no cat car to a highflow setup....what could happen

[smellmygas]

a friend of mine had a hi-flow h-pipe setup on his 5ohh then he sold it the car and took off the h-pipe for me.
my car has no sort of emissions stuff, but i threw the high flow h-pipe on anyways to avoid getting in trouble with the law.
soo after getting the car running for a little while, i looked under the car and the cats were glowing, so i shut the car down obviously.
is it normal for the cats to glow? or does the cats really need the emissions setup??
please let me know, if this is bad i guess ill just go back to the normal setup.
my car has long tubes and a flowmaster setup.
thanks guys

 

[blackened88lx]

I believe you need the smog system to run cats. I think you will damage the cats otherwise.

 

[smellmygas]

i guess i could have the cats completely gutted, anyone know how much that usually costs?

 

[TomCat]

i guess i could have the cats completely gutted, anyone know how much that usually costs?

Free, you just smash the stuff out!

 

[brad65]

I believe you need the smog system to run cats. I think you will damage the cats otherwise.

I'm not sure that 100 percent a correct statement. I believe you can run cat with out having a smog pump or egr stuff. I'm think you have more problems when running rich and high horse power melts/destroys them.

 

[blackened88lx]

I thought it wouldn't be a problem to run cats without the smog, but I saw a tech thread on here suggesting not to bypass the smog pump if you have cats.

 

[smellmygas]

I thought it wouldn't be a problem to run cats without the smog, but I saw a tech thread on here suggesting not to bypass the smog pump if you have cats.

too late!!

 

[HISSIN50]

Glowing cats are not cool unless it's Halloween.

My rule of thumb is that: if an aftermarket cat comes with a capped Air injection bung, it is more likely to be able to run without air injection. If the cat has an open air injection fitting, I'd connect it to an AIR pump.

I'd take the AIR system back to stock if running with glowin cats.

Good luck.

 

[vristang]

Glowing cats are not cool unless it's Halloween.

My rule of thumb is that: if an aftermarket cat comes with a capped Air injection bung, it is more likely to be able to run without air injection. If the cat has an open air injection fitting, I'd connect it to an AIR pump.

I'd take the AIR system back to stock if running with glowin cats.

Good luck.

Bingo.

You have to check with the guys that made the cat to know if you need the air pump or not.
Many aftermarket, and new stock cats do not require air.

It may be worth the time to pull codes and see if you are having a chronic rich or lean condition?


jason









Glowing cats

 

[dragnazz5.0]

i think someone needs to make an electric air pump for our cars. not that i would run one since i have no emissions stuff on my car at all. but i think it would be a good idea because it wouldnt rob power and you could run it off a temperature switch to come on when the engine got to operating temp. hmm...might have to look into that

 

[Maryland Stang]

i think someone needs to make an electric air pump for our cars. not that i would run one since i have no emissions stuff on my car at all. but i think it would be a good idea because it wouldnt rob power and you could run it off a temperature switch to come on when the engine got to operating temp. hmm...might have to look into that

A properly operating air pump uses next to nothing in the way of HP. Little more than an idler pulley.

 

[vristang]

i think someone needs to make an electric air pump for our cars. not that i would run one since i have no emissions stuff on my car at all. but i think it would be a good idea because it wouldnt rob power and you could run it off a temperature switch to come on when the engine got to operating temp. hmm...might have to look into that

Or maybe a clutched pulley?
parts could be sourced from the A/C?

I think the air pump is used during cold start/warmup though?
Getting the control system correct seems like the hard part?

Interesting thought though.

 

[HISSIN50]

Some OEM's do use an electric pump. I'd love to get one if I could find one that didnt look like it came out of the sewer and wasnt priced like it came out of a lump of coal.

Jason is right on - at start-up, air is sent to the back of the heads to help light off the cats. Once a bit warm, the air is diverted to the cats. You'd really want something that runs non-stop (the only concession I'd make is to not have it run during the first couple minutes of start-up, but making it not run during that time would be more trouble than it's worth and really yield nothing).

 

[smellmygas]

well i have no smog stuff left on the car, and i have no idea who made the cat setup....so i guess i have no option then to replace it with a non-cat hpipe or get someone to completely gut them.
any other thoughts?

 

[dragnazz5.0]

A properly operating air pump uses next to nothing in the way of HP. Little more than an idler pulley.

well it does take some hp to turn since the vanes that pump the air create resistance to turning. but yes it is a very insignificant amount.

i just think that it would be cool to retrofit one from a newer vehicle and you could really put it anywhere so it doesnt clutter the engine bay

 

[postalbunny]

i guess i could have the cats completely gutted, anyone know how much that usually costs?

Anyone that would charge to gutt cats is an undercover cop... nobody in their right mind would do that as a service. If it's a race setup they'll put o/r pipe in. If you're gutting the cats your obviously bypassing emissions laws...

Besides.. unbold it and take a long rod and jam it down there, the cats will start to come out in chunks. Be carefull when you put it back on, as lots of dust particles that probably cause cancer will fly out like someone stuff flour in your exhaust.

 

[postalbunny]

I'm not sure that 100 percent a correct statement. I believe you can run cat with out having a smog pump or egr stuff. I'm think you have more problems when running rich and high horse power melts/destroys them.

You need the smog hose connected pumping the o2 into the cats.. they'll need it to do the chemical conversion. They will not function for very long with out it.