I'm looking at a 04 GT3 for sale in Midwest. It has a Kreis-sieg F1 Valvetronic exhaust installed on it. While I love the sound of the exhaust, I live in California and have some concerns whether the car will pass smog. I know if you buy an exhaust from Kreis-sieg, they have you sign a smog waiver. The waiver says thats it's not CARB legal. In looking at how the exhaust works, it looks as though when switched to the normal sound, the exhaust passes through a cat. When switched to the other setting, it bypasses cat and muffler. Does anyone know if their non-bypass mode includes O2 sensors that would still let it pass CA smog, or am I SOL with this exhaust in CA?

 

I don't see any o2 sensors, I'd say your S.O.L. God they sound great though...don't they. Here are some pics, if you have not seen them allready.

http://www.kreissieg-usa.com/index.p...&oid=45&pid=58

 

I would trade you the Kreissieg exhaust for my stock exhaust in the blink of an eye...................... I wish! Lucky me I'm excempt from smog emissions in Sweden as the car was imported as household goods together with the rest of my stuff when I moved back home from the UAE and hence the excemption.

Ciao,

J.

 

I'm going to call Kreis-sieg tomorrow to get some more details. I also thought that if the emissions system was removed (o2 sensors), it voids the factory warranty. The car I am looking at is for sale at a Porsche dealer.

 

If that's the case, make sure you get a letter from the dealer specifying the Kreissieg exhaust and that it doesn't void the warranty. Dealers can be tricky when it comes to warranty claims!

 

Those auto bypass exhausts can be an issue. Even though they are stainless, the caustic exhaust can do a number on them and cause them to stick. Be careful in buying it. Also, yes technically it would not pass smog as it is not CARB vertified. As long as you did not point that out to anyone doing the testing, they would never know. If the cats work and it does have the bungs for 02 sensors, you will be fine.

 

We've done all of the exhaust "system". Any muffler is legal by as soon as you do cats/headers NONE and I mean NONE of the after-market systems are CARB approved. Now, all but one of the systems I've put on have passed the emissions part of the test but visual can be a "fail" if they know what they are looking for. Most of the time they actually don't...

 

Thanks for the input everyone. The dealer says they spoke with Kreig-sieg and all of the stock o2 sensors are in place. They claim that although not CARB legal, they pass CA smog. Sharky, it's like you say, it will probably depend on the visual inspection. I doubt the guy at the local smog shop will know any difference.

 

Jonysan,

Ask the seller to provide you the stock exhaust with the car, as part of the deal. It must be sitting somewhere, when they took it off. There are many sitting around and I am sure if you needed one to pass smog you could find one to bolt on for the day.

Good luck,

JCM

 

I talked to the dealer again. They offered to put the stock exhaust back on. At this point, the exhaust isn't the issue. The dealer isn't offering to CPO the car which makes me leary. I'm going to continue my search elsewhere.

 

Hi Jonysan, I think you'll be fine.. if you need a place to go let me know. I think you'll be fine. All the GT3s we do usually have an exhaust, headers and the GIAC tuning on them and they all pass with flying colors

 

Where is the car at? Sorry to hear that it's not just the exhaust that's an issue then

 

Hello,

You should be fine as I have had the same exhaust system on my M3 and it passed smog when purchased. The non-bypass mode flows through the exhaust/cats and leaves the stock O2 sensors in tact (as you mentioned).

Hope this reassures your purchase.

Best of luck.

Kris

 

How loud is it compared to stock when not in bypass mode? Been trying to find someone with one of these as I love the switchable aspect of it, but can't get info on whether its too loud for some race circuits in the UK when in quiet mode.


viperbob - whats the issue with these switching exhausts? Almost all OEM ones seem to have this technology now. My e90 3 series does, as does the 997 GT3.

 

Hi Dan,

Speaking of my M3, when not in bypass mode (going through the muffler) it is as quiet as stock. I would assume you would have no issues with this exhaust on the track.

This exhaust uses the brake booster to power the valve that open/closes to either go through or bypass the muffler. I didn't know this came stock on some cars? Interesting....