i'm in fountain hills which is close to scottsdale and looking for a shop who has no issues with doing this and will do a clean job. thanks.

 

And let me know if anyone has a place to recommend in Portland, Oregon. I've called two places and they took offense at the suggestion. I'm thinking of just parking it in downtown Portland for an hour and almost certainly a meth head would steal them . . . problem solved.

 

Look for a custom performance exhaust shop, and/or join a couple of local FB car groups (exotics, cars and coffee, drivers groups, race groups). It also depends on how you talk to them. You can't just simply call and say "will you cut my catalytic converters off". The answer to that question will ALWAYS be no. They could face big fines. You might need to be "modifying for track use".

 

I agree with you. No shop with a business license is going to take the risk of cutting off cats on a car that pulls up with plates on it and a current registration. They might as well just start selling cocaine out the front door too. The fines are ridiculously high to a business, if caught, and the EPA will go after you and your family even after they sue you out of business (See the well published case EPA vs. Punch It Performance and Tuning of Fla). Even the fines to the individual (owner of the car) are in the $4,000 range per violation. If I had a shop I'd say no even if you towed the car in on a trailer with no plates on it. Not worth it

The EPA is tightening up at an alarming rate since 2020. So, important if you are going to performance mod with tunes and exhaust mods you are aware of what you're getting into. The EPA also isn't looking the other way anymore regarding "statements" of off-road use. This is an excerpt from an EPA reg:

CLAIMS OF COMPETITION-USE ONLY

The EPA has found that many companies that make and sell aftermarket defeat devices claim “competition only” use but cannot provide any information to show that their products are used solely in competition motorsports. The Clean Air Act does not contemplate removing emissions controls from an EPA-certified motor vehicle in order to convert it into a competition vehicle. As a matter of enforcement discretion, the EPA’s longstanding practice has been not to take enforcement action against vehicle owners for removing or defeating the emission controls of their EPA-certified motor vehicles, so long as they can show the vehicles are used solely for competition events and no longer driven on public roads.

Recent EPA investigations have revealed evidence showing that hundreds of thousands of diesel pickup trucks have had their emissions controls completely removed, and most or all the aftermarket defeat devices used to tamper these trucks were sold under the claim of “competition only.” The sheer volume of aftermarket defeat devices belies the assertion that they are only for competition motorsports

So if I owned a Midas Muffler shop, I am not going to chance it BC you drive in and say, you only use your car on the track BC, if/when you get caught (like maybe when you try to sell the car w/o cats) I can't know for certain whether you're going to say - "The Midas shop cut them off and they said it was alright".

 

Thank the ‘Rolling Coal’ idiots for this type of clampdown.

 

Yeah, they really pushed the EPA into overdrive....that, and with the regime change, more sharp teeth in the EPA now than ever before. Seems to be a rush to beef up statutes before regime changes again. Once the statute is there, impossible to remove. What did Reagan say? The closest thing to eternal life on earth is a government program.

Also, states now getting aggressive. CA and CO leading, but others will follow. These two states are into the ECU tune now and will not pass a car with a modified ECU.

Times are a changin'