I have two setups: a high flow cat and a no-cat
straight pipe. The performance difference isn't
significant (for my car) and I can pass any emissions
test with the high flow cat. A cat rule would be
easy to verify and if someone wants to cheat (by
running a hollow cat), the performance gain won't
be that significant vs a high flow cat. I don't like
the idea of requiring factory cat(s) on a highly
modified car though. It's not realistic.
Kent Rafferty
> On a completely different note, that the SCCA supports a class explicitly
> designed for road-going cars, and that the SCCA is allowing (and by
> implication encouraging) those cars to run without cats is silly both from
> a legal standpoint as well as a PR standpoint. Given the focus on "street
> legal" why don't you require a cat on those vehicles originally equipped
> with one, just like the fed?
> ===============================
> On a related note, why require factory cats on cars that are supposedly
> following the "street" trends? Why not allow aftermarket cats?
>
> Yeah yeah yeah, I know about the whole "you're not supposed to mess with a
> working factory cat for the first 50K miles" thing. But most people who
are
> serious about street car performance also mysteriously suffer catastrophic
> failures (caused by large mallets, tall speed bumps, running leaded race
> gas, broom handles, whatever) of the stock cats and have to resort to
> aftermarket hi-flow cats from the likes of Catco to remain "legal". There
> is NO federal law that says you must replace a non-functioning stock cat
> with another OEM piece.
>
> It's especially silly in the Street Touring classes (which I'm in now)
where
> (virtually) any header is allowed and any cat-back exhaust systems are
also
> allowed but you have to retain the stock cat between those two "free"
items.
> Now THAT'S a dumb rule. Why not allow an aftermarket hi-flow cat. I know
> my cat is probably gonna suffer some type of catastrophic failure this
year
> and will need to be replaced and I'll be damned if I'm gonna shell out the
> bucks for an OEM piece. No way, no how.
>
> We've already established that the local muffler shop can replace a
> non-functioning OEM cat with an aftermarket "OEM type" unit. But what's
to
> prevent the installation of a hi-flow unit? Most generic "OEM type" units
> actually perform worse than the stock piece. What exactly constitutes
"high
> performance" versus "stock"? Is it a measurable difference and if so, is
it
> measurably comparable to an OEM unit? Where is this mythical official
Stock
> vs. Aftermarket chart against which we can measure the two combatants?
And
> what are the criteria? Flow characteristics? Substrate surface area?
> Cheap look and rattling heat shields? What? How do you "measure" an OEM
> cat? And if you can't positively 100% tell me what exactly constitutes an
> "exact" replacement for the OEM unit then I'm pretty much free to run
> whatever catalytic converter that I want. You (the potential protestor)
> have to prove that it's not equivalent to the OEM piece.
>
> I just love gray areas. ;^)
>
> Eric Linnhoff in KC
> 1998 Dodge Neon R/T
> #69 STS #13 TLS
> eric10mm@qni.com
> ICQ#101282513
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