Open exhaust in N.J.

Greetings all. I have a 90TR and I am thinking of installing a full exhaust system replacing pre cats and cats with test pipes. I am worried about getting pulled over for noise. It should not be too loud. I was wondering what are the consequences if I get pinched. My car really needs to breathe.

R

 

15 lashings.

 

They will probably make you go to an inspection shop to pass inspection again.


FWIW, I have a full exhaust with de-cat on my Lotus Elise and it is pretty loud, probably louder than it'd be on a TR.

Never been pulled over for it thus far and it's never even been mentioned to me by a police officer. Just keep it quiet in city areas where it really echoes



So let it breathe

 

I run straightpipes on the '65 Cobra and get thumbs up from cops all the time. I also run catless on the Mini and have never had a problem.

 

You're catless on the Mini? I gotta hear that

 

Thanks for the imput... and she shall breathe..

R

 

If you remove the CATS and run straight pipes, your car can actually be impounded. It's a violation of EPA and DOT requirements (Clean Air Act, IIRC). You will not pass inspection, you can get ticketed for excessive noise, and face a rather large fine for running without the proper emissions equipment. On older cars, they will generally not notice if you have disabled the air pump. But they will see the missing CATS. You can get around inspection by registering your car as a "collector" car (not old enough for historic plates yet), but that does not exempt you from the requirement of maintaining the CATS on the car.

 

I am running hollowed out pre cats and test pipes with factory muffler. It has a nice sound when going into the higher rpm range and lets the car breathe properly as it should. However you may have a problem when it comes to passing emissions, I am not sure how Jersey emissions works.

 

my Mini passed inspection without cats, and the pipe I use has a shield around where the cats normally are located so you have to actually jack the car up on a lift to tell the difference. it's not even really that loud, so I don't worry about it.

 

Inspection procedures are different in each state. I know in NY there is no sniffer done, simply an OBD check.


I might go green and switch to a sport cat...

 

Hey, do whatever you want with your car. But he asked the question "what happens if I get pinched?" If no one catches you, nothing will happen other than throwing some extra pollution into the air. But I'm sure he's not driving his TR enough to cause global warming to speed up significantly. My comments were based on what happens if he DOES get caught, which is what he asked. And the fact is, if you do get caught, the consequences can be rather severe. The chances of getting caught may be fairly slim, but that is not what he asked. So, it's all a matter of how much of a chance you're willing to take and, I suppose, how much you care about environmental issues.

 

I have an 86TR, that I have registered in NJ as a collector so there is no inspection. I also have a very open racing exhaust. The cats are on, but I doubt they are still in tact. It always passed emissions before (TR's are pretty clean). I have never had an issue with the loudness.

 

Ditto what ASG just said... your 1990 TR is too new to qualify for QQ tags, but is eligible for Collector Car registration. This excuses you from the normal inspection routine. It does however limit you to a maximum of 3000 miles each year.

As far as encountering trouble during a traffic stop... I find that highly unlikely.

 

Only for OBDII cars. OBDI cars get the sniff.

Never had a problem passing a car without cats. So long as it's in good tune with correct timing, it'll be near the acceptable limit, but generally under it.

I've never once heard of local cops enforcing federal requirements. I highly doubt any have the jurisdiction to do so.