you can still make a car pass without the air pump. i got a friend that did it with his fc.

 

I don't disagree. I think I've said as much before, but just leaving the aux air pipe on the cat open to vent exhaust (as he suggested) is not going to be pass worthy. It would need to be plugged or bunged closed when not connected to the air pump.

 

you're right..

but there's soooo much difference in between the individual smog stations these days.
the guy who did that had a cool smog guy who let him play with the haltech while the car was being tested... no emissions (except a cat), no smog pump, etc... it would have failed the visual horribly, but it still passed the sniffer with flying colors.

 

I have a high flow cat on my car right now with an air pipe. I don't have an air pump, tube, or any of that stuff. I do have the stock check valve installed on the pipe from the cat, and that keeps it from leaking exhaust just fine.

-Max

 

So Anybody passed smog with this new mettalic cat? with or without the airpump?

 

yep. there was a thread on it a couple of months ago. some dude from cali. no airpump

 

Yeah im wondering the same, if the air pump would make that much of a difference with metal substrate cat. Im in GA so the visual is a joke and the smog is the only thing to pass. So all im worried about is the #'s. I would like to get rid of the air pump if possible.

 

I just received an update from PandazRx7, whom I sold this cat to. He did some testing over the weekend and found that the cat is very effective at reducing emissions. He is still doing additional testing and I should be updating this thread shortly.

 

I'm interested in buying one with the airpump fitting...but what about durability?

Randomtechnology uses a 5-inch diameter metallic cat for the RX-8 because the 4-inch they tested was getting too hot and getting damaged. The higher surface area of the 5-inch kept the temps better controlled.

 

I spoke with the boys at Random extensively about this. They said that they never had that problem with the 4" diameter one on the FD. I would seem logical that the 5" would be better, but they assured me that the 4" would be more than adequate from a flow and temp perspective. I only have a few hundred miles on mine, but it is still performing well.

 

what about the new cat with a muffler in the mid pipe, kinda like the RX7 store midpipe but with a cat??

 

PandaRx7 took his car to get smogged yesterday and passed. His airpump was not hooked up and he tells me that it performed very well at reducing emissions. This makes at least two California FD owners to pass smog with this new metal cat design.

Obviously, passing visual is another matter entirely; but this metal substrate cat has shown to be a true performer at emissions reduction, and I believe PandazRx7 even said it outperformed the stock cat he had on hand for smog testing (air tube not connected in both cases).

 

What are the mods on his car?

 

I'd be all over that!! (with airpump)

 

I have that setup: Metallite cat with a 13" resonator right behind it. It was an extremely tight fit. I'm not sure they will both fit in the length of the stock midpipe.

 

I bought one of J_J cats...it reduces the smell over my stock cat tremendously! Car sounds like a beast idling (single), I'll probably be welding a resonator on the back end...as stated, it will be hard to find one that fits.

I do have an air pump, and will be welding the split tube in and going to test again (failed with stocker)..will keep updated.

 

I passed the test!!


For those who are wondering what my performance mods are.

-Street port/3mm's
-Stock Turbos/Sequential
-DP, J-J Cat, N1 Duals
-Intake, CWR Intercooler
-Supra Pump, 550/1300
-PFC ---->> But I used the stock ECU for smog

Couple notes:
*I also connected the 4 wires that needed to be cut for the PFC back when I installed the stock ECU.
*I made sure my blow-off valve stayed open during the whole test. (pinch hose while in vacuum)
*My airpump is currently on the car working, although I did not have the hose attached on the cat. I believe the airpump also feeds air to the ACV which I think is necessary for the test...I figured this out when I noticed the airpump shutting off too early with the PFC on pretest last week and completely spiking the #'s, other than that the PFC was fine. (That's why I used the stock ECU, to keep the airpump on)

 

Cool. I need to get one then.
Does it have to be with stock ECU?

Reza

 

Two questions:
1) how did the stock ECU do with the 1300 secondaries? I can only assume the tester never went above 4000rpms

2) pinched BOV vacuum line to ensure car NEVER goes into boost?

TIA
Crispy

 

I don't know...in MY case it seemed as though the PFC was messing things up at the higher rpm/mph. I didn't feel like messing with it so I swapped in my stock ECU which literally takes me a minute to do. ( I have male/female connectors on the 4 wires for quick connect/disconnect) I know people have passed with the PFC before so maybe it's just my set-up.

I actually did a few different tests at a buddies shop before doing the actual test...

Test1: PFC+ J_J's cat = 15mph Great / 25mph Terrible. (didn't know which was problem)

Test2: PFC+ VERY OLD Stock Cat WITH air hose attached= 15mph Terrible / 25mph Terrible. (Again, due to OLD stock cat didn't know which was problem)

Test3: Stock ECU + VERY OLD Stock Cat WITH air hose attached = 15mph Good / 25mph Good. (Ok, maybe the old cat is just not up to par, but the stock ECU made a big difference)

Test4: Stock ECU + J_J's cat = PASS! (Good combo;Happy)

Conclusion: J-J's cat works with no airpump hooked up to it. In MY case the stock ECU was a better choice over PFC.

 

Hey Crispy,

Actually, I believe the highest he ever went was about 2900-3000rpm. And yes, the first time he ran the actual test the rpm/mph kept on surging and would'nt hold steady...so I kept the blow-valve open the whole time and sure enough the rpm/mph was rock steady that way.

 

I suppose I could have one built with both a cat and some type of muffler section in the future. I just have to find a suitable (in length) muffler to have welded in.

 

6-inch long, 6-inch diameter, 3.5-inch in/out resonator second to last one:

http://www.jegs.com/cgi-bin/ncommerc...90&prmenbr=361

 

I bought one from these guys:
http://www.smb.net.au/fullsystemsmazdarx7.htm

After putting it on, the smell was sooooo much better but the noise is killing me. I had the RX7store.net resonated midpipe on before. I'm going to have to fit a resonator some how... In a couple of weeks, I'm going to take my car to a local muffler shop and see if they can shorten my catback a little and lengthen the midpipe section so a resonator will fit.
The noise isn't too bad for most people but for me it's a little too loud. My car was always quiet compared to most others and that's what I want again!

 

My Random metallic cat and full-sized Magnaflow muffler midpipe is almost done. I was just at the shop (Performance Solutions, behind Mazdatrix) and he got everything to fit in there quite well. It fits much better than I expected actually. The midpipe is the normal stock length -- no need to lengthen it or anything. He also joined my wastegate dump tube back with the downpipe. I'm going to pick it up tomorrow and will report back on how well it works.

I've been doing some 80 MPH cruise sound level tests and applying some sound deadening material to the car recently. I haven't made much progress with the sound deadener stuff, though the car does seem quieter subjectively (maybe a placebo effect, however). A lot of the noise in my test is exhaust drone, so I am hoping that the new midpipe will quiet things down, and still smell okay. I'll post the sound level results in this thread:
https://www.rx7club.com/interior-exterior-audio-26/making-my-fd-quieter-db-tests-along-way-423780/

To me, this is the ultimate midpipe. This is especially good for loud single turbo (or non-seq) cars if you can't take the smell of running without a cat (wife/girlfriend/police/smelly clothes at work or club/etc.). It isn't cheap, but it's worth it to me. It sounds like I am not alone.

-Max