Re: Factory exh performance?

[cmice@mke.ab.com (Christopher Ice)]

At 11:27 PM 5/10/95, sPiDaO wrote:
>Is anyone concerned with the legality of an empty cat? Is it to say that
>mods to the exhaust after the cat are pretty much useless to those who want
>to stay legal? I think you would have to have almost to no conscious to
>hollow the cat and be happy about it. Of course, for off-road purposes it is
>OK, right? Isn't it possible to increase the dia. of the cat along with the
>exhaust?

Although governed by federal law (under the Clean Air Act), enforcement
varies wildly as I understand.  Again...this is all my *understanding*, I
am neither an employee of the EPA, nor do I represent them.  Any opinions
expressed in this message do not necessarily express the views of the
federal government.  Any incidental damage caused by misuse of this message
is not the responsibility of the author.  Seek the advice of a physician
before beginning any excersice program.  (oh...sorry)  ;-)

Anyway, I belive that tampering with the cat in ANY way (off-road or NOT)
is horribly illegal...punishable by death, or that's what the EPA wants
anyway.  I ran into this before checking around about removing the middle
muffler.  I've got the sheet at home, but I obtained a pamphlet from the
state of WI giving repair guidelines for exhaust systems.  In there, they
say that according the the Clean Air Act, modifying the exhaust system in
ANY WAY is expressly forbidden.  It must be stock configuration or else.
In there they also talked about classifying a car for on and off-road use.
According to this pamphlet, there is no such distinction.  I'll look for it
at home and post it in it's entirety (sp?) in a couple of days.

So, yes, it's illegal...but enforcement depends on where you are.  I'm not
so concerend with the law as the environment.  If I can improve the exhaust
system in both performance and emissions, I should be able to do so.
According to this law, I can't touch it even if I improve upon the factory
configuration.  Also, it would be illegal to go with dual exhausts (EVEN
WITH CATs) if it didn't come from the factory this way.  If the EPA picks
the numbers, if I'm under the limit (regardless of my exhaust config), why
should I suffer the cost and loss of performance that a stock system
imposes??   <grrrr>

Again, I'm pulling the content of this pamphlet out of my *ss, so I'll look
for it tonite and post it (hopefully) tomorrow.

Chris

--
                                   --------
   +------------------------------| _   /| |------------------------------+
   | Chris Ice, Software Engineer | \`o_O' | Allen-Bradley Company        |
   | E-mail: CMIce@mke.AB.com     |   ( )  | 1201 S. Second St.           |
   | Voice:  414.382.2136         |    U   | Milwaukee, WI 53204 USA      |
   +------------------------------|  Ack!  |------------------------------+
       My opinions do not reflect  --------  the views of my employer.