How many of you do this? ie midpipe, gutted cat whatever. Is it that hard to get away with in Ontario? I am thinking of buying a midpipe of some sort. yes I do realize I wont pass emissions, not that that matters anymore As far as i know vehicles less than 7 years old do not require a test. Anyways I just want to know if this is a good idea or not. Also please don't tell me to just get a hi flo cat. Thanks!

 

go for it

 

what are your plans when time comes for the etest?

 

I'm running with the TurboXS catless pipe.
The big difference you will notice is that you car is ******* smelly.

I dont recommand you to do that if you keep NA

BTW, to MAZDA_RX804, there always some places you can "buy" a e-test. Otherwise, just put the stock one back before e-test.

 

My only concern is cops. As far as I know I don't need an etest for a while, as my rx8 isn't 7 years old... According to Drive Clean. Also I did plan on swapping the cat back on if needed. I have no plans to boost my 8 anytime soon.

 

if you have no plan to boost, then why bother?

 

I been running with a full TURBOXS exhaust ( no cats ) straight pipe. And yes you gonna get a strong smell ( which u get used too after a while) and lots of noise. I really dont go on long drives with my 8 cause of the droning sound it has ( headache). but besides that i run the straight pipe all summer and put the cat back in in the winter cause the car is way too loud when it starts to warm up in the winter. Wake up the whole block when i get up for work at 3am. by the way im running stock.

 

Ive been driving catless for a while now too, but no cops ever stopped me for it. Then again I tend to avoid cops when they go behind me because the car stinks like hell. Also I find using Esso gas makes it smell even worse. Im not sure if i might have some sorta leak, but the fumes go into the cabin and smells very bad at a light.

 

1) You'll stink to high hell. A cop will most definitely pull you if they're beside you with your window down or worse, behind you.
2) Most of them are extremely loud. I'd recommend a RB dual resonated mid pipe for that alone. It's a hell of a lot less noisy.
3) Your check engine light will likely come on. Some of the ones out there have the light go on and off intermittently (RB), but there's a chance that it will be there.

As for the pluses... if you're nearing the end of your emissions warranty... saving your cat from imploding can save you a crap ton of money down the road.

Oh... and you're significantly going to increase the likelihood and size of fireballs if you run the car hard.... keep that in mind if you decide to "spiritedly" take an on ramp to the highway at night.

 

Perfectly said
+1

 

1) Not really. I mean yes there will be a smell but it all really depends where you live. Unless cops know you are running catless they really wont ask. Just turn off your car if you get pulled over. And if they ask (if they really even figure it out because most cops are dumb), play dumb, works everytime.
2) RB dual resonated not too much of a fan since the front resonator WILL toast up eventually. I recommend BHR's midpipe since its internal resonator doesnt use packing and wont blow out.
3) CEL will come on but if you have an Cobb AP you can turn it off. The only problem with passing emissions depends on 2 things (least where I live). 1. If you have a CEL 2. Muffler Sniffer test. Since I have the Cobb AP I dont have a CEL so I will pass emissions even with me being catless (or least I should ) lol

 

I ran catless by accident for a while because I didn't know it was broken. The car stank. I stank. I think I almost poisoned myself at one point.

Good luck, and don't kill yourself.

 

A properly tuned RX-8 will smell about the same amount, with or without a CAT.

The BHR midpipe doesn't drone and wont burn up like ALL of the competing resonated pipes.

If you live in a place that has the OBD-II test for emissions, you will pass with the AccessPORT, even if you completely remove all of the emissions equipment from the car.
If the car is mechanically sound, it will most likely pass even the sniffer test if it is properly calibrated.

 

I would have to see this to believe it.

Would be interesting the next time you're up in Ontario to see if you could get a catless 8 pass an Ontario emission test.

To make it interesting we could have a gentleman's bet. Say ... mmm .. Like the loser pays for the beers at the strip bar

 

I'm game!

I'll scan my sniffer test from last year (when I find it). I was well under the limits for all three test gasses.
This is with no CAT (passed the visual too since the resonator looks like a CAT), no functioning EVAP (they physically test it and couldn't detect that it wasn't functioning) and an obviously highly-modified engine bay.
Gas cap passed, too! lol
This was a voluntary test, mind you. I only need to pass OBD-II here in AZ.

 

If the Enviro people decide one day to 'randomly' pull you over and check the emissions equipment they know exactly what to look for.
I know my rx-7 is quite a bit different and raises some flags for those guys since it's older but when I was pulled over they knew how to tell if the air pump was still functional, if my EGR hoses were hooked up correctly and they checked the cat. under the car with a radar heat gun thing. I asked why and he said it's to check that the cat. hasn't been hollowed out since a properly functioning cat. runs at a higher temperature. They seem to be well informed lol.

 

1)Cops seems to be better informed up here (choose to read that as bored it you will), so they can/will/have pulled people for that kind of thing. Hell, they can also call a mobile emissions truck if they really feel like dicks.

2) Interesting... I had no idea about that.

3)Yeah... I picked up a COBB earlier this year... still need to ping MM to get a tune stored out.... likely next year since the car is going into hibernation as of Monday.

 

Do I smell a dyno day.

 

That is good to hear.

I was actually going to ask you about that in the next calibration session. I have a TurboXS exhaust w/ race-pipe and would be easier to not have to place the cat back on for the OBDII test. As for the visual inspection, I guess the resonator does look like a cat. LMAO

Was wondering though. Is there any way for them to detect modified firmware on the ECU, or if emission codes have been deleted?

 

Nope.

 

Never actually seen those emissions "cops" around the GTA... but I read about them quite often. Are they in cars that look like police cars? What kind of legal rights do they have to check under your hood and stuff? If they only went on smell I'm sure half the old beater cars in Toronto would be eligible for a thorough shake-down...

 

They look like regular cop cars with green and gold stripes with yellow lights on top of the car. Not really sure what legal rights they have but they can obviously pull you over and wait until police come. I see them all the time on the highway on ramps out of Ajax.

 

Oh man... don't tempt me to buy a turbo kit...

FWIW: As of Jan 2013, Ontario e-tests will be switching to OBD-II scanning. YAY!

 

I know this is GREAT GREAT GREAT news for us peeps living in the communist state of Ontario.

 

Running catless stinks up the air in a significant way. I think that's why we have cats in the first place. Since most of us have cars and all of us breathe, I don't see why anyone should get a pass on this on a daily basis. Hey, we all would like greater performance, but dude… sometimes it's more about what's good for everybody. Some regs are stupid, but not tnis one. Kids breathe the air, too.

LA before cats: