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california legal cats?

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Old 08-29-2007, 11:23 PM
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Default california legal cats?

i was looking into putting some high flow cats on (live in emissions crazy california) but every cat that i looked at says not legal for sale in california why is this and is there any legal ones?
Old 08-29-2007, 11:36 PM
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Look into the Magnaflow metallic substrate line. They are some of the if not the highest flowing cats around. Magnaflow claims they are OBD2 compliant and CARB legal.
Old 08-30-2007, 08:30 AM
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The killer is that they have to be located in the stock location, and you'd have to do some custom work to get them to fit there. Plus hi-flow cats aren't going to give you much more than the stock ones anyway. If you're going to have to pass visual, I wouldn't bother.
Old 08-30-2007, 08:48 AM
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The only cats I have seen that -look- like CARB-legal
is the Random Technology catted Y for stock manifolds.
I had one of these (used), I ended up not using it only
because it would not fit with the BMR K-member, the
cats are in the stock location but about 2X the size and
were bumping into the rear mount "box" on the passenger
side.

At any rate I flow tested the cats against stock, gutted
and straight pipe; the RT cats intact were about the same
as gutted stockers. Data is on the other computer, I'll try
and attach it later.

Using this setup behind a EO'd set of shorties (or just ported
'01-'02 manifolds, or ported '00 on a '98-'99) is about as far
as you can go and stay legal or legal-appearing-enough
for the Peoples' Democratic Republic of Bend Over. I do not
know if the Random Tech catted Y ever got an EO#. But it
does meet the "stock location" criterion.
Old 08-30-2007, 10:25 AM
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so would it be best if i gutted the stockers and get the back two 02 tuned out? and would gutting the cats make that big of sound difference cause i dont want a raspy sound
Old 08-30-2007, 11:47 AM
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The only smog legal cats in California are the STOCK cats... it's really the one part on the car your NOT supposed to **** with when it comes to emissions... basically meaning, if you cat goes bad, the only way to keep it legal in cali, is to take it back to the dealer and get a stock one put back on....

However... if you don't have Longtube Headers, and you don't plan on getting them, as said above you can pretty much go with any aftermarket cat, in the stock location, and most likely the smog places won't hassle you as long as the cat is "Stock Looking" and hopefully they won't notice the difference... the magnaflow cats look the closest like a stock cat from what i've seen...

I just moved from CA.... personally i'd take the chance and buy some high flow aftermarket ones and slap on there... it's the visual test that would cause you to fail... and I don't really feel that most smog places would really notice the difference...
Old 08-30-2007, 01:17 PM
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Yes, might pass the visual, but do you honestly think a car with 2 aftermarket high flow cats will pass the sniffer in CA??? I don't really know from personal experience, but I highly doubt it...

Anyone in Ca have high flow cats and pass the sniffer?? How close were you from passing or not passing?




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