Steve Cooper

I need to get my car (details below) smogged for the first time since the GURU stage II kit was installed. I can pick a place that won't care about the visual part of the inspection, but getting around the pipe sniff isn't going to be easy, so I figure I'll start out with a test to see how far off I am from a legal pass. Perhaps I'll pass right away, but I don't trust that to be the case. So I have a two part question.

1. Anything I should do in anticipation of the sniff test to ensure a legal pass? I was planning on replacing my 20,000 mile Bosch Platinum +4 plug with new standard plugs. Will also double check that the rotor and cap are good as well. But that's the extent of MY ideas to make a pass likely. Any other good suggestions?

2. I'm running a stock cat that I scored at Parts Heaven off of a 70,000 mile 951. I expect that is in decent shape. But I've been toying with finding an aftermarket free flow cat and welding that into the exhaust to find a little more HP. But with the new forum changes, I can't search through any old threads to get feedback on where to look for a new cat that'll fit in that very tight cavity under the torque tube, beside the wastegate mini-cat. So the question- where can a find a replacement that isn't a small fortune for the stock cat. (target $100-$200) I can weld the stainless no problem, so I just need the cat in a 3" diameter to match the stock exhaust.

Thanks in advance,

Russ Murphy

We just built a 3" exhaust for my car. We used a 3" I.D. hiflow cat. The brand was Car Sound. It fit in the tunnel just fine. It cost all of $41.00 (wholesale) from a local exhaust parts distributor.

Steve Cooper

Russ, any idea which Car Sound part number they used for your exhaust? I found a few different 3" ID models on their website; they don't reference fitting any Porsches on the website. Most of the 3" cats look a bit on the oval side. Does your system use a round or oval cat?

Thanks for the lead none the less.

Russ Murphy

It's #94009 and it is an oval exterior, but it fits fine.

Steve Cooper

Oh man. I am NOT worthy!

Thanks!

mark944turbo

Russ did you research any other kinds of catylitic converters before choosing this one? Why is this one the best? I am looking for a high flow converter to put in my new exhaust and I cant decide which one is best. I am looking for the highest flow possible as I am going to use the stock setup for passing emissions.

Thanks for your help

Danno

Steve, find a place that does a 'pre-test' trial-run. They just do the test like for real, but don't log anything into the computers.

I spent 6-months fighting to get my car smogged because the tester messted up. The idiot didn't see on the paperwork that this was a 'pre-test' and ran the test with the results being fed into the DMV computer. Well, with the AutoThority chips and my MAF tuned for the track, I didn't pass, not even close!

So I got flagged as a 'gross polluter' and even after I swapped out chips and turned the MAF down to clean levels, no shop in the entire county would take a look at my car because it came upon the computer as 'gross polluter'. They said that only the original shop can re-test and pass me.

Well, I wasn't going to give those idiots any more business, but I had to return. The idiots doing the test then couldn't figure out if my K&N cone filter was legal and I told them to look it up in the book. He called the manager/owner over who balked at the K&N wouldn't even look in the book. He said he won't even test it unless I put the stock air-box back on.

So I yelled and screamed and escalated things. I found out I could go to an official Stage of California referee station to pull rank on that shop. It was up in Santa Maria about an hour north. These guys did pull out the book and went over each and every single point in there. They pulled out dentists mirrors to inspect all around my cat to verify I didn't weld in an empty canister. They traced all the hoses for my evaporative canister and even pulled off the fender liner to check that the canister was still hooked up. They pulled out the timing light to verify my ignition. Pressure-tested the gas cap, etc...

In the end, I passed with flying colors WITH my MAF-4 system hooked up. I just had to surreptitiously dial down the low & mid ***** while those guys where busy looking at the computer screens.

HINT: The K&N cone filter is perfectly legal on 951s because the books says the car isn't required to have a TAC-thermostatic air cleaner (sealed airbox). You just have to make sure that the crankcase vent tube and evaporative canister vent goes into the J-pipe.

Steve, if you pre-test results aren't good, I'll burn you an emissions-legal chip...

Steve Cooper

</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana,Tahoma,Arial,Helvetica,Geneva">quote:</font><hr /><font size="2" face="Verdana,Tahoma,Arial,Helvetica,Geneva">Originally posted by Danno:
<strong>HINT: The K&N cone filter is perfectly legal on 951s because the books says the car isn't required to have a TAC-thermostatic air cleaner (sealed airbox). You just have to make sure that the crankcase vent tube and evaporative canister vent goes into the J-pipe.

Steve, if you pre-test results aren't good, I'll burn you an emissions-legal chip...</strong></font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Verdana,Tahoma,Arial,Helvetica,Geneva">I'm not sure what this is called. Would it be... hmmmm, customer service beyond the call of duty? <img border="0" title="" alt="[Wink]" src="wink.gif" />

Thanks Danno. I'll keep you posted. I don't need to pass until March, but it seems like getting a jump on this is the right thing to do.

Russ Murphy

</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana,Tahoma,Arial,Helvetica,Geneva">quote:</font><hr /><font size="2" face="Verdana,Tahoma,Arial,Helvetica,Geneva"> Russ did you research any other kinds of catylitic converters before choosing this one? Why is this one the best? I am looking for a high flow converter to put in my new exhaust and I cant decide which one is best. I am looking for the highest flow possible as I am going to use the stock setup for passing emissions.
</font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Verdana,Tahoma,Arial,Helvetica,Geneva">I didn't do any research. My buddy is a WRX tuner and these are what he uses to build exhausts. I don't think that there are any differences other than cross section size betweeen catalysts.

superjet.1

GURU-RACING=cutomer support for life. Steve i use to be a smog tec call me ill give you some good pre inspection ideas on passing.