Emissions Testing

[DStJohn]

I just bought my 06 coupe; I got it in Georgia and drove it home (what a trip!). Now that I have it home, I will need to get an emissions test. I have never had to take any of my cars to Envirotest, but I have heard horror stories about damaged cars from the testing and having to sign a waiver to release them from any liability for damage while testing.
So I was wondering what other Colorado owners do for testing. Do you take it to a certain testing center? My son lives in Louisiana and offered to license it down there; they don't have emissions testing.

Any advice will be greatly appreciated!

I am looking forward to meeting everyone at the events and checking out all the Vipers.

Regards
Dan

 

[Allan]

Does your county require emissions testing?
You said that you haven't taken any other cars there, ....then why this one?

The 06 in stock trim, shouldn't have any trouble passing, specially with the low miles.
But, if you can avoid the whole deal altogether, that would be preferable.

Register it in a county that doesn't test. Or your son's place.

Oh yeah,.......watch out for cops.

 

[DStJohn]

Does your county require emissions testing?
You said that you haven't taken any other cars there, ....then why this one?

The 06 in stock trim, shouldn't have any trouble passing, specially with the low miles.
But, if you can avoid the whole deal altogether, that would be preferable.

Register it in a county that doesn't test. Or your son's place. Oh yeah,.......watch out for cops.

All my other cars, I bought in Ft Collins, and I have been able to get each one through the mobile drive-by stations. I will have to take this one through the Envirotest unless I get a PO box out east. I am worried about some kid getting in the Viper and running it on the dyno. I don't want to get it damaged by them.

 

[LifeIsGood]

I just sent an email to a viper owner in Ft Collins. He should be chiming in here soon...

 

[Detlef]

So I am that FtC Viper owner Ken mentioned.
I had them test mine last year and they don't put it on the dyno as the tires are too wide or so that's what they told me.
They just did the OBDII hookup and kept the car in neutral while bringing up the RPMs for the sniffer test.
Each time I've tried driving by the mobile station, I still got the emissions test required on registration renewal.

 

[01sapphirebob]

If your state has them i would look into collector plates. No testing if you have collector plates.

 

[DStJohn]

Thanks Detlef, I appreciate the info. Hopefully, they will tell me the same.

1SapphireBob, Colorado changed the laws for collector plates a few years ago. I believe the auto must have been manufactured before
1977.

 

[Coloviper]

If car does not have stock exhaust manifolds and stock cats, you are screwed out here. I went through fiasco, to try to pass the new test and it was on the dyno. My GEN III I had never did pass! It was a twin to yours. Emissions out here is a pain, but if it is stock, you will have no issues.

Good luck! You are correct on collector plates. Can thank that retard Ex-Gov Ritter. He set the state back 3 decades on many things!

 

[01sapphirebob]

1SapphireBob, Colorado changed the laws for collector plates a few years ago. I believe the auto must have been manufactured before
1977.

Double check. In Ohio if you can get a letter from the manufacturer stating the collectability of the vehicle and that there were less the 8000 units produced during that model yar they will make an exception. Also if you have somethjng like over $5k in performance mods to teh car they will allow collector plates.

 

[DStJohn]

01sapphirebob here is direct from the CO Dept of Revenue website about collector plates:
5 Year Collector Passenger
Motor vehicles that are model year 1975 or earlier or motor vehicles with a model year 1976 or later that were registered as a collector's item prior to September 1, 2009 which are not to be used in a commercial manner. All taxes and fees shall be five times the annual taxes and fees normally assessed.

Coloviper, it does have stock exhaust manifolds, but I am not sure about the cats. I need to jack it up and check out the exhaust system. I hope I don't have to purchase a stock system just to pass emissions.

 

[DStJohn]

ALRIGHT!!! She passed, no problem!! They did run it on the dyno, but I had a guy in his 30's doing the test. He was very easy on it when he ran it up, so it did not jump around. It passed the Fast Pass 1 min test, and was running very clean. Now to pay the sales tax and plates next week.
Thanks for all the info guys!

 

[Detlef]

Good to hear but surprised on the dyno. Both myself and someone else that has a GTS didn't have to run on the dyno. Maybe they've changed the rules again since we last did ours.

 

[DStJohn]

I went to the testing station on I-25 Frontage road and the guy said he would try and it fit.
Did you go to that one or the Loveland one on College ave?
I saw your burnout video, was that filmed over by Overland & Drake?

 

[Detlef]

I went to the one in Loveland on College. The burn out video was filmed down in Wheat Ridge.

 

[Coloviper]

Great news! You must still have the stock cats. On that 06' I changed mine out to hi-flo cats, I had headers and the non-cross over cat-back. It was a pain in the rear at the time and never did pass emissions. My 96' RT passed with flying colors with just a Borla cat back and K&N Stage 2 Intake. The key is stock cats though and stock manifolds that get them hot enough to do their job.

Now if SRT/Mopar were smart, they would sell a retrofit kit for the older Vipers that are headers with the new 13' single cat system but with all the four O2 sensors in it for the OBD-II cars. This way people could upgrade AND be guaranteed to pass emissions. In the future something has to be done as these cat systems do not last forever and the manufacturer stops making them even for replacement sometimes. If you can't even buy them anymore, how can the EPA hold you to emissions standards beyond what is available for replacement in the market. It is just a money grab in the end with zero-common sense. Too bad you could not just buy carbon credits to apply towards this stuff and then never even emissions test it, period. Not like the 2,500 miles I put on in a year even has the slightest impact.

 

[DStJohn]

So your the guy responsible for acid rain I do agree though, the Co program is a joke. If you live north of Wellington or east of
Greeley you don't pollute? I was following a car the other day that burned more oil than gas, but it passed. ***??? It is just another way to make money.

 

[johniew398]

The program is a joke in Colorado. I lived in Aurora 8 years and Colorado Springs 6 years prior to moving here. I bought a 1967 Corvette Coupe that had a full ground up restoration and rebuilt engine. It wouldn't pass. The engine had less than 3,000 miles on it so I called the state and talked to one of their people. The guy asked what it was I told told him, 327ci, 350HP, etc. He said you will be lucky to ever get it passed. I finally took it to some guys who built racing Vettes who had a machine and they unhooked almost everything and got it to pass - and they wouldn't take any money so I bought them a case of their favorite beer.

The state had changed the laws when we lived there and prior to that there were exemptions for cars a certain age; but the new law (this was around 1984) said there were no exemptions and regardless of how clean a car was it had to have all of the factory smog equipment. My wife had a 1976 Monte Carlo that I had over the years removed anything to do with smog. I took it to a Chevy dealer and told them I need to replace all the smog equipment and it was a California smogged car so we had to go with all that equipment. They tested it and got the readings on it and then we tested if after they installed all the factory smog stuff. It was dirtier fully smog equipped than running clean.

Thank goodness Arkansas does not require a safety or smog inspection.