Just bought a set of pacesetter longtubes with emissions + OFY. The car is pretty much bone stock but I was replacing a head gasket so I thought why the hell not. Didn't seem to sink in until now that I will be moving to Virginia in a couple of months and they have emissions. Anyone have any experience with longtubes and emissions in Loudoun county VA? Or anywhere in VA for that matter. Ive heard of people welding cats in the y-pipe but technically it is still illegal. Any other tricks or ways to get around it? Gas stations? Thanks for the help!

Jason

 

Along with the cost of living being so freaking ridiculously high, Loudoun is probably the 2nd strictest county with Fairfax being the most. If you're OBDII then I'd put them on anyway, get the usual AIR/EGR sensors tuned out and take it anyway. If you're OBDI then I'd go to a muffler shop and have a dual cat Y-pipe made for such an occasion. Yes there are laws regarding moving the cats... so on and so forth, but most e-check techs could care less where they are located as long as they're present.
Why in God's name would you move to NOVA?

 

Lol only reason im moving there is for pharmacy school, otherwise I would stay in Florida. Too cold and too far from a beach. Not to mention way too expensive.

 

Whenever you're ready for a tune or other mods I can point you in the right direction as far as shops go. They're in MD, but have built some bat**** crazy 8 and 9 second LS1 f-body's.
Also if you're into gatherings and such I can give you a few local websites that have a few now and again or if you want to get aquainted with people.

 

What year is your car? If you have a 96-97 with OBD-II and your particular state does a "plug-in" style emissions test, you most likely can get away with it. Of course, you will either need tuning or 02 simulators for the rear 02 sensors. If you have a 93-95 car with OBD-I and have to do a "sniffer test", you may have a hard time passing.

 

Yea if you have a 96-97 there will be no problem passing as long as you don't throw any codes. With OBDI as long as you put a cat on it then it should pass emissions.

 

Thats the tricky part, if you put a cat on a car with long tubes and an off-road y-pipe, the only real spot to mount a single cat is to put it towards the end of the y-pipe. This can pose a problem considering the cat needs to be as close to the header or manifold as possible to properly heat up and do its job properly.

 

Well thats how I am going to have mine. I don't think it will be very far from the stock cat location with my Pacesetter longtubes and Y-pipe but I'll find out soon.

 

Which cat are you going to use? Keep us posted.

 

Just a universal Catco 3" highflow. Gonna have it welded on to the end of the y-pipe more than likely.