*Should* still pass emissions test. Duratecs seem to be pretty clean-running even without all the cats. Ray McNairy proved that a 2.5L w/ headers & no cats will pass a CA smog check....
State ref. would probably fail you on the visual inspection if it ever got that far. I must say, however, that the smog station I go to is fairly lax- they've never once even looked under my car to see if there's a cat.
The average smog guy likely wouldn't be able to *see* the headers due to the cramped engine bay.
Do yourself a favor, though, and put your stock intake (plastic cone filter cover thing) back on for the inspection- most guys know that aftermarket, open-element filters don't carry CARB exemption.
-cd
-Chuck Dienzo
Black 98.5 E1 SVT
#5022 of 6535
Born on March 16, 1998
"If trees could scream, would we be so cavalier about cutting them down? We might, if they screamed all the time, for no good reason."
