I was looking but I can't seem to find a California legal high flow downpipe for my 2013 r56. Does anyone have any links/downpipes they know of? and will it pass smog?
thanks

 

I think the only company that makes a carb downpipe is Magnaflow, and I’m not sure it could be considered “high flow”.

 

A "Downpipe" is a pipe with no catalytic converter.
Missing a cat in California is illegal.

 

Hey, props to the OP for looking for a CA legal alternative to the stock cat, so many people try to rationalize removing their cat by saying "one car won't make any difference" and increase the pollution out of their tailpipe by a factor of 10 or more.

Akrapovic used to have a high flow race cat downpipe, don't know if it is still available and don't know if it would pass CA smog. I have never seen any CARB approved alternative downpipes for the MINI, the market is too small and the testing requirement too expensive for it to be worth it.

A tune can mask the CEL from not having a cat, but the OBD2 test will show the emissions system as "not ready" and it will never pass CA smog. What is your overall goal - increasing HP? You can go a long way without messing with the cat.

 

It would be hard enough to get a bicycle with baseball cards in the spokes to pass CA emissions. I wouldn't even attempt a DP.

 

Milltek also makes a high flow downpipe with a cat (about $650).
Don't think it's CA compliant, but Milltek is supposed to have better
aftermarket cats than most others. I had a Milltek header with cat on
my 1st gen MINI and it did fine with durability and performance and no codes.

They only have a 2 year warranty on their cats as opposed to their
lifetime warranty on other exhaust components, but they should hold up pretty well.

 

*Disclaimer* yes im running catless in CA.. if youre a bigger tree-hugger than me, just get over yourself. Run E85 mix if youre worried about emissions, or run 91 only (and suffer) if youre worried about your HPFP.



talk to Mario Palza about your ECU flash..then go catless


Im in CA too and catless running mostly E30 blend. My emission sensors all show "active/ready" .. Im pretty confident I can limp the sniffer test with a few more gallons of E85 in the tank (cars too low to get on the rollers anyhow).



2 things I would NOT do:


1. try to get a DP with a cat.. youre sacrificing HP and WTQ with a cat, which defeats near all of the purpose of the purchase.. you will still need a ECU flash to get rid of the CEL (otherwise with CEL.. you wont be able to SMOG even with your catted pipe.. lol)


2. try to get just a DP without the ECU flash (no.. its NOT a tune..its a canned flash). You will get noise with a DP.. and no ECU flash. Power comes with the adjustments made in ECU. You cannot make that power safely with a cat in the way of the turbo.


cheers

 

Not a tree hugger my any means, but you weren't around in LA during the pre cat 70s, the air was nasty.
I have flashbacks when Im behind a catless car!!

 

Why do people claim this badge of honor and insult the majority of people who choose to abide by the law and not mess with the emissions systems of a car?

 

Do what you want. My MINI's emission system is intact, but I don't get my shorts in a bunch over people who choose to remove parts of their car's emission system to improve performance.

 

Yeah i totally agree - i hate the California emission laws

 

I have an intake and a JB+. I dont want to void my warranty but what else could i do for some more power?

 

Warning: * RANT*
Yes, back when there was leaded fuels and every car got 3mpg there was a huge issue. With current technology and fuels it would take probably close to 100 times the vehicles currently in LA to produce 1/10th of the pollution of the 70's.

Is funny because the state of CA hammers on automotive enthusiasts as "gross polluters" but then lets giant polluting factories buy carbon credits and continue to pollute. It's amazing what money will let you get away with.

You want to see a real amount of pollution from a vehicle go sit at LAX and watch the 100's of planes leave with a dark black stream of un-burned AV Gas (Kerosene and Gasoline) streaming from every engine on take off.

Yes I care about the environment but lets put the majority of the blame where it goes instead of the less that 1% of all drivers that call ourselves enthusiast.
*End Rant*

 

I moved out of SoCal about a decade ago, and the last I knew, you can not modify the exhaust, even if you meet standards out of the pipe. You can do it until they inspect the vehicle, then be ready for what you get. My friend found this out and as he says, it hurts.

Best to check the regulations with the state and go from there. If not ...... good luck.

 

To add to this, I'm pretty sure the largest 25 shipping container vessels in the world make more pollution yearly than all the cars on earth combined.

 

catless + ECU flash =



*pass visual inspection : ***** all under the heat shield and car is too low to look underneath
*pass OBDII check : ECU is flashed takes care of this .. all sensors are "ready/active"
*power that you cant make with a cat from teenytiny motor and snail





**Oh and my other cars are Subarus which the dealer will tell you, driving it through LA actually cleans the air.. N/A Subies put out less pollutants than is in the air they ingest.

 

No, I can't believe the dealer would say that about Subaru.

This is what they actually claim:

Subaru PZEV vehicles achieve such tight pollution controls, and the burning of fuel is so complete that in very smoggy urban areas, exhaust out of the tailpipe can actually be cleaner than the air outside.

 

Yeah, and my unicorn farts rainbows.

This thread has wandered far, far off topic. The OP was asking about CA legal downpipes, not rationalizations for polluting. Back on topic please.

 

Yeah I run the Akrapovic downpipe with high flow cat. Runs legal with the Manic stage II tune.

 

Anything past the cat is fine during a smog check.
Except when passing by a cop having a bad day.

 

To answer the OP's original question, there is no such thing as a high flow cat or de-catted down pipe that is CA legal.

If you delete a cat, you are eliminating an emissions control device which is federally illegal (CA also)

If you replace a cat in CA it has to have an EO number on it and it has to function with the same efficiency or better than the factory cat. No hi-flow cat is capable of this. Just because you don't set a P0420 code does not make the hi-flow cat as efficient.

This is also why replacement cats for older cars are more expensive now in CA because they are being forced to upgrade to the higher efficiency, longer lasting "heavy metal" cats.

If you want a down pipe just keep the stock unit in the garage and swap it back in every 2 years (or if you get a Referee ticket) just like everyone else in CA does.

 

That clears it up, thanks

 

Thread drift. Bring it back on course Cap'n.