Catalytic Converter recommendations
 

Hey all fellow ft86ers,

As the title of this thread shows I'm looking for some recommendations on some future upgrades to the exhaust from people that are much smarter about this kind of stuff than I am.

And I know that touching the catalytic converter in any way is illegal but around here I've never heard of anyone getting a ticket for catalytic converter tampering.

I'm looking to change out headers and front pipe.

I've seen some headers with and without the catalytic converters and front pipes with and without cats.

Are there a lot of members that have gotten rid of the cats on the headers and just kept a hi-flow cat on the front pipe?

Or have people just gotten rid of both of them and gone full catless?

Any insight into this and possible examples would be appreciated.

I'm glad that you recognize that it is illegal.

It really depends on where you live. CA and other places have regular smog inspection. Some do OBDII tests only for emissions while other states do nothing. So, if you live in Atlanta, I'd ask or look around in a local forum to see what you can get by with (in terms of not failing inspection/emission tests).

A quick Google search indicates that the following counties check for catalytic converters and they are OBDII and visual checks.:

Cherokee
Clayton
Cobb
Coweta
DeKalb
Douglas
Fayette
Forsyth
Fulton
Gwinnett
Henry
Paulding
Rockdale

Forum members are from world wide and each state has its own regulations. I would check with Georgia's regulations and see if anyone posted anything on regional forums.

Thanks guys for the heads up and showing the concern. I was going to head into the regional thread for my area next but have been slow to do so.

Again thanks

first. it's only one header. not HEADERS. i see all the time in car forums. headers headers headers lol.

I don't understand what you are asking.
- you would like to run catless?
- you want to eliminate CEL light running catless?

I don't how inspection law in GA but you have several choices.
1. get catted header
2. get catless and get o2 eliminator(adapter whatever it calls) to disable CEL to pop but it doesn't work 100%
3. get catless and get tuned with disabling CEL

Problem of #2-3, when you need to do inspection again, it will show up in OBII or it might not depends on how tuners disabled.
or you can swap it back to stock and go inspection.

also Front pipe is not related to CEL on this vehicle since Cat is on header with o2 sensors

See this is why I wanted to ask before buying something!

Half of the information you gave me I wasn't even aware of like the o2 sensor on the header cat.

The aim of my question was I would like to keep at least one cat, I was looking into catless headers (plural because there are multiple headers to choose from) and having a catted front pipe with a hi-flow cat.

Honestly I hadn't even given any thought to the CEL it would throw once everything was installed.

Looks like I have a lot more lurking and research to do.

ride with someone with header first and see you would like to go with it.
that's the best way to figure out what exactly you are looking for.
if you haven't had catless setup on modded car before, i wouldnt just jump on it because many people hate it due to gas smell/loudness/attention from cops.

yeah research first then mod little by little.
if you really want header, i would get catted header

Header has an o2 sensor. If you get a catless header your CEL will come on. You can get the o2 eliminator but it'll still throw CEL from time to time. Unless you run a tune you will eventually get a CEL from catless header.


The front pipe has no sensors at all so you can run that catless without the worry of throwing a CEL. I saw a company had 0 cat on the front pipe but 2 resonators to help with sound. Another I saw had a high flow cat. But all in all just get one catless as they are cheaper and will produce more power :)

Plus no cat makes better sound :)

Unless you live in CA, you do not need to keep your stock cats, but by law at least 1, but a high flow cat is legal in 49 states (just not CA, so the stock USDM cars, in order to not have to create a different model code just for CA make ALL their USDM cars CA-legal). Let that cat be your front pipe cat, not your header cat.

You're going to want a tune anyway to take advantage of the power that the aftermarket header makes available in the tuning. Just have your tuner do 2 things: disable the P0420 code and disable the rear 02 sensor from being able to adjust short term fuel trims (b/c it will try and screw with the tune if it is trying to "restart" a cat which is no longer there). That will take care of any tune problems that not having the header cat could cause.

The front pipe high flow cat will only reduce potential power due to flow restrictions by about 1 hp compared to straight pipe. So, for emmissions, keep that one (it's also the one which is visible if they look underneath the car without taking off the alumimum undertray, as the header cat location is hidden by the engine block). it also helps your exhaust not stink.

Lots of great info from everyone.

What I think would be the best setup based on what I've seen so far in this thread would be:

catless header
front pipe with hi-flow cat

I guess the best time for installation would be when I'm ready for a tune as well because I don't have access yet to a local tuner to get rid of that CEL

you can always go with Open flash tablet and do it yourself and it'll take care of it. But the down side to OTF mappings is that its not made specific for your car so you will likely not see as much HP gains as a local tuner.

I thought about the oft as well but as you said the tune will not be for my specific car.

What I think I've decided on doing is just going for the ft86 speedfactory catted header and invidia hiflow cat front pipe. If anyone runs this type of setup let me know if you would recommend it or wish you'd done something else

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