faukengenius

So i'm thinking if I happen to have to smog my car in the future would it be easy to reinstall the cat when needed?? I mean I'm going to be slapping a T1R straight pipe soon and was wondering if worse case scenerio am I able to bolt the cat back on? If I remember correct some bolts on the catalac converter are welded on? People that can help please chime in thanks!

Nobody

Takes about 15 min. 3 bolts connecting the cat to the exhaust, 2 connecting the cat to the header and 1 O2 sensor.

LostWaffle

Does that mean that a car with a straight pipe instead of the cat will not pass a smog check?

xviper

How ya doing, bud?
I've disconnected both ends of the cat. On the front end are 2 bolts that go through spring loaded devices. This is so you can have some movement. There is also a "metallic donut" on that end that serves as a gasket. On the rear, there are 3 bolts and another metal gasket (or triangular gasket if aftermarket). Assuming the testpipe has the same flanges, you can replace the cat at any time. You might be able to even get away with saving the old donut and gasket. So, no welds. I suggest you Liquid wrench the nuts and bolts well before, during and after the install to make sure they don't break since you are planning to do this periodically. Start with the front. Remove those springs and nuts and bolts and you should be able to pull the whole thing down far enough to pull the cat (testpipe) forward to dislodge the studs at the back.

xviper

I don't think it will. The cat cleans the exhaust. Without it, the exhaust will be too "dirty".

LostWaffle

By "dirty," do you mean dark colored exhaust fumes or perhaps "smellier" exhaust fumes?

Also, if it's not necessar for smog, why have a cc at all? For noise reduction?

kitwetzler

just FYI, you are probably going to break the cat studs when you take them off. Honda makes them out of a combination of rust, butter, and sponge. Just knock them out and replace them with bolts, (I just use the bolts that came with the T1R testpipe when I swap)

xviper

I guess you don't understand what a cat converter does. It "converts" the harmful, undesireable gases into more "acceptable" gases. Noone said it wasn't necessary for smog. I don't know where you got this idea from. "Dirty" in this case is the opposite of "clean". A smog test measures the amount of unburned hydrocarbons in the exhaust. "Smell" and "appearance" are only two very superficial traits of "dirty" exhaust. The emissions test won't have eyes or a nose (at least not in the human sense).

I've undone my exhaust twice in the last 4 years as well as twice for another local owner over a period of a month. If you liberally spray penetrant on them prior to turning them, they will come off fine. Why break them off and put new and different ones on when it's not really necessary? I've only heard of a few people who have snapped their cat studs off and I wonder if these never took the proper precautions ahead of time.

Trip

[QUOTE=xviper,Oct 11 2004, 07:32 PM]The emissions test won't have eyes or a nose (at least not in the human sense).

kitwetzler

I snapped 2 studs after a liberal soaking of Liquid Wrench and only 2500 miles on the car.