Driving car thru emission state, ex Dallas Tx

[occupant]

There is a LOT of disinformation on the internet about converters. If the car had a converter when it was new, and it is titled and registered to be operated on public highways, it has to have one. Period. That's it. There is no "80 and older you can take it off" law. There is no "for off-road use only" exemption. There is nothing saying that because the county and state you live in doesn't have emissions testing that you can take it off. You can't. If you remove it yourself, and a licensed mechanic sees it, he has to report you. If he doesn't, he can get fined and get jail time, too.

Remember that when you're coming through The People's Republic of Dallas and pop into Midas for an oil change. Or if you get pulled over for your loud exhaust and dark tint and lack of a front plate and no Texas inspection sticker, they may realize you're from out of state. They'll say...

"Welcome to Texas! Now get out of the car, we're gonna search for your stash. While we're at it, because we don't like your attitude or the saying on your T-shirt, we're going to check your vehicle for safety problems. Oh look, you have no cats. That's a federal offense. Try these handcuffs on for size, please. We'll put your car on a nice flatbed tow truck and stick it behind these barbed wire fences so it'll be safe while we take your picture and give you a shampoo. Here, wear this orange jumpsuit with a number on it so we can find you when we need you. Have a nice stay!"

edit: as a side note, I have a '76 Gran Torino that now has a '72 motor. I REALLY REALLY REALLY want to take the cats off, but I can't, because my car is titled as a '76. Isn't that sad? As Walter says, "OH WELL!"

 

[morris]

rent a car

 

[fdcg27]

I have never removed a cat from any of my cars, largely because there is no point to it.
Back in the early cat days, people would remove cats, install a "test pipe" and run the then available cheaper leaded fuel.
We had emissions testing in this area several years ago.
With decent maintenance, passing was apparently no problem.
I had an '86 Civic wagon with >190K that passed the dino test with pretty good numbers on its original cat, for example.
The Aerostar was still fairly young then and had no problems.
In the absence of emissions testing, though, you could have a perfectly transparent cat failure, and unless it was clogged as a result of a colapsed monolith, you'd never know.
Unless there is an 02 sensor downstream of the cat, the computer of a pre OBD II car wouldn't know it either.