A CARB legal intake will pass the visual. Some techs. really don't give a damn unless it was their life long dream to be a smog tech. As far as the exhaust is concerned...anything "after" the cat. should not be of concern and you shouldn't run into any problems. I had to take my car to the BAR Ref. here in So. Cal for an illegal header and the Ref. was cool w/my AEM intake and exhaust. So if the Ref. does not sweat it, then there is no reason for a smog tech. from a non-govt. affiliated facility to have a problem. I've learned that using fuel additives coats the internals of the cat. and make it lazy which is a big reason for cars failing and that seemed to be my problem after I did a whole tune-up myself, put the car back to complete stock and it was still failing. I ended up leaving my 99 GSR at Acura for over a week and they finally decided to give me a new "free" cat since they could not get it to pass either after doing all they could do. I never told them I used fuel additives and at one time race fuel because that would have voided my emissions warranty. But I later learned after the fact, that the additives and lead in race fuel can **** up your cat and make it harder to pass Smog. Good luck!!!