Thanks John. I will rerun a test tomorrow and let you know. I might have a in with another stock exhaust i can borrow.

 

Just to reiterate what the others said, make sure your engine is fully warmed up. When I had high flow cats, I failed at first but then I ran the engine at 4k for 2-3 minutes when the engine was already warmed up and tested immediately and passed.

 

You really need to set your flash back to stock so your engine is not pumping so much air and fuel. Seems like the logical thing to do.

 

I have a stock exhaust up here in NorCal that you could borrow as well.

 

You could borrow my stock exhaust also, I live about a 1/2 mile from Vision Motorsports in Laguna Hills, I could drop it off there, Duane could do the swap, you could get it smogged, then bring it back to Vision, they can swap it back and I can pick it up from them. I will likely be in the same position when my time to smog comes, so all I would want is my stock exhaust back

Vision may even have a stocker laying around. Let me know if I can help.

Jonas

 

tom at lucent has my stock unit. you can borrow mine, but I would ask that you use tom to install and remove just in case I need it for my CA smog next year as well.

 

Dick,

Our exhaust has passed many times on other cars. When you introduce things such as larger injectors, 5 bar fuel pressure regulators, more aggressive tuning, along with a high flow exhaust, etc. then there is reason to have some concern, as the car is dramatically altered from original specifications.

We do not have smog checks in my state, but if we did, I would personally be a little concerned with my car given the dual fuel pumps, larger injectors, custom tune, etc. - it changes a lot of things from the way they originally performed, so you just don't know...

 

I blew a Remus cat after blowing a MAF halfway to Vegas. Decided to drive it there and back before tending to it. Running rich will kill your cat in a hurry.

Otherwise a 200 cell cat should pass smog with almost any flash.

Be careful where you go since technically you will NOT pass the "visual" test. Once they flag your car, you'll need to jump through hoops to get passed. Make sure at least that the smog station will pass you visually before even starting.

 

This is one of my main fears of potentially buying an out of state, modded car and bringing it back to CA. I guess the best solution is to buy bone stock or make sure I have stock parts to swap out for getting it smogged and then switch back.

 

My TT passed smog last year with flying colors - even with 100 cell cats, Milltek exhaust and a GIAC flash.

Have my stock system to hand though - just in case....

 

Ari is correct. Technically any after market exhaust in Cali can be failed on the "visual" inspection even if it can pass the actually smog test itself. (Only Europipe and Ruf can pass the visual inspection as the both look like the stock system). I just installed the Speedtech dual can system and Evom headers. The rest of my motor is bone stock. I don't need a smog test for this year's registration but I think I'll get one as a base line now (since it won't be reported) before I get a flash to see if it checks out OK. I'll let you know the results.

 

This might help. Try to find a tech to help you out a lil bit.
Run it in a Manual Mode first (Too much fail on the record sometime not good for resale)
After High RPM test ask the TECH to slowly drop the RPM and stop at the maximum RPM the analyser allow

 

I had the same issue here in CO. I have an aftermarket exhaust and flash as well.

I failed the 1st time, It wasn't even close. I don't think I had the car up to proper temp, or just not hot enough.

The 2nd attempt, I went out about an hour before the test and ran the car pretty hard and really baked the exhaust before the test, to the point where the final 1/2 mile driving to the smog check place I was in 3rd gear running about 4000 rpm just to get the exhaust really hot and be sure everything was cleaned out or baked in.

Passed way under limits.

I'm not sure that'll work on your car, but it's worth a shot.