Exhaust and Smog help!

[swhytematic]

Hello all,
I am a new Viper owner and new to this forum. I just bought a 2000 gen II viper RT from Wisconsin, but I live in California in Livermore.
I had a couple of questions and wanted so see if I could get some help.

1. the previous owner of my viper installed american racing long tube headers connected to straight 3 inch pipes all the way to the rear of the car...he put in sims to fool the ECU also. Thus, there will be no passing of smog for me for sure. Thus, I wanted to know if anyone could suggest a good muffler/exhaust shop to have some shorty headers, high flow cats and mufflers installed (probably magnaflow 3 inch catback system)? A shop near the San Francisco Bay area would be great.

2. Can anyone suggest a reputable mechanic for maintenance and/or performance tuning on the viper around the San Francisco bay area?

Any help would be much appreciated!

Thanks in advance!!

 

[blown daytona]

I am not familiar with the smog test for California, but in Md. if the check engine lamp is not on with engine running and the ECU passed all readiness checks then it will pass. They cant check to see if the car has cats because they cant see thru the rockers.

 

[DrumrBoy]

That has been my experience in other states as well. If the ECU Is happy, It reports Its happiness through the
OBD II port and the DMV Is therefore happy. I guess technically they could make you remove the sills to check for cats but that would be a huge hassle for both parties and I've not heard of it ever happening.

 

[swhytematic]

Thanks for the input blown daytona and Drumrboy! what I will do then is just add some mufflers and see if I can pass smog...that would be great if i could!

 

[evil00017]

I have not smogged my viper yet. My last few cars were not smog legal but I did learn the tricks of the trade. But I can tell you just going in there and hopping for the best will not work in CA.

The CA test is way more extensive. They hook a sniffer up to your car. You will not pass with no cats. You probably wouldn't pass with high flow cats either. Technically you are suppose to have stock cats. You will fail visual inspection with your headers if the tech can tell that they are aftermarket. I have heard of people getting away with it because most techs haven't smogged a viper and dont really know how stock headers look.

CA smog is not the kind of smog that you want to just "see if I can pass". If you fail CA smog your car can require BAR. At BAR they really know what they are doing and they will get you for all your illegal stuff, you do not want to go to BAR. Also if you do go to BAR it is recorded that the car has been to BAR before and next time you get smogs they will see that it has failed before and potentially look even harder.

Your best bet is to get some stock cats some mufflers go in there and act stupid and be like oh yeah just bought the car yada yada it has a catback. And afterwords take the cats off and then in 2 yrs put them back on....rinse and repeat. Hope they don't notice the headers.

 

[johniew398]

I'm glad we don't have smog inspections and tests here. Here's the problem I have with smog tests. The intent is good but
we lived in Colorado for several years and initially as long as your car passed the emissions everything was ok. Then they said it
had to have all the factory equipment installed.

I had stripped my wife's Monte Carlo over the years where it didn't have a single piece of smog equipment (smog pump, factor air cleaner, cat, etc). But it was clean.
It was originally a CA car so I had to install all the factory CA equipment.

We tested it without any smog equipment and then again after the dealer installed all new smog equipment. It tested cleaner with no smog equipment on it.

Ever since then I have had no use for the smog tests.

Having said that I lived in the Torrance/Redondo area for two years so I know what you are going through in California.

 

[whatthe]

sent you a pm I live in Pleasanton