Cat converter option

[Robottrainer]

No one mentioned gutting the cats in place. You mentioned all you needed was the appearance of a cat since no inspection is done. You can tune the cel out or use the O2 extension trick.

Gutting might be an option. The smell test might cause further investigation, but that would be rare.

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[SnowFox]

We have emissions inspection here, but for about $140 I can pay a dude to get me a passing certificate without even taking the car in, hah. Not gonna narc on him here, but if ya know ya know.

That's one way to do it. NovA Virginia Emissions testing is a complete self defeating system that has no point.

Now they only serve as sales opportunity for the shops that house state inspections. Can't pass? Lucky for you your at a shop that can fix whatever it is. Step right up!$$!$!

 

[Timbuck]

GUT them.
100% simplest way to do it. My friend just got his 2018 Whipple done like this. Cost $200 AUD , just cut an opening and Most of the cat inside just fell out And then weld back up. They where Totaly stuffed @ 15000kms on the clock. Codes have been deleted with scan tool , but not turned off in tune yet and they haven’t come up since. although only put a few tanks on it and not much highway driving apparently that’s when they pop up on long highway type drives.

 

[Robottrainer]

That's one way to do it. NovA Virginia Emissions testing is a complete self defeating system that has no point.

Now they only serve as sales opportunity for the shops that house state inspections. Can't pass? Lucky for you your at a shop that can fix whatever it is. Step right up!$$!$!

Same here. You used to be able to pay xxx dollars for repairs and that gave you a one year exemption. 20 years ago the government of the day forced garages to spend 10s of thousands on ground rollers to do a live e test. The next government abolished it and these guys were stuck with these rollers

 

[WildHorse]

GESi.
https://www.gsportbygesi.com/

 

[Robottrainer]

GESi.
https://www.gsportbygesi.com/

Yes I looked at the Mak Performance kit but this GPF and flow thing gave me pause

 

[I Bleed Ford Blue]

Put on a set of long tube headers with cats, but gut the cats before you install them, then have it tuned to run catless. If you do get caught, they will see the cat shell there in place and they won't know they have been gutted unless they do an emissions check or dismantle your exhaust and physically look at them. Stainless works/stainless power use a straight thru design on the cats and are slip fit so they are easy to swap.

You could always have a spare set of "good cats" for the worst case scenario that they catch you and force you to make repairs, then just swap in the good set, get past the re-inspection, then put your gutted set back on and put the good ones back on the shelf for next time.

 

[engineermike]

One problem with gutting cats is that it throws off some fueling functions as well, at worst, and at best you’ll never get a ready status on emissions. It takes about 30 seconds for an emissions inspector to do this check.

 

[Robottrainer]

One problem with gutting cats is that it throws off some fueling functions as well, at worst, and at best you’ll never get a ready status on emissions. It takes about 30 seconds for an emissions inspector to do this check.

And it's loud.

 

[Robottrainer]

And it's loud.

I'm at two possible paths that work for what I want. I pay the exorbitant cast for two GT500 cats, saw off the pipes and have a shop bend up the front pipes to match up with the pipe.

OR

I go the Mak Performance route with the GENSi UHOs. The car is street driven. I doubt header would make a difference performance wise for me. For that matter the oem cats would probably live with my driving, however I'm a firm believer in safety factor. So much so that I'm already thinking about ripping the trans apart and replacing all the clutches with raybestos as well as the cdf drum and trash can. Then, the con rods, pistons and oil pump gears, timing gears and chains...one day.

A Wengerd tune might be in order to take care of the wonky shifting of the 10R80.

 

[tosha]

Subscribed. I'm also in Ontario and trying to decide on the best path forward. If I can find a good shop that can weld in the flange on the driver side without taking off the header, then I'll probably go gutted cats route. Then swapping back whatever cats will be an easy option, if catless will be too much.

Very interested on what you end up with and the details on costs/work involved

 

[WildHorse]

One problem with gutting cats is that it throws off some fueling functions as well, at worst, and at best you’ll never get a ready status on emissions.

Care to be specific on which fueling functions ?

My meows are gutted.

Ready status all good with the exception of the rear o2's.

Everything trims out nicely. LTFT have been at 2% on 91 forever.

 

[engineermike]

Care to be specific on which fueling functions ?

My meows are gutted.

Ready status all good with the exception of the rear o2's.

Everything trims out nicely. LTFT have been at 2% on 91 forever.

The narrow band (rear) o2 sensors are more accurate than widebands, over a smaller range. Ford logic uses the rear o2 signal to calibrate the fronts and then you have the best of both. It’s called FAOSC. The problem is that in the process of converting exhaust polutants in the cat, the rear o2 signal has offset error as well, so the calibration and logic account for it. When you gut the cat and a p0420/430 is set, it stops doing FAOSC because it knows it is inaccurate. Installing spacers or defoulers will stabilize the signal so it won’t set a code, but the logic will proceed to apply the now-inaccurate FAOSC correction. We’ve tested this and found a 10% error as a result, with the engine running richer than the widebands were reporting.

On the flip side, if you disable the FAOSC and run spacers, then you’ll never achieve an emissions ready status and your front o2’s don’t get the benefit of the FAOSC calibration. Locally, you can’t get an inspection sticker if they plug in and the cat test gives a not ready status.

 

[WildHorse]

On the flip side, if you disable the FAOSC and run spacers, then you’ll never achieve an emissions ready status and your front o2’s don’t get the benefit of the FAOSC calibration. Locally, you can’t get an inspection sticker if they plug in and the cat test gives a not ready status.

Right. And in real world applications not having the narrowband amounts to, from everything I've read, basically nothing when it come to performance or reliability.

IF it did, then FORD would most definitely have the CEL triggered / power reduction mode like a lot of other manufactures do, no ?

 

[Robottrainer]

Subscribed. I'm also in Ontario and trying to decide on the best path forward. If I can find a good shop that can weld in the flange on the driver side without taking off the header, then I'll probably go gutted cats route. Then swapping back whatever cats will be an easy option, if catless will be too much.

Very interested on what you end up with and the details on costs/work involved

Will do. Anything we do will be almost double the cost than the US. To do the GT500 cats we are looking at close to 5k cdn with tax and exchange and you still have to pay a shop to do some welding and pipe bending. The Mak Perf is roughly 3k plus you need to have the flange welded onto the header. They didn't make it easy for us

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