Alright, so the very short back story is my Dad opted to get regular license plates on our 79' 150 Ranger XLT, so he and I can basically do whatever we want street wise with it for the remainder of this year. However, it failed inspection because it has no cats... and I was told I needed to buy 2 cats (it's true dual exhaust) in order for it to pass.

After doing some research I have found that cats started becoming popular on vehicles after 75', so I figured well **** we need them... but did they come stock on the 79' 150's? I haven't had any luck finding specific information on the exact truck. Can anyone give me a quick answer for this?

 

I'm not sure if they came stock on the 150's, but I think my 78 250 didn't have cats to start with. But it doesn't matter, because cars and trucks over 25 years old don't have to do emissions (in IL at least)

 

Two things, does your fuel gauge read "FUEL" or "UNLEADED"? and does the fuel filler have a restrictor in it?
If it's "UNLEADED" and has (or had) a fuel inlet restrictor then it originally came with cats.
Another thing, if the engine emission decal is still in place then it will say either "CATALYST" or "NON-CATALYST"

 

Does your truck still have the emissions sticker on the underside of the hood? If it does, and says "catalyst", then your truck came with cats. I believe your gas gauge will also say "unleaded fuel only".

 

Mine definitely didn't have cats then, it says non catalyst on the sticker. Suck it Al Gore! Lol

 

I have something to look at right before going in to work tomorrow morning. I'll have to look at those 2 things and give an answer back, thanks for the info.

 

Bad news is I think you require cats. The whole reason for the F-150 was to get by the emission regulations that required them.
Originally the cutoff was 6001 lbs GVW. Most F150's GVW was I believe 6150 lbs. so cats weren't required. However the EPA changed things and made the cutoff 8500 lbs.
This change went into effect in the '79 model year. Check out this thread, scroll down to post #9, it shows the different emission systems required by year and GVW. https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/8...for-460-a.html

 

Boo! I'll have to check the gas and catalyst steps tomorrow just in case, but that doesn't look good. It's really not that big of a deal, I was going to stop by a local performance shop tomorrow and order a couple high-flow cats with the new air cleaner I already need, it was just something we were stumped on. It's a little bit more money but hey i'm going to look on the bright side; we decided if we had to get cats on it we'd re-run the exhaust with 2.5 or 3 inch pipe and ditch the mufflers! It is going to be fun waking the neighbors now!

Oh, and I live in Virginia. Kiss my middle finger California and your impossible emissions standards.

 

I am a buyer of cat's if anyone has some to sell. We don't get many off old pickups though.

 

Checked bright and early this morning, gas is "Fuel" and the sticker on my valve cover (nothing was on the hood) says Non-catalyst.

Looks like i'll be stopping and talking to the guys that did the inspection and hopefully everything will be good as gold. Appreciate the help guys

 

Congratulations! Sounds like you've dodged an expensive bullet.

 

Years ago my dad owned a 1982 E-250 Pathfinder 4x4. And he had to argue with almost everyone that did an inspection on the van. It had a non-catalyst sticker and he still had a hard time getting it passed. But he never put cats on it.
Jonathon

 

Not 100% sure this hurdle is even in the past yet.

Talking with the person who did the inspection (actually a friend's brother, I took it to him because I know he's a damn good mechanic, wouldn't try to yank me, and wouldn't skip corners and screw me that way either), he said any vehicle older than a 73' has to have them.

http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp...19VAC30-70-310

This is what I found, or at least what I was able to find again. I thought the first time I read it, it stated that if it didn't come with such systems from factory it cannot be failed for not having the equipment... but i'm not able to find where it said that this time around. I'm tired as hell so i'll just ask, do you guys read that as "tough ****, you need it" or "you don't need it" ?

If I can find the other parts, i'll post them... but this was all I was able to relocate before going to bed. Thanks

Edit: http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp...+cod+46.2-1048
Found this too

 

In the first paragraph you said that the mechanic said "any vehicle OLDER than '73 has to have them.? No vehicle before '73 ever had cats. Or did you mean NEWER?
I get "page cannot be found" on both those links but I can't see how they can require something that was never on it from the factory, I think the EPA would have something to say about that.

 

Do you need an emission inspection? I was searching Virginia DEQ website, everytime I tried to go to a page using their links I get page not found.
I tried using a backdoor method of getting in and the info that I found said that vehicles 25 years old and older don't require inspection.