jmrjames

What is the effect of eliminating catalytic converters on a 1988 ?

FBIII

Hopefully a bad conscience.

Mongo

Mostly positive if you like noise, horsepower and torque all at the same time. Check out an X-pipe for that one.

tveltman

Well, it depends on how you decide to tune your car. Euro models don't have cats, and can be tuned to have very low emissions (of course this sacrifices power). It's probably a net gain in power though because of the lack of engine restriction imposed by the cats. I don't know exactly. Motorsport also sells hi-flow cats which don't use an air pump, so X-pipe and hi-flows work out to be more horses than stock and just as clean. Also, I wouldn't worry too much over your conscience. International tankers burn bunker fuel, which is like 20000% worse than your 928 will ever be. If it isn't a daily driver, I'd not worry about it. If it is a daily driver, I'd get the high-flow ones. No need to make the problem worse, albeit incrementally so.

Landseer

Why do you ask?

Tony

You may pass smog( i have passed the sniffer with stock injectors and no cats)..but if they look you will fail.

Other than that, your motor will rev just little more freely, sound a little louder ,smell a little richer and the center tunnel area will be A LOT cooler!.

I just put mine back on to smog here in Vegas. Kind of nice driving a "quiet" car again. I forgot how fast my car is when the sound of accleration is taken away and all you get is the feel of it...realy enhances the sensation. Odd, but it does.

Actually, im looking at getting "classic rod" plates. My car is over 20yrs old and this will eliminate me from yearly emission requirements in NV. I just have to pass an initial inspection...which...may take a little work with my set up and keep my miles below 2500 a year. Shouldnt be toooooo hard. Im still looking into it. Its an option for many other who dont drive their car that much. Mine sees duty to and from the airport 30 miles RT 4 times a month tops...and other little errands. Check your local DMV requirements

jmrjames

"Why do you ask?"

Because I have been searching for a 928 and one that I looked at had the cats removed.

jmrjames

Thank you for this great information

dr bob

A lot depends on where you live, the local smog laws, etc. In the great and socialist republik of Kaleefawnya, the cats and the rest of the smog stuff needs to be intact when ownership transfers. There are still a few counties where population is so small that biannual inspections are not required, but the car has to be complete and pass smog on transfer. Responsibility is with the seller for this here.

Obviously, other places may be less stringent with the requirements. It's still socially responsible to run the cats. The fact that a particular car can pass an idle or low-speed test does not mean that it will pass under higher load, so my opinion leans towards having them on the car. YMMV, of course.

tv

These will not hurt sound and will help it stay clean. SS in and out circular membrane hi-flo.

hacker-pschorr

I'll maybe start to feel a bit guilty about my seldom driven Cat-Less cars when I stop seeing commercial and even government owned vehicles with a solid black spew of smoke coming out the pipe.

dr bob

That's the spirit! I'll quit (pick your crime...) after EVERYBODY ELSE does. Kinda like lover's leap. You first, dear!

I do feel your pain on the governemnet-owned vehicles though. The local LA county rapid transit district and the school districts have exemptions available for particulates and NOx from their diesel buses. No filters or catalysts. Per them, it's too expensive to comply. WTH?? Ok to poison the schoolkids and the poor people who have to use public transit buses. When policymakers are forced to be victims of their transit policies like this, There's a seroius risk of improvement. Until then, they will dig more tunnels in L.A.

hacker-pschorr

Everyone else is not the government or construction companies with their hands in my politicians pocket.

Our boat with a carbureted 7 liter is a far worse polluter than both of my 928's combined. I burn a lot more fuel through that engine too. So no, I'm not going to lose any sleep over the emissions of my 928's.

jmrjames

What I have learned here is that cats get clogged and reduce MPG's.

It makes me wonder that if there is a 10% to 20% increase in mileage, what is less green; burning less fuel into the air or using more fuel with a cleaner emission.

Landseer

You can replace cats.

I did it. Bought an 85 downpipe and cat system from Eastern Catalytic. Installed it on a smaller 84 engine so it would breath better than stock.

With the cat came some paperwork. Basically, it was to be filled out by the installer. A shop affadavit that certified that in the opinion of the installer, the cat system on the car was irreparable and needed to be replaced. Research suggested that regardless of local laws, having the cat installed or not is really a federal EPA issue.