Re: [alfa] headers and CA

[Stacy Faught <onethumb@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

I was a bit suprised when I was told this as well, but as I said before, the
person who told me was one who should know.  Apparently it was a very recent change.  
 
I would never call myself an expert in these things, but I would have to say that 
headers would cause the cat to warm up more quickly, bringing it to maximum 
efficiency sooner than with cast iron manifolds.  I would think this would be considered
"good."  I agree that most smog places would probably not care so long as you 
have the proper sensors and such hooked up and can pass the sniffer.
 
While we're on the subject of smog check....I was having a discussion the other 
day with a local alfa mechanic who seemed to think that there's a pretty good chance 
that a properly installed twin-spark (with all the OEM sensors, plenum, cat, ect.) would
probably not raise too many eyebrows if installed in an (my) Alfetta.  According to him,
they only know it's supposed to be an alfa 4 cylinder...doesn't mention how many spark
plugs it has.  Obviously if they did some serial number checking, they would know 
something is wrong, but I don't think they usually bother with such things, especially 
if you go near closing time.  I also suspect that they wouldn't have the information 
that it is supposed to be a spica injection instead of EFI....it probably just says "fuel
injected" in their manual.  I'm also pretty certain that a stock TS would pass emissions
easily....
IF anyone knows more about this, I'd love to hear it.  And yes, finding a way to drop a TS
in my Sport Sedan is my current obsession. *grin*
 
Stacy Faught
'87 Spider Quad
'78 Sport Sedan (dashboard apart, fixing some sort of spring-looking thing that must have 
passed for a rheostat in the 70's)


James Montebello <jamesm@domain.elided> wrote:

That would be news to me. Headers can and do affect the cold-start
and warm-up characteristics of the catalyst, and CARB has had pretty
stringent requirements on this in the past. I suspect that you'd
get away with this most of the time at the smog check (as long as
you passed the sniff test, too).


On Thu, 29 Jan 2004, Stacy Faught wrote:

> I could be wrong, but I was told by a source that
> *should* be informed of these things that headers no
> longer need CARB approval, as long as they include a
> provision for the oxygen sensor (and a working sensor,
> of course).
>
> All other exhaust components are exempt from the smog
> nazis, so it makes sense that a header should be also,
> as long as you have a working O2 sensor and cat.
>
> Hope this helps...
>
> Stacy Faught
> '87 Spider Quad
> '78 Sport Sedan
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