Exhaust question??

[Mybeauner]

I was reading on the corksport website that "Removing a stock catalyst from a road vehicle is illegal. Racepipes are for race use only and are not to be used on the street."

I'm a bit new to the modding area and was planning on getting a DP and RP with my stock cat. Now I'm just lost. any help?

 

[AutoEuphoria]

Yes, removing a cat is illegal in most areas, as they are federally mandated emissions equipment. In AZ, I believe you have to have an emission check anyway, and you would most likely fail without cats.

When you say "planning on getting a DP and RP with my stock cat"...that's not really possible. There are 2 cats on the car. One is a part of the stock DP and the other is a part of the stock midpipe (the piece the RP would replace).

If you want to stay 100% legal, you have a couple of options:

1) replace the cat-back section of your exhaust. This won't free up much power, as that piece is pretty free-flowing from the factory. It will give you a nice improvement in sound, however.

2) Look into aftermarket downpipe units that offer "high flow" cats. This should still keep your emissions around the legal limit (I'm not sure though...I live in MI and have no cats and no emissions testing)


Or, if you want to go the sneaky route, you can always just keep your stock pieces on hand and switch them back when you need to have an emissions test done. Just hope you don't get pulled over by a cop who knows what to look for, I guess.

 

[Mybeauner]

Thank you very much! I guess I know much less than I though lol I'll look into the requirments for my state. I def. want to go DP and get as much powergains as possible.

 

[funksilver07]

Keep in mind that swapping back to stock or the install itself can be a bit of a PITA, even for the mechanically inclined. I had a turboxs dp/rp catless for about 6 months and as much fun having the extra power I did run into boost/fuel cut issues with this mod. I didn't run into the "smoking turbo" problem as others have. You should also do one of the CEL (check engine light) fixes, unless you don't mind driving around with your check engine light on. The only fix that worked for me was the diode cheater fix http://www.protegepower.com/forum/showthread.php?t=123716776. You could try the anti fouler fix http://www.msprotege.com/forum/showthread.php?t=123634664 but this doesn't work for everyone. All these potential issues can be dealt with, but that means more mods and more $$$, haha of course. Do some research on this, there's a lot of info out there on these parts.

 

[Mybeauner]

Thanks Funksilver. Still alot I need to know before doing some of these mods.

 

[SallySpeed3]

At the moment, I only have the corksport tp installed and stock dp. When I do eventually get a dp it will be one that has a high-flow cat. I'm not referring to cobb or cpe because those would replace the dp and tp, but there are 1 peice dp's out there that come with high-flow cats. That way, come time for inspection I can put my stock mid-pipe back in and should pass emissions.

 

[funksilver07]

Don't know about all the other state laws but here in California any "tampering" or replacing of OEM cats is illegal. Even if the aftermarket cat passed the actual testpipe test on a visual inspection with an aftermarket cat, it would fail an emissions test. Guess it would depend on the knowledge of the shop doing the testing if they would actually catch the fact someone had changed the OEM cat for an aftermarket brand. The laws here are very specific and the strictest in the nation.