Stage 3 catted downpipe inspection problem

[huntingchen]

hello all,
after two years of running stage 2 on my fiesta st, I finally bought a cobb catback exhaust and now trying to decide what catted downpipe to run.
I have been reading through a lot of materials on this forum such as how stage 3 is waste of money and nightmare of inspections etc... Honestly I was just a little tired of my stage 2 setup and wanted something more thus my main concern is inspection.
I used to have a catless straight pipe/asshole wrx so i really don't want to go back to that kind of inspection nightmare.
I am looking at depo catted downpipe cause it is cheaper but it only has 100 cell cat. If i get the Cobb catted downpipe (200 cell cat) will it make a huge deference on passing the inspection (NJ inspection) ?

1. For all the jersey people or PA people who run stage 3 on their car, how is the process?
2. and how is depo catted downpipe? does it smell at all?
3. How much is it to get turboback installed? (I had done all the work myself this far but now i really dont have time or space for it)

thank you all in advance and have a great weekend

 

[TyphoonFiST]

Just move out of those states....that room of Doom crap is a complete joke and a complete money scam. Minnesota figured it out and NO more room of Doom! Yay!

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G935A using Tapatalk

 

[GateCityRadio]

What kind of inspections do they do in NJ? Here in NC it is just a OBDII test and a visual inspection of safety devices. I have the depo catted downpipe...when cold you can def smell the fumes more but once it heats up its not so bad. On the stage 3 cobb tune I had no problem passing inspections. All of the systems shown ready. Now that I'm on a custom tune I'm having issues this year. The cat, o2 sensor, o2 sensor heater all show not ready. I had to go back to the stage 3 cobb tune and drive it around until everything shown ready.

 

[M-Sport fan]

When I last lived in Joyzee (almost 5 years ago now), it was ONLY an OBD 2 plug-in (and you were allowed 2 monitors showing 'not ready', I believe, but NO engine/emissions dash lights showing), and a pressure check on the gas cap for leaks (not sure HOW they check the cap-less systems like ours now ).

They did not even 'mirror' my car like they used to way back to check for factory catcons the last time I went to a state inspection there.

Did this change, and they now do a 'sniffer' test on everything, OBD 2 or not?

 

[huntingchen]

When I last lived in Joyzee (almost 5 years ago now), it was ONLY an OBD 2 plug-in (and you were allowed 2 monitors showing 'not ready', I believe, but NO engine/emissions dash lights showing), and a pressure check on the gas cap for leaks (not sure HOW they check the cap-less systems like ours now ).

They did not even 'mirror' my car like they used to way back to check for factory catcons the last time I went to a state inspection there.

Did this change, and they now do a 'sniffer' test on everything, OBD 2 or not?

I believe they only do emission test now, anyone who went there recently?

 

[huntingchen]

What kind of inspections do they do in NJ? Here in NC it is just a OBDII test and a visual inspection of safety devices. I have the depo catted downpipe...when cold you can def smell the fumes more but once it heats up its not so bad. On the stage 3 cobb tune I had no problem passing inspections. All of the systems shown ready. Now that I'm on a custom tune I'm having issues this year. The cat, o2 sensor, o2 sensor heater all show not ready. I had to go back to the stage 3 cobb tune and drive it around until everything shown ready.

they only do emission test now, when i had my wrx, I always went to this guy who you pay like 100 bucks and he passes you but his shop closed.

 

[GAbOS]

Glad I don't have to deal with any of that! The population is so low in Carson City, there are zero inspections, not even safety.

 

[OggiSiMangia]

What kind of inspections do they do in NJ? Here in NC it is just a OBDII test and a visual inspection of safety devices. I have the depo catted downpipe...when cold you can def smell the fumes more but once it heats up its not so bad. On the stage 3 cobb tune I had no problem passing inspections. All of the systems shown ready. Now that I'm on a custom tune I'm having issues this year. The cat, o2 sensor, o2 sensor heater all show not ready. I had to go back to the stage 3 cobb tune and drive it around until everything shown ready.

Are you sure? because i just failed my inspection a few days ago.. I have a custom piping turbo back exhaust. F MY LIFE!! i figured i would just find a place that is an inspection site that does modified cars that will just pass me.

 

[M-Sport fan]

i figured i would just find a place that is an inspection site that does modified cars that will just pass me.

Sadly, most states which still have any inspection at all, got 'wise' to those shops, and do not issue/grant an inspection certification license to them.

I even suspect that the shop which huntingchen used to bring his Scoobie to, and overpay for a passing sticker, got caught, SEVERELY fined (like $10K+ for EACH occurrence!), and shut down/put out of business for passing cars that should have failed.

 

[GateCityRadio]

they only do emission test now, when i had my wrx, I always went to this guy who you pay like 100 bucks and he passes you but his shop closed.

When you say they only do emissions, do they do the sniffer or the OBDII?

Are you sure? because i just failed my inspection a few days ago.. I have a custom piping turbo back exhaust. F MY LIFE!! i figured i would just find a place that is an inspection site that does modified cars that will just pass me.

What did they fail you on?

 

[Quisp]

Why bother with downpipe install on stock turbo ? Get a pro tune .

 

[M-Sport fan]

Why bother with downpipe install on stock turbo ? Get a pro tune .

^^^THIS.

I am not even going to think about changing the down pipe until I go at least to a bigger hybrid, if not a full-on BT setup.
(The same even goes for an aftermarket intake as well for me.)

 

[BionicBarnacle]

Why bother with downpipe install on stock turbo ? Get a pro tune .

Some of us, myself included, like the extra noise associated with a downpipe upgrade. I purchased it knowing it would give me no more power on the stock turbo.

Not everyone mods the car for the same reason, not everyone has the same goals. That is the beauty of modding your car...it is YOUR car to upgrade how YOU want. I apologize for the tangent/rant, but it is frustrating to see people seemingly talk down on what people want to do for upgrades because it doesn't fit what they think is best. So long as people know what each part is/isn't actually providing they should mod to their hearts content!

 

[CB022481]

^^^excellent post^^^

 

[M-Sport fan]

Some of us, myself included, like the extra noise associated with a downpipe upgrade. I purchased it knowing it would give me no more power on the stock turbo.

Not everyone mods the car for the same reason, not everyone has the same goals. That is the beauty of modding your car...it is YOUR car to upgrade how YOU want. I apologize for the tangent/rant, but it is frustrating to see people seemingly talk down on what people want to do for upgrades because it doesn't fit what they think is best. So long as people know what each part is/isn't actually providing they should mod to their hearts content!

AGREED, as long as they know it is for noise-making ONLY, and NOT any ("stage") power gains on the microscopic factory snail's exhaust outlet.

That (sound) is why I did a CBE, knowing FULLY well it would not give me even .25 of a whp, or lb.ft. of torque over the stock system (and some claim it might even LOSE a little power).

But it (a CBE) is not HALF as much pain (or co$t if a shop does it) to install as a down pipe is on these cars, and it has to come off anyway for a hybrid/BT setup, so that is the best time to do one, when it CAN show some power increases (to me at least).

 

[Quisp]

Some of us, myself included, like the extra noise associated with a downpipe upgrade. I purchased it knowing it would give me no more power on the stock turbo.

Not everyone mods the car for the same reason, not everyone has the same goals. That is the beauty of modding your car...it is YOUR car to upgrade how YOU want. I apologize for the tangent/rant, but it is frustrating to see people seemingly talk down on what people want to do for upgrades because it doesn't fit what they think is best. So long as people know what each part is/isn't actually providing they should mod to their hearts content!

👍 gotcha.

 

[OggiSiMangia]

What did they fail you on?

They failed me on "no muffler or cat"

 

[CB022481]

[MENTION=4929]OggiSiMangia[/MENTION] do you really need them anyway?

 

[OggiSiMangia]

[MENTION=4929]OggiSiMangia[/MENTION] do you really need them anyway?

unfortunately, i guess so! 😂

 

[GateCityRadio]

They failed me on "no muffler or cat"

I still have the a muffler and a high flow cat. They didn't look under my car, so I guess it wouldn't of mattered anyway.
Some places will look at everything, some will do the most basic stuff to get you out of there.