Bill Ball

Maybe you guys can help me figure a way out of this mess.

My trusty 89 has failed smog testing 3 times. Looked like I'm running lean with a lean miss (high O2, borderline high HC, high NO). Thought I found it when I located and replaced a bad injector lower o-ring. But test results got marginally worse, with NO jumping from 850 to 1100. Plugs replaced (copper, single electrode), wires and cap and rotor checked. Could be an air leak, but the car is running fine, good vacuum, no high idle etc.

Decided that the 23 year old 254K mile cats can't be helping the situation. Learned that Magnaflow has CARB-approved cats for our cars. Wow, that was a real surprise.

Sure enough if you go the the Magnaflow website, go through the menus to get to CA-approved cats and enter the model year, make, model, you get to part 36014 for 1989. So, I bought 2. I was getting hopeful as user reviews included one guy who had NO go from 1300 to zero after installing these cats.

Took them to my local very good exhaust/radiator shop. They looked it up in the catalog and said it was the wrong part.

Here's where it gets really confusing.

36014 is the part stipulated but it indicates SINGLE cat only, 85-89. Not dual cat.

If instead you plug in 1990 model year, it leads to 36304, and indicates dual, same for both sides. The picture online (may not be actual part), shows no air tube. It does have less flange (an inch narrower) than 36014, so would fit better. The 36014 part has very wide flanges.

My shop said it looks like they tested 36014 only as a single exhaust, which is nuts since we all know 85-89 are all dual, just like 90+.

Shop said I needed to go to a "referee station" and get it "signed off" before they will install it. Scheduled an appointment for the 29th. The scheduler said they cannot "sign-off" on these cats. All they do is retest the car, look it over and pass or fail my car.

I called Magnaflow tech support. He understood the issue and agreed the referee will not be able to "sign-off". He suggested I call CARB and get a letter from them. Has anyone ever done this? I tried calling 1-800-242 -4450 and there was no answer.

What would you do?

The quick and easy might be to install a low mile STOCK cat setup someone loaned me. Then take my time to figure out a more permanent solution.

BUT I would like to try to sort out what the heck is wrong with the CARB approved cat situation and get the new cats I bought installed.

At this point, for others, it looks like if you have model year 90+, Magnaflow 36304 x 2 will work. At least it indicates they are CARB-approved and a muffler shop should install them. I suppose you cap off the air feed if there is no pipe for that. That's still confusing. Regardless, this vendor has them real CHEAP and I have bought my 36014s from them.
http://www.maxautosupplies.com/MAGNA...304_p_435.html

Another option is to buy the 36304s which are approved for 90+ and somehow hope to convince the referee that the CARB-year cut-off is incorrect. Magnaflow tech support said this wouldn't work.

Clearly something is wrong with Magnaflow's database indicating single exhaust for 85-89. But their tech support said there was nothing they could do. I'd have to take it up with CARB.

No, I'm not going to move to Arizona.

ARGH!

Mongo

I think you need two of #36306.

EDIT: Part number is without the air tube. Sorry. By the way, I see that Magnaflow is listing our cars as a 2" DIA exhaust, which is nuts. Talk about choking us down 1970s style.

I suppose you could use the cats without the air tubes and run with the air pump disconnected. Most of the time the smog guys don't even know where the air pump is at on a 928. Mine passed with high flow cats BARELY last year. I will not be so lucky again in 2014.

GregBBRD

Bill:

Don't go down this road.

Those aftermarket cats are cheap....for a reason....they don't have very much precious metal in them. The factory cats are expensive....because they have lots of precious metal in them.

Your "old" take off cats are worth more to the recyclers than the retail price on the new cats. Let me re-word this....The shop that does this job will make more money, selling your used cats to their recycle guy, that they will make selling you the new cats.

The precious metals are what do the "work"....and regardless of what the Magnaflow people tell you, you will be lucky if they are working in two years.

Do yourself a favor....go find a low mileage used factory cat.

928 International?

Mongo

It is illegal to sell used cats within the state of CA. I'm sure 928 International got that memo already. However, private sales are not detectable.


Bill, if you have no choice but to get aftermarket cats, try and see if you can have non-CARB ones fitted. There really is no difference internally between the Magnaflow #36304 and the Magnaflow #53006. The 53 part number is 49-state and does the same thing, but for only $70. CA cats are a rip-off just because of the f**king CARB stamp. I hate this goddamned state.

Bill Ball

Well, maybe I found another "solution". Walker Exhausts has a CARB approved converter....80510. Maybe good, maybe restrictive. Available CHEAP.
http://www.maxautosupplies.com/Walke...510_p_607.html

Mongo

Walker CalCat Catalytic Converter 80403 is 2.5" - Just buy two. I implore you not to get anything 2".

http://www.maxautosupplies.com/Walke...403_p_627.html

I'm also pasting this later so I know where to get them when I need cats.

Bill Ball

I understand. I have seen others get only a couple of years out of Random Technology cats. I do think these more mainstream manufacturer CARB approve cats are better. At least they come with a 50K mile warranty. So, that means I'll get 3 years out of them. :-)

But I agree I should TRY to find some "low-mile" stock cats. My originals were good up to 250K miles.

Anybody have a spare low-mile S4 setup lying around?

bronto

Maybe 928 Intl will give you some cats, and maybe you donate a few hundred dollars to them?

eijun

If 928Int cant sell you them, cant we get a modern cat from Porsche say from a 911 and put it into our car? (it will cost $$$ tho)

James Bailey

Nope not approve for the year make or model......

Imo000

Those cats will jotmladt 2 years. If you don't want to listen to me, listen to Greg. The factory units are over built and that's why they last. Aftermarket converters are the same as tires with 1/10th thread above the wearbar.....they will pass but won't last.

eijun

Really? Is it Porsche or Cali saying that. I am talking about new here.


Or hit up a junkyard/craigslist and wrench it off?

Richard S

Bill, I have a spare S4 cat. Don't know the mileage but may be worth a try.

Rich

Mongo

I'm aware of the durability of the new crap. I agree it would be better to obtain the factory cat. Since I have aftermarkets on right now and there's no way of bolting up a stock cat back up to match the rear pipes of my system, next year when I go and get them replaced, I will have them set up so they can be band-clamped on. After smog, I will remove them and replace it with a straight pipe only to save them for 2 years later.

Bill51sdr

CARB. Don't even try.

Bill, I'd try to work out something with 928 Int'l. You can't be the first person in this predicament.