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High flow cats in CA?

dhcomp

dhcomp

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Ok, so the cat on my burb has got to be clogged. It revs slow, and barely got louder when i hacked the muffler off. The chassis has 210k on it now, original cat. 3" exhaust

So i try to find one to order. Jegs and Summit barely carry high flow ones, or don't really designate them as so. Plus, most can't ship to CA.

I don't care if its not CA smog certified, i just want it to pass CA smog. Is that kinda the same thing? Will i pass with a 49 state cat?

What are ppl's high flow cat reccomendations? Where can i purchase them?

If i can't get a reasonable one in CA, anyone want to recieve one for me and ship it here? Thanks!
 
New law went into effect January 1st this year, any cat not OEM is no longer legal. It is illegal to sell, buy, or install any cat other than an OEM direct fit replacement. If your vehicle already had a hi-flow cat on it you now will be required to prove it was purchased and installed before January 1st of 2009.

http://www.arb.ca.gov/msprog/aftermktcat/aftermktcat.htm
 
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No F'ing way. That is garbage. Do you guys know how much those "direct fit" CA cat's cost? They are ridiculous.

Any replacement ones better than others? Do you guys think i'll gain any performance back by replacing one that has 210 on it, or should i just keep it?
 
If your vehicle fails a smog check and it was from high hydro carbons then a new cat will help you for sure. I would not be replacing a cat just to be replacing it that's for sure. I was just looking Cat pricing for my 89 and magnaflow has a california legal cat that is universal fit for 382.00 and a dircet fit for 600.00 something. :eek1:
 
4X4HIGH said:
If your vehicle fails a smog check and it was from high hydro carbons then a new cat will help you for sure. I would not be replacing a cat just to be replacing it that's for sure. I was just looking Cat pricing for my 89 and magnaflow has a california legal cat that is universal fit for 382.00 and a dircet fit for 600.00 something. :eek1:
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Yah, thats what i mean about the price!

Crap. Well, if you don't think its plugged, i'll leave it be til i get headers. Then i'll go to nevada to get some real exhaust installed :)
 
dhcomp said:
Yah, thats what i mean about the price!

Crap. Well, if you don't think its plugged, i'll leave it be til i get headers. Then i'll go to nevada to get some real exhaust installed :)
Click to expand...

I don't think that will help you since ALL vehicles in California that require a CAT are required to have an EO number, part number, date of manufacture, and a direction of flow arrow(s) on the CAT just like this.

Catalytic convertor.jpg
 
Ouch. Yah, guess CA wins. Hmm....

Guess i won't be doing much changing to the exahust system for a while.
 
I just hollowed out my oem cats because they were clogged and the difference between smog results (pre-hollow/post-hollow) were so small it could have been the temperature outside that caused the difference. Not to mention the extra 30 hp it felt like i gained. I'm in Az however, I know CA are smog Nazis. good luck!
 
4X4HIGH said:
New law went into effect January 1st this year, any cat not OEM is no longer legal. It is illegal to sell, buy, or install any cat other than an OEM direct fit replacement. If your vehicle already had a hi-flow cat on it you now will be required to prove it was purchased and installed before January 1st of 2009.

http://www.arb.ca.gov/msprog/aftermktcat/aftermktcat.htm
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Just california right?? I'm so frakin gla i don't live in that state. Nice wetaher or not i'd rather freeze to death than have to go with their guidelines :rolleyes:
 
Dang I like my old trucks. They may be kind low-tech, but they're smog-exempt.

I hate the smog regs too, but how many states do inspections for bumper height and parking brakes and so forth, lift laws, all that crap?

In CA the state doesn't care about the suspension and drivetrain, only that the motor looks good and the output is clean... and that's unless it's exempt, i.e. pre-1976 or a diesel :deal:

-- A
 
Good way to get people to do the right thing, raise the price for parts through the roof even for vehicles that the people with less money tend to drive.

How's the states economy again? :) Not going to bode well for others of us if states are able to adopt the CA emissions standards...

To get back on topic, to test if the cat (or exhaust downstream) is plugged, you pull the O2 sensor and measure the backpressure. Can't recall exact numbers, but somewhere around 3PSI or more seems right. Or manifold vacuum.

http://www.aa1car.com/library/converter.htm
 
Btw, California wants all 76-95 vehicles off the road. Period. None of them are good for the environment. They no longer offer financial assistance for smog programs on vehicles in these year ranges. They keep passing more and more smog laws to prove it. The enhanced smog/dyno and test only stations are another one as most all pre 96 vehicles go straight to the test only stations (no repair work to get it to pass, just test only). id get yourself a pre-smog burb and call it good for life put all the goodies that YOU want on it. I hate to see people dumping all this money into a smog check just to be street legal when the same motor will fly all day long in a presmog vehicle on the steet. Its not like the 75's are rusty here anyways.
 
I can only imagine whats comming down the pipe being Obama has granted permission for Ca to move forward with stricter standards as the see fit. This was being veto`ed by GW,now its bombs away with enviromental freindlyness. We deal with CARB at work regulary and these fookers are hellbend on what seems like personal vendettas of econazi`ism ,like PETA on smog check day.
 
wow that is rediculous. the $60 catco universal cats worked great. every car of mine that had those on there were well below the max and even the average emissions levels.

just another way to screw people, thank you CA...

oh by the way they raised the fines for fix it tickets too, and made each offense a seperate $25 ticket and they aren't event trying to cover up their reasoning behind it. They need to help cover the budget deficit.

Sounds like taxation to me.
 
RaysJimmy said:
We use magnaflow 94006CA which is 2.5" O.D. which work good for high flow stuff. The new California part number is 39006 universal and this would be smog legal for your vehicle. Also 2.5" od.
http://www.car-sound.com/02product/displayuniversal.asp?universal=94006
http://www.car-sound.com/02product/displayuniversal.asp?universal=39006
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His 91 burb comes factory with a 3" in/out cat so you cannot replace it with anything smaller or larger than 3". Better read the new law, must be factory pipe diameter. If his rig is a 350 then it would be a 39009
 
hollow it !!!

Easy fix bro. take your cat and hollow it. the C.H.P. wont know any better upon visual inspection. when it comes time for smog check go and get 2 bottles of 97% or higher rubbing alcohol, add the bottles to a 1/4 tank of premium and your PPM level will be just fine. I have done this on more cars then you could imagine! My 99 mustang had 2 heater cats & 4 reg. cats and i hacked'em all off and she still passed. The rubbing alcohol burns cleaner then Petrol, the only downside to rubbing alcohol is that if you run it every day it will dry out your injectors o-rings. Just as a precaution i always run 4oz. of Marvels Mystery oil on a 1/4 of a tank after the use of rubbing alcohol just to ensure everything is peachie.;)
 
A properly functioning Cat does not hurt performance so why try to "gut" one? Just install a new Cat and pass the smog check and be done. The only reason people are going to bitch about this law is because now you can't buy and install a 99.00 Cat, more like 200.00-300.00 now. The other reason people will bitch is if they run a larger exhaust system than came stock on the rig and now they are mandated to run the factory diameter Cat.
 
Jumpin the Gun

4X4HIGH said:
His 91 burb comes factory with a 3" in/out cat so you cannot replace it with anything smaller or larger than 3". Better read the new law, must be factory pipe diameter. If his rig is a 350 then it would be a 39009
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Sorry about jumpin the gun. Dhcomp. If you need a hook up I have one for $55.00 plus ship, 3" cat. Not to change the subject. Send me a PM.
 
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RaysJimmy said:
Sorry about jumpin the gun. Dhcomp. If you need a hook up I have one for $55.00 plus ship, 3" cat. Not to change the subject. Send me a PM.
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Unless it is the new Ca. model with all the info stamped into it it will not do him any good. It cannot be installed as of the 1st of this month.
 
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