Hey guys, I might be moving to somewhere is Texas in the near future and wanted to see if there was anything emissions wise I'd have to be aware of for my 8 to be state inspected. My catalytic converter that needs to be replaced and I wanted to double check if I'd be to pass with a racing beat system, or will I have to get a new Cat?

Thanks

 

it depends on where specifically; basically the major city metroplex areas

I just copied this off the web

 

Ok, thanks. I was looking at Travis or DFW area so, it looks like a cat delete would be a no go, right?

 

well there’s no visual inspection. You can’t have any DTC/CELs indicated or more than one readiness test not completed. So as long as at it meets those parameters it may pass. I always had a cat converter though and disagree with not having one for street use. I get that a good metallic cat converter that flows sufficiently and is durable on a rotary is expensive, but the stuff people blow their wad on instead is truly eye-rolling worthy.

 

I have an LFX swapped car with no cats. I passed inspection last week, so long as no CELs you should be fine.

 

In less populated counties, they just do a visual inspection only, so you wouldn't necessarily need functional cats but you better have something that at least looks like them.

As I understand it, in the red counties above, they do tailpipe tests even on OBD II cars, but I could be mistaken. I have no experience with testing in those locations.

I've lived in Dallas for almost a decade and Houston is supposed to work the same. They skip the visual inspection here on OBD II cars, just check that there are no codes and that no more than one monitor (or two on cars of a certain age, maybe 15 years) is incomplete. Since the monitor to check the cats happens last and seems to take several trips, it's not too difficult to get an RX-8 to an inspection shop after all but the last monitor have passed and the last one hasn't yet failed. I spent $30 or 40 on a scanner that shows which monitors have completed. Typically one trip several miles will get all but the last one.

On the other hand, my Protege with a bad cat tripped a cell my second drive after resetting it, so there's a much smaller window there, and I have no idea about other brands, so consider this specific to RX-8s.