Welcome to Virginia state inspection. No matter what I do everytime I take a car for inspection I get nitpicked and have to have them fail it for something. Last time I took the SHO it was ball joints, mufflers, and an instrument panel light. Ball joints ok fine I understood that. But a stupid bulb and mufflers? Ok the muffler wasn't to a point that it was giong to fall off and harm another motorist, it wasn't loud (if anything quieter than stock), and there is no emissions in this part of Virginia (knock on wood) so WTF is the problem with some muffler surface rust. In this same instance and I was JUST telling Kevin this yesterday in my garage, where two different shops nitpicked me on BS, they both didn't seem to care about the torn boot on my driver's side tie rod with no grease in it. What sense does that make??? Another time I took it they said it needed a bulb to pass, they can do it for $50 or fail the car; guess what I failed it and fixed it myself. It sucks, it's a pain in the ass, but we're stuck with it.
Moral, fix it yourself and you'll save a lot of money. It'll take time and it'll be a pain in the ass but if you like money you'll be happy you fixed it yourself. **** I hate to admit it but my current DD's inspection expired in October. I still haven't done it because I'm sure they'll fail it on some bullcrap and money is tight for me right now. Additionally on that car the transmission has been acting up and why the **** should I pay to have shit fixed when it might break and end up in the junkyard in the next few weeks? Yea it's a risk and I am going to get it inspected before the year ends. It just sucks, I understand the purpose of the safety inspection but it just sucks!
If you're in a serious bind I have the original plastic endlinks out of my '99 SE (the expired DD) that aren't in the best shape but they're not bad either; I think they'd pass inspection fine. Your's if you need them, they're just taking up space.