what does that mean 'move issue up to the Fed level ' ?
there are no Fed smog stations.
I'm sure there is conflict between state's rights to set there own
emissions requirements and what the Feds want.

I think it's interesting that where smog is not an issue locally ..
say where ocean air blows emissions inland ..
( not talking about Ca. )
there can be no local smog checks at all, yet the cars are still
emitting, it's just blowing somewhere else.

fortunately for many of us smogs checks are not required.
I would be in favor of basic tail pipe checks..

and an example of how silly the whole thing is ..
in Ca ...
officially, they will not allow people to put newer more fuel efficient,
less polluting engines into their older vans.
Pretty stupid.
They could/should PAY people for putting in a late model less polluting
and more fuel efficient engine into our old beaties.
But then anyway  ...'logical/practical' and 'government' have never been
known to coincide.  Durn shame.

On 3/18/2012 9:36 AM, Dennis Haynes wrote:
> It will run just fine with the guts removed. There may be a very slight
> performance penalty as the gasses bounce around in the hollow cat. Not
> having a local emissions testing/enforcement program just moves the issue up
> to the federal level.
>
> Dennis
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com] On Behalf Of
> marc rose
> Sent: Sunday, March 18, 2012 11:54 AM
> To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
> Subject: Catalytic Converter???? Anyone go without it???
>
> I went to change out my worn out and rusted muffler on my 90 Carat "Rosie"
> yesterday and noticed that the converter was all busted up and the ceramic
> is all but gone.  I live in an area that has no enforced emission tests or
> anything like that. My question is can i can safely run without the
> convertor.  I was going to just bust out the rest of the ceramic and
> reinstall but was not sure how it would affect the overall operation of the
> engine.
>
> Any thoughts??
>
> Thanks
>
> Marc
>