Lexmex

Well, it was time to

For some time, I had wanted to get rid of a little hesitation and a slight racket that I knew was a result of my Magnaflow 94005 cat, http://www.car-sound.com/02product/d...niversal=94005

I replaced it today after work with my buddies at Hangar-1, www.hangar1.com.mx, who have done literally all of my exhaust work, with a Magnaflow 93506 http://www.car-sound.com/02product/d...niversal=93506.

The new cat is the same length, but is .5 inches wider and .25 inches wider a the mouth than the previous cat. First impressions say this is a winner as I don't feel that hesitation and like it had just a bit more torque.

Let's take a look at a few pictures of the install.

Lexmex

First removing the old cat.

Lexmex

Cutting the ends off the new cat in order to get a good fit.

Lexmex

Welding the new cat into place.

Lexmex

The finished product in place.

Lexmex

Now this is an old picture from the rear. My next exhaut project will be to remove that resonator you see and extend the two 2.25 inch pipes to be a true catback. Then on each 2.25 inch pipe, I plan to stick a tiny Flowmaster resonator to quiet things down a bit more.

Seize

That's awesome...sounds like the time and effort to install it was well worth it

TunedRX300

Great pictures, I have replaced the cat on my other car, which is a bolt-on. All I had to do is loosen 6 bolts and the O2 sensor, slap on the replacement and tighten everything. Don't you just love modular designs?

Lexmex

I love modular designs.

Luckily, Hangar-1 didn't have to do too much cutting. Took them less than 30 minutes and a little less than $40 USD with tax to do the job. That other cat was really in bad shape, but then again it had to deal with 2 years of high sulfur gas. My original OEM cat suffered road damage. However, both cats actually passed the emissions standards down here without issue.

Mexico City and Mexico State have a pretty amibitious program down here, and unlike the U.S., they actually encourage you to upgrade your catalytic converter to a new one. However, there is no financial incentive to do so, which is kind of ironic. Yet, with the new ultra low sulfur gasoline (and hopefully people who changed out their cats), the air is somewhat easier to breathe.

On Saturday morning I plan to go back down there to have it tested on their gas analysis machine, as I also want to see the numbers (in addition to the effect with the new plugs and German Castrol oil).

TunedRX300

Lexmex,
You mentioned some design has catalyst mounted inside of exhaust pipes instead of honey comb before. I think that design is good for flow but effeciency would suffer, so does the cost.
German Castrol has about ~850 ppm in P, which helps to promote cat life. It is lower than M1 5w-30 EP anyway.

Lexmex

You're right. I actually wondered why companies don't use the catalyst in the pipe in addition to the cats.

That German Castrol is fantastic, I sure hope they make it more available in the U.S.

I will report back tomorrow on my emissions when I see the numbers.

Lexmex

The one in blue is the Flowmaster I was talking about using 2 of on each of the 2.25 inch pipes.

Lexmex

I love it when the exhaust components go bronze/gold after a few days.

Lexmex

I took my RX back down to Hangar-1 to run a gas analysis test...almost similar to an emissions test, but without the rollers, so we cannot see what the engine will do at certain RPMs.

In Mexico City (there is a Mexico State that has similar standards), passing is

HC: 100 or less
CO: less than 1.0
NO: less than 1,200 ppm

In addition, the vehicles are all put on rollers and tested at certain rpm ranges.

At Hangar-1, since this gas analysis they do not do this, it is basically stick the the pipe in the muffler and start the vehicle.

These are the numbers I get just from doing that.

However, last year when I tested voluntarily as I described on my homepage, the HCs under RPMs were 24, so I expect this year with a new cat, I will be just fine again, but always good to know that in idle it does ok, too.

Meetya

Lexmex, did you remove those two small warm-up catalysts completely? The ones right after exhaust manifolds. I cannot find anything aftermarket that are that small.