[V8] Anyone Actually Buy From Discount Converters?

[quattro + 5 or 8 = fun]

Hello-


I have ordered many cats from them.  On my V8q, when I did the dual 2.5"
exhaust conversion, I ordered CatCo short case 2.5" in and out cats with the
air tube.  I had the exhaust shop cut the air tube out and weld in the temp
sensor.  I have had no problems.  Passed 2 CA smog checks with no issues at
all.  The cats have been in the car for about 3 years now.  BTW, the CatCo
cats are about 80$, versus the $250 for the OEM style.





Shayne


Bay Area, CA
Eastern WA State


PARTING:  1972 Mercedes Benz 280 SE 4.5
PARTING:  1986 Audi 4000 CS quattro

>> 
>> soon, I'm also
>> wondering if it wouldn't be a bad idea to look into high flow
>> cats and have
>> them installed in place of the stock units ... anyone got any BTDT along
>> these lines?
>> 
> 
> You're best off in CA if you buy cats that *look* as close to factory as
> possible.  That would certainly mean that they should include any factory
> bungs.  DMV has a database that you can search for EO parts
> (http://www.arb.ca.gov/msprog/aftermkt/devices/amquery.php), however, all
> the individual cats I looked at were CARB certified.  It should be noted
> that welding the cats to anything but the factory exhuast makes them an
> uncertified assembly.  Dealers and distributors will imply or sometimes even
> tell you that their assembly is EO'd, but end up not being able to produce
> the sticker ("the distributor said it was EO'd!").  In the end, you
> shouldn't have problems with factory type or high-flows as long as they look
> like the originals - not in every minute detail, but they must resemble the
> drawing and description that the test tech has in his book.  Most places
> won't look very carefully, but a Test-Only and the Referee station will.  A
> common mistake is replacing a two-part cat with a single large cat.  That
> would be an obvious visual change.
> 
> General Interest:
> http://www.arb.ca.gov/msprog/aftermkt/aftermkt.htm
>