To Cat or not to Cat?

[C5Howie]

I notice a trend with some members in this club to run a catless x-pipe. Just a couple questions.

- do you actually pass the E-Test without?
-are you not worried about the hefty fine?
-do you feel and remourse regarding the enviormental betrayal?
-what where the gains with the RWHP?
-does the extra noise ever draw too much attention?
-how do you find a shop to perform an illegal procedure?
-how do you find the fumes?


No offense intended! Just find it to be a tad bit immature of grown adults to break the law to achieve gains seldome if ever required and or used. Just my 3 cents!

 

[HLN A55]

I notice a trend with some members in this club to run a catless x-pipe. Just a couple questions.

- do you actually pass the E-Test without?
-are you not worried about the hefty fine?
-do you feel and remourse regarding the enviormental betrayal?
-what where the gains with the RWHP?
-does the extra noise ever draw too much attention?
-how do you find a shop to perform an illegal procedure?
-how do you find the fumes?


No offense intended! Just find it to be a tad bit immature of grown adults to break the law to achieve gains seldome if ever required and or used. Just my 3 cents!

1. You'll NEVER pass the emissions test
2. No fine in Alberta (no test either!)
3. I work in the Construction business, we burn 60,000 liters of diesel a DAY... my 2,500 km's (400 liters) per YEAR prolly don't matter too too much. Not to mention what the rest of the fugitive emissions from the plants and the poorly maintained tractor trailers on the road. No, I don't feel remorse.
4. About 10RWHP... maybe a little less
5. You're in a vette... hard to avoid the attention anyhow!!
6. Illegal??? Not in alberta
7. No difference in fumes at all.

 

[Riley P]

You can pretty much copy and paste that list to Saskatchewan as well...except #3.

I have a few things going on here.
1. I cut the cat out of my truck and had a pipe put in because the cat was 20 years old and I figured it was doing more harm than good. I concluded this by figuring that the catalyst material had stopped doing it's job years ago and was now causing a restriction in my exhaust that caused me to burn more fuel which caused more pollution.

I don't feel bad running my old car which is probably one of the worst polluters on the road. I can actually smell raw fuel when it runs and kind of like it. However, I think it may have only driven 300 miles this year and 600 miles last year, so it's not like it really matters that much.

If I were to put headers in my Corvette, I would try to put in high flow cats as well to retain the cars emission levels. I really like that it's cleaner than any of my other vehicles AND faster than any of my other vehicles AND gets at least twice the fuel mileage...of any other vehicle I own. It is an awesome car.

What others do to their cars is what others do and that is fine. I'll help out the enviro where I can and then make an exception to the rule in other areas.

 

[C5Howie]

Regardless of the province your car is registered in and weather or not they do emission testing it is illegal to knowingly buy,sell trade or operate a vehicle with the emissions systems removed or dissabled. I removed the cats on one of my older hot rods and the smell of raw fuel emission almost made my eyes water. But that was along time ago! In this day and age there is not much need to alter the emission systems as they dont really cause much restriction. Makes more sense to use a high flow cat set up then to remove it. Heck! I think the last universal fit cat I had installed for a customer was $250 my cost, Prolly not much more than a straight pipe.If we can get more people on the same page(even if you only drive short distances) every bit would help. And lets not get started into the fact that the government needs to focus on the industrial and commercial(off road) emissions that pollute our air. We as hot rodders can have our fun and keep it clean.

 

[Manny@Dasilva]

Regardless of the province your car is registered in and weather or not they do emission testing it is illegal to knowingly buy,sell trade or operate a vehicle with the emissions systems removed or dissabled. I removed the cats on one of my older hot rods and the smell of raw fuel emission almost made my eyes water. But that was along time ago! In this day and age there is not much need to alter the emission systems as they dont really cause much restriction. Makes more sense to use a high flow cat set up then to remove it. Heck! I think the last universal fit cat I had installed for a customer was $250 my cost, Prolly not much more than a straight pipe.If we can get more people on the same page(even if you only drive short distances) every bit would help. And lets not get started into the fact that the government needs to focus on the industrial and commercial(off road) emissions that pollute our air. We as hot rodders can have our fun and keep it clean.

:agree: could not have said it better

 

[C5Howie]

Seems I am wrong about the Alberta emission laws! Apparently they have no law restricting you from removing your cats. Seems like a pretty dangerous place to breath with the sour gas the tar sands and all the vehicles running around with no emissions.

 

[Manny@Dasilva]

Seems I am wrong about the Alberta emission laws! Apparently they have no law restricting you from removing your cats. Seems like a pretty dangerous place to breath with the sour gas the tar sands and all the vehicles running around with no emissions.

Better stay here in Ontario , at least we can live longer to enjoy our vettes

 

[Riley P]

Regardless of the province your car is registered in and weather or not they do emission testing it is illegal to knowingly buy,sell trade or operate a vehicle with the emissions systems removed or disabled. I removed the cats on one of my older hot rods and the smell of raw fuel emission almost made my eyes water. But that was along time ago! In this day and age there is not much need to alter the emission systems as they don't really cause much restriction. Makes more sense to use a high flow cat set up then to remove it. Heck! I think the last universal fit cat I had installed for a customer was $250 my cost, Prolly not much more than a straight pipe.If we can get more people on the same page(even if you only drive short distances) every bit would help. And lets not get started into the fact that the government needs to focus on the industrial and commercial(off road) emissions that pollute our air. We as hot rodders can have our fun and keep it clean.

Is that $250 for the part or everything in? I think the straight pipe in the truck was $40 my cost. However, that is just junk pipe in a junk truck.

I think the biggest apprehension to putting in cats whether or not you have to is cost. If something costs money that doesn't affect the performance of a vehicle, it is obvious that people would rather remove it than pay to have another put in. I do realize it should be (or is) our obligation to do everything we can within reason to protect and maintain the environment. Some things I slack on knowingly but I try to make up for it in other areas such as recycling as much as possible (not required in any capacity in Saskatchewan) rolling stop signs, not leaving my car idling, biking to work, cutting down on farting, blah, blah, blah...the usual stuff.

 

[C5Howie]

$250 installed,now that was 5yrs ago and that was my cost I think I bumped it up 325 out my door. Funny you mention recycling ,I am currnetly working for a company(dont want to mention any names)that does gargage and recycling for a burough of Toronto.Seems all the recycling and the garbage goes into the same pile,and then shipped to the USA. And all the composting is wrapped in plastig bags,not sure if we all know but it takes 3 or 400 years for a plastic bag to biodegrade,what a farse! Tis hard to accept the responsability of preserving our enviorment(especially at out of pocket expense)but it is a priority as residents of this place we love called earth! WOW did I just say that,I feel like David Suzuki LOL

 

[not2melo]

Do you get a different smell out of the the exhaust with no cats?

 

[Riley P]

Possibly, the cat converts hydrocarbons (unburnt fuel) into carbon dioxide and oxygen.

From our friends at Wikipedia:

This is what the cat does,

1. Reduction of nitrogen oxides to nitrogen and oxygen: 2NOx → xO2 + N2
2. Oxidation of carbon monoxide to carbon dioxide: 2CO + O2 → 2CO2
3. Oxidation of unburnt hydrocarbons (HC) to carbon dioxide and water: CxH2x+2 + [(3x+1)/2]O2 → xCO2 + (x+1)H2O

Number three would be the one that reduces the gas smell in the exhaust, obviously.

 

[dbakke]

Riley, did I just see you on the "Big Bang Theory" a few weeks ago.
I have seen this formula before!