hi flow w/o air pump hook up, good/bad
 

i have the option of picking up a very good hi flow cat for a good price, it doesn't have an air pump hook up. my car is from california but i'm not in nebraska where smog bears little consequence. will it be detrimental to my engine to get this pipe w/o a hook up and what will i have to do to get it to work if i do get it. i love not having to really deal with smog laws anymore but i think they ecu will kind of botch things up unless i get a power fc or some other aftermarket ecu. thanks for the input.

-joe

Short answer, you're fine.

The ECU is clueless whether the air pump is feeding a cat, or wasting it back to atmosphere. All it does is pump air into the cat to aide in burning extra unburnt fuel at idle or low speeds or some similar condition.

Is it an OBDII cat? If the cat has the material Serium in it, then it'll clean up your exhaust without the air pump. If it isn't and you run without the airpump for long, you'll toast that cat.

i'm not sure if it has that or not. i know it's an oval ceramic cat and i have no clue what that means. www.randomtechnology.com is the maker. i don't know a whole lot about cats but it does look to be a pretty reputable company.

Random Tech site
 

This design, which meets Federal EPA and California ARB requirements, enables virtually any vehicle with a properly tuned engine to meet emissions standards with little, if any power loss (compared to an exhaust with no catalytic converter). Please note that it is illegal to remove a properly functioning catalytic converter and that aftermarket catalytic converters are not legal for installation in California on OBD II vehicles (some 1994 & 1995, and all 1996 and later vehicles).