So I’m planning out a swap for my 1986 200sx, gonna put an s13 sr20det into it. Still in the planning stages so I have like a bajillion unanswered questions (my first swap).
Since the car is OBD0 will I have problems passing the inspection?
I’m more worried about the emissions than the visual, I doubt any mechanic remembers what a ca20e looks like and ill just tell tem its the ca18et anyway.
But don’t OBD0 cars get alot more leeway in inspections?
Buffalo, NY
Amherst to be specific
on something that old i am pretty sure its just visual.
yea, thats what I figure but I keep seeing things about probes in tailpipes…That kind of talk makes me nervous.
well just cuz theres an O2 sensor doesnt mean it gets checked for emissions, if thats what you’re getting at.
no like a probe put in the tailpipe to check for NOX,CO2 all that shit. but its an 86, so shouldnt it jsut be like, “oh brakes work, gas cap is on” PASS
yeah thats about it. based on the emmissions technology they had in '86, theres noooo way a car that old could pass a modern emissions test…hell they thought cats were a big thing back then haha.
haha, yea my ca20e actually has 8 spark plugs and a cat for exhaust, still prolly wouldnt pass a damn thing
i kno some1 that had a 86 trans am and he went to a junkyard, got 2 mismatched cats, cut them in half and weleded them around the exhast pipes (so the pipe ran straight though the ‘cats’)…the people doing the inspection looked at him kidna funny like “what the fuckis this?” but they had to pass it because cats were technically present.
yea I absolutely had a nice crack in my exhaust (still do), and some chain place passed me no prob.
you will be fine i used to do inspections
pre-96 is not plugged in it is visual only. make sure that what ever emissions the engine label says it has are present (doesnt have to work but has to be there). any vehicle pre 96 with mil light lit will still pass
In this area on an '86 it will just be a visual.
you only get an emissions check if your vin shows your car is 96 or newer. if its a 95 or older no worry about emissions check.
Pretty sweet idea, keep me update 
1995 and older vehicles in all non NYMA markets in in New york state are only subject to a visual emissions inspection, meaning, all equipped emissions devices, such as cats, evap, pcv, air injection, egr, have to be present, and connected, but do not have to be operable. your car can throw as many codes as it wants, and have a MIL on, and blow black smoke, and it doesn’t matter.
if your car is 96 and newer, not only do all the emissions devices need to be intact, but need to be working, as per the computers emissions monitors. any failed monitors will fail the inspection, and any more than 2 monitors not completed will fail inspection.
No inspections in upstate NY (or anywhere not NYMA) use Dynamometer tests or sniffer tests to check for exhaust gas emissions.
The only place that uses Dyno, or sniffer tests are in the New York Metropolitan area.