No Catalytic Converters

wanker

It is a violation of Federal and state law to remove your catalytic converter. Therefore, my guess is the tuner could be fined under VA law for tuning your car.

djburke87

I'm not sure if it's a legal thing or not. I can't find any statewide laws for Virginia regarding them except that the inspection book says that if they are repaired they may be welded to the exhaust pipe. I bought my car from Carmax, and took it to the dealer to have it looked over. The dealer told me about my exhaust set up, and I asked if it was going to be a problem with the law or passing inspection, and they said, "No." They passed it this past winter, so it seems like they weren't lying (about passing inspection anyway).

I have a very loud exhaust, and have never been pulled over for it. In fact, I think recently Virginia banned cops from pulling people over for exhaust, tint, lights out, etc.

So maybe the law is on my side? Probably not, though.

Either way, I'm looking to get it tuned. I guess sooner rather than later, from the sounds of it.

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2018 Nismo - Z1 Cold Air Intake, Z1 Silicone Hoses, Catalytic Converter Delete, Remark Axleback V1 Exhaust

chuckie311

https://19january2017snapshot.epa.go...hsysrepair.pdf

https://law.lis.virginia.gov/adminco...70/section300/

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Tuned by (Seb@Specialty-Z)
2011 G37 Cam'd FBO 347whp 280wtq Corn Fed 4.08 Gears

djburke87

I had not seen that EPA file before, and it does state you can't remove the cats. The VA law does not say if you can or not.

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2018 Nismo - Z1 Cold Air Intake, Z1 Silicone Hoses, Catalytic Converter Delete, Remark Axleback V1 Exhaust

FL 4Motion

Agreed, plus,

Federal law supersedes state law every time.

EPA reg states all vehicles built after (iirc) 1968 must have cats if they came with them oe.

Again, iirc, the FEDERAL fine for violating this is around $37k per offense. The EPA has been known to have vans parked along the highways that are equipped with “sniffers” that can get you when/if you drive by. Odds are good that probably won’t happen but it’s out there. Also, any LEO can pull you over in any state if they smell that “catless” odor as probable cause and a quick visual inspection could mean a state level fine but possibly even a federal one depending on your luck.

Long story short, IMO it’s not worth the risk for a street driven car to go catless. ESP when there are federal EPA compliant hfc’s out there. No hfc will meet CARB, but some will meet federal regs. I don’t know if fast intentions hfc fall into that category or not, but they are one of the best companies out there for high quality z parts.

Rusty

You can go catless until you get caught.

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浪人 - 殺し屋
"The Difficult Anytime, The Impossible By Appointment Only"
http://www.the370z.com/members-370z-...o-journal.html

FL 4Motion

Just want to add one more thing, I was just perusing the latest EPA reg update from December 2020. They reiterated that epa compliant cats are ok, but they’ve tightened regs on OBD tampering. In other words, only afaik carb approved tuning is epa compliant regardless of hfc used.

Example, APR has apr plus carb approved stage 1 tines for many vehicles. Edelbrock has carb approved s/c for Jeeps that includes a locked carb compliant tune. I’m not sure anything like this exists for the 370z.

This is good motivation to pick up a z35 since it’s tt from factory and carb approved stage 1 tuning is pretty easy to get for turbo cars.

djburke87

Well, I think I'm going to look into getting HFCs, just to be compliant and whatnot. Plus it will probably help resale if I ever sell my car. They should also reduce the rasp in my exhaust tone.

So Fast Intentions is the way to go? The only other exhaust mod I have is AAM Resonated Short Tales. Anyone have this axleback and have an HFC they like?

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2018 Nismo - Z1 Cold Air Intake, Z1 Silicone Hoses, Catalytic Converter Delete, Remark Axleback V1 Exhaust

Leingod

If you have the cash and don't mind the wait time, FI is definately the way to go. I've been running the rhfcs for years without a single issue. I ran them initially with stm short tails. They're now paired with FIs full exhaust. With the short tails, it was loud, but maneagable. You will piss off your neighbors in the morning. With a full exhaust, you can have a conversation in the cabin without yelling.

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I AM FLOOF! SOMEBODY FLOOF MY HORN!! ALL HAIL THE FLOOF!!I JUST FLOOFED ON THE FLOOR

djburke87

I leave before most of my neighbors wake up, so I'm sure most of them don't even set alarm clocks because the just consider my cold start all the alarm they need.

It would be nice to have a conversation once in a while I guess, but getting rid of the rasp is my main concern. I actually put a different axleback on my car 2 days ago that had bigger resonators on it, but the cold start was just as loud. The cruising drone was less though. I like the way the AAM Short Tales look and sound better, though, so I switched back.

If I go with Fast Intentions, should I get the High Flow Cats (HFCs) or the Resonated High Flow Cats (RHFCs). I see on their website they only have the RHFCs for sale, but I heard the used to make non-resonate ones. I'm sure I could find some if I look hard enough.

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2018 Nismo - Z1 Cold Air Intake, Z1 Silicone Hoses, Catalytic Converter Delete, Remark Axleback V1 Exhaust

zeeder

Steve Dinan was on The Smoking Tire Podcast and he was saying that you don't need to remove the cats!

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Zack
FI catback, HFC, and Start Button - Z1 Intake - Nismo S-Tune Spoiler - PasswordJDM V2 Shift Knob