Well, after all this time I brought my truck into emissions (AZ requires it every year, at least in the Phoenix and Tucson area's). To recap, I installed a new 4" exhuast in March and left the trap out. About a month before emissions and registration was due (October), I sawed the trap in half, thereby removing the element inside. I then widened the holes in each end to fit around the 3.5" pipe coming from the down pipe. Since I don't have a welder and don't have access to one, I decided to use JB weld. When I went in for emissions, they performed a physical inspection to make sure the trap was intact. They took a long, hard look at mine. The inspector actually got on the ground, took a look, and then called another guy over to take a look with him. All the while, I'm sitting in my truck saying to myself, "crap, I got caught". They finished their inspection, printed the paper work and sent me on my way. I PASSED!!!!:ro) :ro) :ro)
In fact, I haven't passed this good since I've had the truck. When they check the air quality for diesels, they measure opacity. AZ allows no more than 20%...I came in a 1.5%. Hopefully I can maintain that for the next few years.

my stock 98 came in @ 1.95 % with 30 % allowable. with 142,000 kilometers on the truck. i only have to go every two years. thinking now would be a good time to kill the cat. but then i've seen the machine gunning cat avatar and worry that they fight back.

Since I don't have a welder and don't have access to one, I decided to use JB weld. When I went in for emissions, they performed a physical inspection to make sure the trap was intact. They took a long, hard look at mine. The inspector actually got on the ground, took a look, and then called another guy over to take a look with him. All the while, I'm sitting in my truck saying to myself, "crap, I got caught". They finished their inspection, printed the paper work and sent me on my way. I PASSED!!!!:ro) :ro) :ro)


Now that you have some breathing room so to speak, might be a good time to find somebody that can weld yours up, JB weld is good stuff, but it's obvious what it is, next time they may not be so generous.

Another thought, it is Christmas, wire feed welders have gotten dirt cheap, might be a great opportunity to convince Mrs. Claus a welder is cheaper than a new cat if at next inspection they get anal and don't accept a JB welded Cat.

Emissions IMO is a big joke. I am glad I live in rural AZ and dont have to put up with that stuff. However, Its probably only a matter of time until all of AZ will have to do emissions.
About 10 years ago I worked at a Repair shop in Provo, Utah that also did emission testing. I had a 88 GMC with a TBI 350 that I had the Kitty cut off and dual exhaust installed. It also had almost 200,000 miles on the original engine. I made a bet with the emission technician that My truck would pass without the Cat. I still remember the look on the guys face when my truck passed with flying colors.... I dont remember the figures, but it was within new car spec...wasnt even close to failing. I'll never forget that.

BTW..I would like to see a picture of the JB weld Job. Ive used bailing wire and all sorts of stuff...bet never thought of JB weld.

:grd:

Man I'll bet that Cat was pissed when you goobered up his sides with JB weld, that stuff gets hot when it hardens too, good thing he wasn't armed like Mack's cat is.

I once threw a toasted marshmallow to a cat that was begging for it, funniest thing I ever saw, gooey stuff in it's whiskers & on it's paws the way it was trying to get away from that stuff you would have thought I set him on fire.

My apology I digress, but the image popped into my head when discussing pissed & armed felines.

I used it to dress the seam between the Cat and pipe. My Cat is slipped over the pipe and held in place with a self-tapping bolt thru the top of the cat.

Bornready, here's the pic. After 2 winters its sort of disintegrated a bit.

I had a 88 GMC with a TBI 350 that I had the Kitty cut off and dual exhaust installed. It also had almost 200,000 miles on the original engine. I made a bet with the emission technician that My truck would pass without the Cat. I still remember the look on the guys face when my truck passed with flying colors.... I dont remember the figures, but it was within new car spec...wasnt even close to failing. I'll never forget that.



Problem is....no matter how "CLEAN" it sniffs.....it's the visual that failed for me.

My old '90 454 had no cat and a single Flowmaster. Everything beyond the Y-pipe was 3" straight back.

It passed the sniffer fine for several years like this. Then I got "UN"lucky and had a newbie emissions tech. He performed the sniffer test, it passed, but when he did his visual....he failed it. Said I must have an operational CAT.

Went home (same day), removed my custom Flowmaster system, went into the garage got my complete OEM system with OEM cat, installed it, went back to the SAME technician.

He stated that since he failed it, it would have to be tested (sniffed) again.... Well, you guessed it......it FAILED. Pretty bad actually. He now had to issue me an EXEMPT sticker, and I had to produce a $300 reciept from a repair garage.

I went on polluting (with the OEM system) for the next 5 years or so until I sold the truck!

Problem is....no matter how "CLEAN" it sniffs.....it's the visual that failed for me.

My old '90 454 had no cat and a single Flowmaster. Everything beyond the Y-pipe was 3" straight back.

It passed the sniffer fine for several years like this. Then I got "UN"lucky and had a newbie emissions tech. He performed the sniffer test, it passed, but when he did his visual....he failed it. Said I must have an operational CAT.

Went home (same day), removed my custom Flowmaster system, went into the garage got my complete OEM system with OEM cat, installed it, went back to the SAME technician.

He stated that since he failed it, it would have to be tested (sniffed) again.... Well, you guessed it......it FAILED. Pretty bad actually. He now had to issue me an EXEMPT sticker, and I had to produce a $300 reciept from a repair garage.

I went on polluting (with the OEM system) for the next 5 years or so until I sold the truck!

Thats crazy!

Just proves the crap these cats are.

When we hooked mine up, it was just for fun. He would have failed me because of the visual..but I was still running AZ plates, so I didnt need to register it in UT....Even though I lived there for 3 years. :lol:

I used it to dress the seam between the Cat and pipe. My Cat is slipped over the pipe and held in place with a self-tapping bolt thru the top of the cat.

Bornready, here's the pic. After 2 winters its sort of disintegrated a bit.

Man, Thats what I call service. Thanks for the pic. Now I know excactly what were talking about. My 6.5 didnt have a cat on it when I got it. Thanks. I'll have to throw me a package of JB weld in the old glovebox.

2 kinds of JB out there quick set and reglar, quick set hardens in about 4 minutes, reglar JB fixes anything duct tape, bailing wire and RTV can't. takes about 15-30 min to set hard & needs clamping, but has more strength/lasts longer than quick set

According to JB Weld's web site "JB Marine Weld" has the same strength as regular JB Weld but also sets in four minutes like the Quick Weld. I'd like to try some but I haven't seen it in the hardware stores.

anyone else have any first hands of emissions check? i really want to put on an exhaust and get rid of the cat and muffler, but i do have to get an emmissions check every 2 years and am afraid that i will not pass emissions and then i will have to take it off or something. i do not know what the requirement % to pass is though, will have to look into.

JB Weld I'd like to try some but I haven't seen it in the hardware stores.

Use a lot of JB Quick. Does set up fast and you need to work it quick. Tip on smoothing it out. Lick your finger to smooth it out. Serious! 300-400 degrees and the stuff looses adhesion.

For mufflers or stray cats use Muffler sealer. Dries hard and stays in place for quite awhile.

Use to rework manifolds for race engine using JB weld. Buy it by the gallon! The tech manual said "No Welded Manifolds" So we epoxied in the slow spots in the intake and some in th the head. Never failed! I even epoxied in some stocker manifolds where the egr was blocked off.

im glad i do have to worry about emmisons testing where i live none at all in the state, the used to have emminsons testing a long time ago but they stoped it. ,lucky me

The county that I live in here in NC, there is an emissions (sniffer) test for the gassers but not the diesels. Diesels only get the basic safety inspection, lights, horns, wipers and such. I did see a check box for muffler that was checked. Yesterday I was under my truck changing the trans filter and fluid, I did not see a muffler, did see a cat though...which is about to come out.

jasonosu, don't worry about it. I have never had a problem passing the sniff test and get the hood popped and rolling mirror treatment less than half the time I've been "e-checked." I've been to the stations in Bedford, Middleburg Hts and Valley View and its been the same story at each.

I can never really figure out the emission thing for diesels. Here in Washington State we have an opacity test for diesels. If I had to guess, I would say it is probably the same thing as the “sniff” test mentioned above. To date, two out of three of my diesels have failed, and I have no idea why.

My 96 Powerstroke failed first time through, then I put the factory airbox back in and it passed? I thought that was kind of strange. To this day, I can not get my 6.5TD Suburban to pass. It is missing it by a long shot too. I tried, additives, taking it to an emissions shop, resetting TDC offset, new filters, oil change, new ecm temp sender, you name it, and it still fails.

The only thing I can think of is that when I replaced, the head gaskets, infectors and exhaust, I inadvertently did something to screw up emissions. I am hesitant to try and figure out the emissions problem though because ever since I did all that work, the truck has some serious cahones

Luckily this is my wife’s car, so if it ever fails emissions, she just works her charm, and gets the emission tech to give her a waiver. 

Opacity is a measure of light through the exhaust. The less efficient the burn the more soot, the darker it is.

The rings wear out by the first overheating, after that compression is lost into the crankcase and the cylinders never get as hot as they should. The only solution is to hone the cylinders and rering the block for peak compression.