New Catalytic converter
 

I was thinking of changing my stock cat for a High flow. I need to pass AirCare here in Canada any recommendations.

Also what is this wire going into the cat.

I know the tube on the other side is for the air pump. Is it for a sensor and do I need it?

I dont know what that is, but its definitely not a sensor. There is only one O2 sensor on the FD and its on the Precat. When I replaced my stock cat, I went with a "random technology" high flow metallic cat. Its the best quality out there in my opinion, and I did pass the smog/air inspection with it.

The Random Technology cat has a pipe for the air pump that has to be welded on, so id recommend to have it installed by an exhaust shop unless you have a welder, good luck

I'm not sure what that is offhand. Is your car a JDM or Canada model?

US model FD's don't have that, so I'm sure you can get by without it somehow.

Just a guess - Some sort of overheat sensor?

Probably, maybe its for the "overheat exhaust" warning light in the consol by the ashtray.

Its a JDM, 1992 type X. 68,000 km . Stock with a Legalis R Cat back. And since it is a jdm it has no pre-cat, just a downpipe with heatshielding.

I haven't gone to Aircare yet just figure I will fail.
It's a 16 year old cat and the last time I ran the car hard in the mountain roads the cat started to smoke. the Aircare test is $46 and a high flow should give me more power.

Smoking on the outside? That just means it was getting hot (they always do) and burning off some crud on the casing. It may well be bad, but that is not an indicator. My 17-year old cat with 62K miles still passes e-check just fine.

How much more power would i get from a less restrictive high flow cat compared to the stock set-up.

I fail AirCare, my car is running smooth good idle. The tail pipe shows a lot of black build up like I'm running rich. The shop thinks a new cat won't be enough to fix. I just replaced plugs and wires, K&N and fuel filter.

Maximum allowable Hydrocarbons (g/km) 0.5000 Mine 3.7127 Avg. 0.1892

Maximum allowable Carbon Monoxide (g/km) 9.3200 Mine 33.2468 Avg 4.0415

Maximum allowable Oxides of Nitrogen (g/km)1.2400 Mine 0.4567 Ave 0.5280

Should I just get a new cat or is there bigger problems to iron out first with the CO and HC so high?

Hello, I am jupping on to the post (a bit late I know), I just failed Aircare with the following numbers:

Maximum allowable Hydrocarbons (g/km) 0.5000 Mine 0.7172 Avg. 0.2898

Maximum allowable Carbon Monoxide (g/km) 9.3200 Mine 8.8371 Avg 4.0507

Maximum allowable Oxides of Nitrogen (g/km)1.2400 Mine 0.1864 Ave 0.5192

I think that given how your numbers are all off by a similar factor I'd say it's the cat. It seems that mine indicate more a rich shift with age-effect.

Hope you solved your problem since? Otherwise join the club.

Anyone knows how efficient is a high flow cat (like on rx7store MAGNAFLOW) compared to the stock one?

Are your air pump and Air Control Valve working properly--if not you stand no chance even with a new catalytic converter.

Also it looks like you have fair sized oil leak (rear seal,oil pan or turbo oil lines?)judging by the oil splash on the heat shield and underside of floor.this could be your smoking you smoking on the outside.

Thanks for all the advice.

I took my car to local shop Forcefed. Ended up getting a rebuild, race port and microtech LT10 installed. Passed aircare with 313 hp to the ground, with stock intake and intercooler.
Next I want to get snow performance Methanol injection.

But my old cat was plugged, and my car was dumping too much fuel into the exhaust. Rather than diving in to the 17 year old wiring and rubber tubes we just ripped it out.
The rebuilt is cheaper if done before an apex seal goes, both rotors and housings were in great shape,and now no more oil pan leaks.

Here are some pics. ForceFed will tune the ecu for aircare then retune again for power. With the plugged cat I had only 160 hp to the ground, now with stock externals 313hp to the ground on 92. 150 + hp before, intake and exhaust mods not bad.

So what did make it pass for Aircare, new ECU calibration (in which case do you have more details, microtech LT10 price etc..) or did they change or fixed an emission related part?

ForceFed, are they nice to deal with?

Thanks,

The new tune for aircare and using the shop cat. Forcefed has a routine for passing with the FD. I don't have a cat or airpump.
In 3 years I will have to go through the aircare re-tune and borrow the shop cat again.
The problem is the FD likes to kill cats so just throwing on a new one may not be a good investment, it may destroy the new cat with heat. My car was dumping fuel into the cat and the heat was making it explode. They first tried to just use the good shop cat with a re-tune but there was something wrong with my fuel system. the labour to locate the problem was such, I opted for beginning my mods starting with a large street port.

Now with no cat it sounds awesome and will shot a flame with a hard down shift. Plus that stock cat is huge and heavy and traps heat in the engine bay, Bad for rotarys.

The guys at Forcefed are great to deal with. Marko is a great guy and can get huge power and reliability out of the rotarys. I highly recommend talking to them. Rob has gotten 870hp out of his 13bt with 50,000 km on the engine always running over 500hp. If all you need is to pass aircare and there are no other problems with the car, it shouldn't cost much to just borrow the shop cat or borrow a apexi commander for a retune, it's only the labour. I wanted to get my car up to around 400hp so I did what I had to do for a good foundation.

wow.... from 160hp with a clogged cat to 313 with a fresh rebuild and new cat and tune....

i'd say thats a definite improvement.

Ever got to know what that wire was ?

It has to do with the exhaust temperature there is a overheat warning light if the cat gets too hot. I now have a stand alone microtech and have no cat so there is no need for it.

But if your car is stock its good to leave it it will tell you if your cat is plugged and overheating.

FYI. A stock cat [in good condition] is a high-flow cat.

Aren't the stock cat's has inlets and outlets slightly less than 2.5 inches vs. 3 inches for a hi-flow? And most stock cats should be nearing the end of their life span by now.

How can i remove this. My sensor tore from the cat and now is causing an exhaust leak. I was planning on installing a High flow cat anyways but i wanted to make sure that it was safe to remove that sensor.
Couldnt post any pictures of it. Forums are giving an error for uploading photos