Bjorn: I have an interesting point--just for trivia's sake--that I would like to make. As a certified TX State Motor Vehicle Inpsector (license #: 13885889) I can attest that, by TX state motor code, you do need a preheater, and by law, the inspector can reject your car. If your inspector isn't aware of this fact, s/he doesn't know TX inspection law that well.

When I inspected cars in the late 80's and early 90's, there were 2 inspection standards. The safety inspection that had a statewide code, and the emission inspection that--encompassed Dallas and Tarrrent counties. I don't know whether or not the whole state has fallen into I don't recall Huston's county's name, but Huston's county was also an emission county; therefore, all emission equipment must be in place and "appear" to be in working order.

As a result, so if the guy wanted to be an [censored], he could fail you because your car has its emission equipment missing.

Also, in TX, it's a criminal act to certify vehicles that don't comply with TX code. There is, however, a clause that's called inspector's liberty, whereby the inspector has certain liberties in judgement calls. (The inspector's liberty is also a check and balance so that an inspector isn't charged for a crime that is merely an honest mistake.)

At inspection school, this gray area of the law is discussed. The point of the anual inspection isn't to condemn cars. Rather it's to ensure public safety and to reduce emissions.

(There are safety issues that can fall into this realm too, but I'll stay on emission equipment.) We speficically discussed open elements and no air pumps. Even though TX code requires all emission equipment in emission counties, on pre-cat vehilces, the inspector's liberty applied to open breathers and no air pumps.

You see, there are factor to consider when an inspector makes a judgment call. Most of these modifications were made long before it became items of inspection, almost becoming a grandfather clause.

(Keep in mind that it's ALMOST a grandfather clause. It's not a grandfather because state laws cannot superceed federal laws. Federal law mandated that these cars were to be produced with preheaters. Therefore, TX cannot waive the law. But that also means that they are required to be nit-picks and #%&@can every car that has an open element.)

Another point is how feasible is it to make the car comply--that includes safety equipment too. The thing is that if it's not practicle to fix, the inspector has the liberty to pass the vehicle. If you have a car that's worth $500, and has $1,500 damage in the area where the side marker light resides, it's not pratical to fix. Therefore, the inspector has the liberty to pass the car without the side marker.

On the other hand, post cat cars become a different story. If parts, new or used are readilly available, it's a criminal act to pass the car, reminding us that it's a no brainer that the customer simply slips on the correct air breather for inspection.

Back to the pre-cat cars: The DPS officer pointed out that, of course, we also have the liberty to fail any or all of these vehicles, and no one from the DPS will critisize us for not passing the vehicles. The point is that if we choose to use our inspector's liberty as a way to nit-pick, it isn't good customer relations, so don't expect repeat business from that customer.

I haven't a clue as to how NC inspection works. It would seem that there would also be some inspector's liberty, so you might try another inspector.

I don't know how MD inspection law works either. I know that MD is the biggest [censored] in America when it comes to inspection, but the car is only safety inspected upon registration. After that, it can be a death trap, and everthing is a-ok.

Comeing from a more leinant safety inspection state to an [censored] inspection state, I had the car go though a legitimat state inspection. I thought: I know this car from head to toe, and the only thing that it can be failed for is the erratic operating speedo--something in the culster makes the speedo needle wobble about 7 mph variance. Also, I didn't have a preheater comeing off the header. Other than that, there was absolutly nothing that could be failed on the car.

Sure enough, when I checked on the car, the guy mentioned the erratic speedo. He said that despite the good-looks factor, he had his doubts that the car would pass as-is. He said that, mechanically, the car was imaculate in every aspect, and it exceeded the mechanical quality of many cars that were less than a year old. Because the car was of such quality, he said that he let the speedo "slide."