diatibe24

I live in MD and I have a JDM B18B motor from HMO with full exhaust, meaning headers back with NO cat. in my EX and it passed emissions just fine. All I did was use the wire harness and ECU that's US spec. The only difference is the crank angle sensor that's it. All you do is scotch lock a couple wires to loop the sensor, done. It's in a 97 Civic which is OBD2 so all you do is pull in and they stick that thing on the OBD2 port which all that does is make sure your sensors are working/reading right then your good to go...pass. Just make sure you have not reset your ECU in the past week or they will ask you to come back for re test.That hooking up to rollers stuff with that thing by the tail pipe is for OBD1 cars and older.

Cy Green

I thought in MD to pass emissions you had to have the cat on. I went to a few places in Frederick and they told me you have to have a cat and not a straight pipe or else it won't pass. Where did you go to get tested?

diatibe24

You are right you are supposed to have a cat. I went to the one in Frederick Reichsford Road. All they did was hook up the device under the dash checked whatever they check and that was it. No looking under the car or anything.

94eg!

iTrader: (2)

For 96+ vehicles, the ECU is responsible for checking on the CAT via the downstream O2 sensor. This is why the tech simply plugs in to scan the ECU only. If you have tampered with the emissions systems (ie ECU settings or O2 sensor position) then your vehicle may give a false pass. The tech will have no idea as there is no requirement to actually look underneath the car. Only 95 and earlier require a visual inspection of catalytic converters.

Keep in mind that tampering with the emissions system is a "Federal" offense (in every state). Of course the EPA doesn't come and directly enforce it on personal vehicles. That job gets passed on to your local DMV.