Header emissions question?
 

If i buy an aftermarket complete exhaust(from the header to axle-back) and i get the CEL eliminators for my 02 sensors i know i wont pass the visual part of emissions but will i pass the hydro-carbon part? If this is asked somewhere else im sorry but i cant find anything...

Mike:icon_juggle:

only if you had a catalytic converter somewhere in your exhaust set-up.

Ya, I think you'd need to make sure it had at least a high-flow cat somewhere in there b/c if you're doing header and back, you're removing two cats.

the CEL eliminator tricks the ecu into thinking there is a cat by moving the o2 sensor further from exhaust flow. if youre going that route, i would either keep the stock manifold or put a high flow cat in the midpipe.

you need at least one cat to pass inspection no matter what....unless you really know the inspector really well and he does you some favors

Good suggestions here... and the others in this thread too...
Easiest thing I think to do is simply hold onto the OEM header...and when it's time for inspection... simply slap it on go down, pass, come home swap it back out. Hell it only takes 20 mins to have the race header off and OEM back on. Plus the Primary cat is on the OEM header... so one, you'd pass visual inspection, and with it being the larger cat of the two stock ones, you'd have a better chance of passing the actual emissions portion too.
That's what I do and it's pretty friggin' easy. Just my 2 cents :)

or live in Wv like me where there is no emission lol

alright thanks guys, by the sounds of it ill prob leave the stock manifold replace the top part before the cat then swap out the down-pipe. . sand the whole header down and paint it with high heat black or red or something and thermal wrap it. Ill post pics when i do it.

Mike:icon_juggle:

high temp header paint... cool. Wrapping? NOT cool. dont do it. It will significantly shorten the life-span of the part. Are there short term benefits to doing it? yes there are....that's why NASCAR, and other Pro racing sport teams do it. BUT.... they also have the budget to replace those parts often.
What causes the shortened life-span is that the wrap does not allow the metal to expand (when hot)...and contract (cool down) properly....thus causing metal fatigue by putting stress on the part in a way it was not made for. It also holds in heat longer once the engine has been shut off as well.

high heat paint on stock header will do no good,and wrapping stock header will trash the cat in it in a matter of weeks.

either leave it stock or do the header swap back to stock prior to inspection......unless it is the MMW header it takes less than 2 hours to remove and replace and that is with smoke breaks and beer and standing and staring at it.......very easy to do.

yeah ^^^ agreed...on the header itself...paint probably wouldnt last. But doing the heat-shield is no problem. I did one on my other tC before I got a performance header for it.... I used high temp ceramic paint on it (after prepping the metal for paint of course) and it held up very well.

what i think im going to do is get an aftermarket header and weld in a high flow cat on the mid-pipe and just extend the wiring for the o2 sensors. That way i could get the best performance out of it. i didn't know wrapping a cat would kill it so fast. thought it was safe for it. shows how much i know. just lost my job today so this project might be delayed but ill post up some pics when i do it.