How's the Catless Life?
 

Good afternoon everyone,

Hope you are all enjoying your memorial day weekend. I'll be looking to do a couple mods to my BRZ this summer. Just want to give it a little bump in power so like everyone ever, I'll start of with headers and a tune. I was looking at catless UEL headers because they are a lot cheaper and have more variety than the catted ones. My question is if the pros to having catless headers outweigh the cons (smell, emissions etc.) I had a catless 335i and the smell has unbearable for me. I know it's a completely different engine so it might be a different experience. I don't mind a little whiff at cold starts or whatever, but I don't want to be suffocating in traffic or stop lights with the windows down. Would a dual resonated front pipe or something like the JDL Ultra Quiet help with this? Or should I just spend the extra $$$ on the catted headers? Also thinking about E85, but I'll figure this out first. Will be adding a lightweight catback and MAYBE an intake if it matters.

Also, if anyone in Houston knows how to get passed emissions please let me know lol. Had the catless 335i for a few months only so I never got to that point. All over the place lol but any extra advice or product recommendation is much appreciated. Thanks for reading

I've got a Tomei EXPREME EL catless headers on a 2019, and I don't get a smell. I still have 1 cat on the front pipe so I think that helps will the smell. Also, it threw an O2 sensor code within 5 hours of driving after the headers were installed. Luckily my OFT v2 came in that same day so I flashed the ECU that night. No CEL ever since.


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I am completely catless. All tomei. And I am on e85. No emissions in Oklahoma. You'll get the smell of corn every once in a while but nothing terrible. If you like corn in a cup, then you'll like the smell of fresh e85 lol

Gruppe-S catless here and the smell is not that bad at all. I don't remember it even being that noticeable when I put it on originally.

Catless with Gruppe-S UEL, I have a double resonated FP and the stock midpipe with its resonator with a muffler delete. I don't mind the smell, you won't smell it all the time unless you're behind the car. You're never going to pass emissions without a cat.

Just curious has anyone gone from UEL catless to EL catless? I have Tomei UEL currently and am thinking about going Tomei EL. Or if anyone has gone from EL to UEL what are some differences you saw with your driving experience in day to day life or with spirited driving?

I am enjoying my Tomei UEL but my oil temps are getting around 237F with just like 20 minutes of spirited driving in the back roads, I do not have them coated or wrapped though. They're pretty loud, sound good though. The torque throughout the low range is very nice, but I have a small amount of smell compared to the stock headers. Im thinking of picking up the EL version of Tomei's headers, I am hoping it keeps my oil temps down since the pips dont run right next to the oil pan and Id love a new crisp sound of EL pulses with a bit more high end hp.

Im on HKS catless EL, HKS Dual Resonated FP, HKS Legamax Sport Catback, ECU Tek e85 tuned. With catless system you definitely get the smell, but with e85 the smell is much more bearable.

Have the Tomei UEL and the only time I smell it is when coming to a stop. Even just sitting idling I don't smell it with the windows up. I daily this thing and have never once regretted going catless.

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Just fine

I'd be more interested in what the people behind me are smelling when 3/4 throttle. If you smell it when stopping what are people smelling when you're full throttle? Maybe follow your own car and check it out?

I was behind a brand new Camaro the other day and holy feck did that thing stink! He didn't have enough HP he had to go full catless :/

Try out a rotary powered car with premix, catless car will smell like perfume after that

Extra cat in the front pipe helps massively I don't smell a difference. If your going to do E85 and are doing a custom tune do it the same time as headers. Cold starts are bad with catless even with stock front pipe and cat back it's bad.

I hope that's the case.


@Teseo Ok...It's not the 80's anymore. And, I drove a car with a rotary :)

It's obvious when driving who has removed their cats or not. I don't know how they don't get busted.

Catless life is short...

Try out two stroke motorcycles running Sunoco Maximal 112 octane leaded. And premix it. :party0030: God I miss that smell. Don't miss rejetting carbs and getting it all over my hands though.

Honestly love being behind a properly tuned car/bike with no cats. Smell is great! Might be the brain damage talkin' though. :bonk:

Is this the cat you are looking for

Keep the catted frontpipe. Even stock isn't much of a restriction, though a high flow may deliver a slightly better power curve.

My wife hates being in the garage for cold starts due to the smell (Ace 350, JDL ultra quiet FP... Catted)

Texas does not do visual or smog/emissions testing. All you need is tune to make sure there are no CELs as you cannot pass state inspection if you have CELs.

I wonder what happens when one drives through other state with different rules/regulations and is checked on the road by some traffic cop ..

A couple of years ago I attended a big classic car meet. At 4:00 when it was over about 300 cars fired up their V8, mechanical advanced distributer, carbureted, pre emission control cars and paraded down the road. The stench was unbearable. When you consider that well into the early 80s there were still many, many of these cars on the road and that they were not perfectly tuned and maintained as the show cars it shows just how bad it was before emission controls. A traffic jam back then was hell on earth that you had to experience to understand. So bad in fact that people died from it. The young guys that have never been exposed to those conditions will never truly be able to grasp the difference that emission controls have made.
I do not believe that a few "enthusiast" cars driving around catless makes any form of impact at all but just imagine if every beat up, poor running, minivan, Corolla, Neon, etc was driving around with no cats. Things would be hundreds of times worse with the number of cars on the road now than they were even back then.

Technically the laws that not to tamper with emission control systems in the US are federal so it wouldn't matter where the car is from. The state laws that take things even further would only apply to the state where the car is registered though. This is one of the several reasons that people in California like to register their car to other states.

Another reasson for not visiting Cali

Oh it is a great place to visit!

If I ever went to the states, I think Cali would be the only place I'd visit lol

There are loads of great places to visit there. California was actually the place it took me the longest to visit. Have been there 3 times in the last 2 years though. I spend a lot of time in the Detroit area for work and even most of that is pretty nice.

Wait seriously? I’ve been told otherwise. I will be running a tune to get rid of the check engine light. I know someone who can pass me, but I’d rather not go that rout.

For sure, I remember gagging on fumes in the back of a 72 New Yorker with 5 siblings. I went to LA when I was 12, you couldn't see the building across the street and they basically evacuated us from the area. Fun times!

I agree that a few catless headers (I'll get an electric mower) won't cause that much of an issue but I don't want to be leaving a trail of stink behind me either...

catless is not necessarily smelly, ask your tuner to offset the lambda scaling to make it leaner during closed loop. for example 14.7 can become a 15.5-16 without you even notice, and you gain a little more reactive car down low and almost no smell
i'm catless and can t even notice the smell even if I keep. the door open with engine on

Yes, it should just should be a safety and an OBDII test.
https://www.dps.texas.gov/rsd/vi/con...ionTesting.htm

Damn that’s really good to know. Thanks!

i have the catless UEL gruppe-s and the smell is pretty minimal. sometimes i have to turn the recirculating air on if i am in stop and go with the windows up but thats about it. non issue with the windows down and sitting at idle

I ran catless Tomei UEL's on my dd FRS, with a hooker catless/resonated front pipe, for about 2 years and over 40k miles. I ran E85 most of the time and didn't notice any smells when sitting inside the car. I did notice the smell of E85 whenever I did a cold start and stood outside of the car. I also didn't notice any funny smells when I was on 91.

With a tune and the UEL headers, the torque dip was eliminated and the car was much more fun to drive. However, I hated the drone so much that I put the stock exhaust back on. I couldn't have a conversation in the car without yelling, lol. There are a few cat-back exhaust options that will let you run a catless setup without the drone, like the ARK Grip, Corsa, Invidia Q300.

I doubt that you'll pass emissions testing when running a catless setup w/regular pump gas, but you might be able to pass with E85.

-Sam

I believe the Ark Grip is discontinued now, isn’t it?

We don't sell it, but I don't see anything about it being discontinued on Ark's website.

Says that it's in stock.
https://arkperformance.com/index.php...product_id=137

-Sam

Open flash header/e85. Smells like a gin mill sometimes

Hey thanks for your input. Yeah that’s why now I’m thinking about just doing catless headers, front pipe and a tune and keep stock OP and exhaust. I’ll run this for a while then just kinda feel it out when selecting a lightweight, aftermarket catback. I’m considering the Invidia R400 or the new Invidia N2 as I haven’t seen much of them with catless headers and it does have a nice note to it. Like I said, I’ll feel it out. Everyone has different definitions of loud and annoying lol

That being said, what style front pipe would be best to pair with the catless headers? Dual resonators, cat and resonator, or just a high flow cat? I’m kinda leaning towards something like the Tomei catless headers with the JDL “Ultra Quiet” front pipe. I think this would help contain the smell and drone and would also give me a nice, deep tone.

If anyone has experience with anything similar, please share! Thanks :thumbsup:

usually nothing happens. no one cares as long as you can prove you are not a resident of California and you are not abusing your vehicle registration rights by being a visitor.

people that register their cars out of state either 1) want to do whatever they want with their car, or 2) don't want to pay taxes.

most of the time, state police and local law enforcement don't care about federal law until it is convenient for them. lack of catalytic converter is not an issue unless the officer wants to brush up on federal laws and how to litigate them in a local court, only to realize the fine is paid to the federal government and not to local jurisdictions...

Why not have both?

Get whatever header you want.
Keep stock front pipe.

The stock front pipe isn't going to gain you some magical 5 or 10 horsepower, you can keep one cat and also keep the exhaust notes down.

-alex

Same with any other two stroke equivalent motor that burns oil by design. Stinky.

I have catless headers and stock front pipe. I only smell it when I'm in a garage. To warm up my car I usually back out halfway out so the garage doesnt stink up too bad.