Hey guys, I'm new to forums in general and a new Mustang owner as well. I just bought a 99' GT. The car had been inspected immediatly before I bought it, but I soon found it does not have cats! Just a strait pipe from the manifold to the flowmaters (and its sounds freakin awesome, to be quite honest) But...WTF? It won't pass inspection (without a bribe) whats the best course of action here? Someone obviously started to modify the car (it has wheels, some cosmetic work, cold air intake and the exhaust mods) then sold it off. Should I worry about being stopped and having my inspection sticker scraped? The guy I bought it from (claims) he had no idea it was illegal (still talking to him). how much will it cost to make it legal and how should I go about doing it? Thanks a ton.

 

How often does your region require smog inspections?

I would recomend getting a catted X or H pipe from an aftermarket company, so that it still passes smog. It probably won't make too much of a difference to the sound.

 

What state are you in? Most places won't even notice on visual inspection and the engine can pass emissions if it is tuned properly.

If it fails there is this bottle of stuff you can buy that you add to your tank before going and you will pass guarenteed.

No sense on having to buy a catted x or h for 400 bucks when you can pass with a $5 additive.

 

I live in NY, the guy who noticed it was a mustang enthusiast, so you'd expect him to notice. But thanks for the tips, I'll leave it go for now, try the additive (if they even do emmissions, which I dont think they do in NY) and see if I can get away with it.

Thanks,
Eric

 

NY has pretty strict emmisions if I believe. They do visual inspection as well as sniffer so your screwed from the get-go with no cats on there.

You can probably find someone that has a stock h-pipe that has all 4 origional cats on it, mount that on, do your inspection and then return it back to the o/r version. Thats still illegal and I dont recommend it.

What I would do and prefer is just spend the money, get a catted x or h pipe and be done with it. Catted pipe and a properly tuned car, you will be fine on inspection both visual and sniffer test.

 

Actually the original 99 GT h-pipe has 6 cats.

It is a real hassle to change the mid pipe so i wouln't recommend getting a stock one to swap on and off everytime.

If they actually nab you on visual then a catted performance one owuld be the way to go i guess.

 

You sure it was 6? My 00 gt had 4.. now i've worked on a bunch of 96-98 gt's that had 6. 96-98 cobras though had 4. All 99+ cars i've been under had 4 (cobras and gt's)

 

Yes, my 00 GT has 4 cats too.

 

My 99 GT had 6 cats. you can only see 4 if you look under the car but to mare are just behind the exhaust manifolds.

 

they musta carried that over from teh 96-98 era and then got smart in 00. 4 was 2 on the bottom, 2 right behind the manifolds.

 

This is exactly how the h-pipe looked on my old 99 GT.



I should check my current one to see if it has the 4 or 6 cats.

 

Good luck getting that inspection! Afraid it 's not going to happen without a bribe. They do the visual and hook it up so your screwed. You might have got away with adding the additive and they relaxed with the cats, however with running an o/r pipe the second they start the car they will know. Switch it out with a performance mid pipe. I went with the MRT H and love it.

My 02GT had 4 cats. Now have 2 that are lot smaller than any on the stock mid.

 

But with a bribe maybe you'll pass! See you had the solution all along.

 

When I bought my Cobra I got it in DC which has strict emissions laws also. It had a Dynomax catted X pipe with only one set of cats. It passed Virginia emissions, so that might be an option. I'm originally from NY, so I know your pains, move south and you won't have to change it, lol.