I have the same stuff here in NY. I drive my car in and the guy walks around checks all the lights and tread on the tires. Plugs the OBD-II into DMV database to tranfer computer info to them showing everything is golden and then wahlah...sticker. My car is too low to get up onto a lift. That's the main reason I go to him. I can go to many other places to get an inspection. They don't want anything to do with working on a car with no cats, but they will inspect them as long as OBD-II checks out fine! Just amke sure you have the MIL eliminators and your engine light isn't on. It takes up to 200 miles with some Ford's to reset all the internal clocks in the computer to legitamatley clear everything even though you turned the light off. Hope this helps anyone

 

As others have said, in Ca. no cats = auto fail, no matter if they do the visual first, or the sniffer first. I have not had to smog my mustang yet, but on my last car (Camry) the guy never looked for cats during the visual. He just checked for the junk on the motor under the hood, the gas cap, and the CEL. Either save the stock mid-pipe (which I plan to do once I get my mid-pipe), go to the smog place in the worst part of where you live (usually the ones willing to take a bribe) or register your car out of state where they do not require checks (Carson City, NV is one, if I remember right)

Good luck.