zhomeslice:
so you don't need resistors just make sure you don't turn the i2c pins high.
The internal pull up resistors to 5volt on an Uno/Nano are AFAIK activated with the wire.begin call.
You could try to disable that in the wire library.
A Mega has hardware pull up (10k resistorsto 5volt).
Not sure if also the internal pull up resistors are activated.
Other devices connected to the bus might have pull up resistors to 5volt.
Leo..