what cats to buy
01-05-2012, 04:42 PM
#16
Official Bay Area Patriot
Fuse 24 Assassin
Rennlist Member
Fuse 24 Assassin
Rennlist Member
Calif smog is wacky right now. Whatever that law was that went into effect a couple years ago changed the way CARB considers a cat, used to be by gross vehicle weight and very loose, lots of generic cats, now it looks like the cat has to be very close to the original factory cat. This makes little sense to me since cat technology has improved a bunch, but welcome to Calif.
Short version, I don't think a modern cat could be approved for use in Calif. Maybe as part of a larger emissions system, but that sounds like $$$.
Short version, I don't think a modern cat could be approved for use in Calif. Maybe as part of a larger emissions system, but that sounds like $$$.
01-06-2012, 01:23 PM
#18
01-06-2012, 02:29 PM
#21
Former Sponsor
I don't know if any of you "cats are bad" people have sat behind a '70 Chevelle with the original engine in it, lately....but I have one and it isn't very pleasant. Everytime I run the thing, I'm happy that smog laws got passed and not every car, in California, smells like this thing does. I'm personally thrilled that we have strict standards that our cars have to pass, except when I need to fix them.
California saw that people were installing undersized, high flow cats that were failing after 6 months....essentially a cat just good enough to pass the test. They changed the rules about cats to better match the vehicle with the cat, so that the car with the replacement cat would pass the smog inspections for more than 6 months.
The aftermarket cat quality isn't very difficult to figure out....just look at the price. Precious metal is required, for a cat to function...and that metal is near record costs. Apparently, the "factory cats" have a huge quantity of these metals, which is partly what makes them so expensive. A $69.00 replacement cat obviously can't have very much precious metal in it.
Apparently, there are big fines involved for anyone even shipping a high flow, improper, cat to California. I know that almost anyone involved in the cat supply business will not even consider doing this. Several local "exhaust" businesses that I've talked to, are having to buy these high flow cats from friends in other states and have them shipped in.
I encourage my customers to find/retain the factory cat system. These cats are amazing and generally clean very well. I see very few "bad" cats....the problem is almost always something to do with the engine and very seldom a bad cat.
California saw that people were installing undersized, high flow cats that were failing after 6 months....essentially a cat just good enough to pass the test. They changed the rules about cats to better match the vehicle with the cat, so that the car with the replacement cat would pass the smog inspections for more than 6 months.
The aftermarket cat quality isn't very difficult to figure out....just look at the price. Precious metal is required, for a cat to function...and that metal is near record costs. Apparently, the "factory cats" have a huge quantity of these metals, which is partly what makes them so expensive. A $69.00 replacement cat obviously can't have very much precious metal in it.
Apparently, there are big fines involved for anyone even shipping a high flow, improper, cat to California. I know that almost anyone involved in the cat supply business will not even consider doing this. Several local "exhaust" businesses that I've talked to, are having to buy these high flow cats from friends in other states and have them shipped in.
I encourage my customers to find/retain the factory cat system. These cats are amazing and generally clean very well. I see very few "bad" cats....the problem is almost always something to do with the engine and very seldom a bad cat.
01-06-2012, 02:46 PM
#23
