Cat

[Stu162]

After school today i started my car and pulled out of the lot and started going down the street but the car didnt want to. it had to be floored to accelerate at a normal pace. heard a hissing sound. wouldnt go over 35 mph. wouldnt go over 2500 rpm. took it to the mechanic and he said it is a clogged catalytic converter and possibly a bad header gasket which would explain the hissing. The cat he wanted to use is $186. My dad found it at napa for 80 but if we get our own parts the mechanic only gaurantees the labor. this explains what ive noticed about my car recently. its slower, and alot quieter. My mom was the one that realized it was quieter because she cant hear me coming down the street

[87IROC Z]

Get a Catco from summit. There like $100. But there high flowing and better performance. Plus its easy to replace as long as the exhaust bolts arent frozen or rusted.

[Stu162]

i dont know what kind of cat the mechanic wanted to use or what they has at napa, but the one the mechanic wanted is the same as the one my dad has on his grand am. Im not sure but it could possibly be the same thing at napa. i havent talked to my dad yet so i dont know if any of this is true. My mom called me at work and said it was a clogged cat and a head gasket, insted of header gasket so i called my dad just to make sure it was header, not head

[84Berlinetta]

I've got the Catco on mine, and it's stainless, too. That would be the way to go.

One caution, though - if the cat is clogged, you may have a rich condition in the engine. Better to get that corrected before you have problems with the new converter as well.

Have you smelled the "rotten eggs" odor at all?

Mark

[largefish]

Thanks Josh and Mark. Mechanic has the old cat off and had ordered a Walker direct fit, but it's no longer a direct fit since we have the Hedman Y-pipe so I ordered a 2.5" from Summit with the slip fitting in the front and the ball and flange thing in the back so it should go up easy I hope.
The universals were cheaper, but we don't want to weld on to the intermediate pipe since it will be replaced later. Hope it works out... I worked the order through Jeremy (Brandon). BTW, Mark, I think it was more a case of the POS cheapie they had put on was on it's way out when we did the Y-pipe, so it was next on the list anyways... I'll have Jim check the mixture & timing and give it a sniff test, as it should pass with the new cat.

[largefish]

Ed's car is done. Mixture was good and it passed a sniff test. Timing was off and he reset it to 0*, but in the process noted the timing chain is on it's way out. He said it had 14* of slop in it, so I guess that will be next...

[Stu162]

it runs really smooth, its faster, and its alot louder. all good things