Supercharged LS3 - Kooks 3"x pipe - Catted or no??
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Teching In
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Supercharged LS3 - Kooks 3"x pipe - Catted or no?? Getting ready to order headers and x-pipe.. was going to buy catted x-pipe - but have heard the cats will blow out? Needs to pass NC inspection....
Any thoughts?
Any thoughts?
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Joined: Sep 2005
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From: NYC
It's always no cats if you can get away with it... But I need cats in New York and the Kooks cats never blow-out; 8 years now and I'm supercharged. I don't know where you heard that they blow out (they're metal), but it's just not true.
Depends on what "NC inspection" entails. If it's just a plug n' scan of the OBDII port looking for codes and readiness statuses then you'll be fine with going catless given you have the proper tune.
Now if they also do some sort of sniffer test and/or visual inspection under the car you will most likely fail.
What you can do is get 2 sets of pipes and swap out those for when inspection times come around. And you don't need to go crazy with the catted piece, you can just have an exhaust shop fab up some pipes with cheapo cats and plain steel.
Now if they also do some sort of sniffer test and/or visual inspection under the car you will most likely fail.
What you can do is get 2 sets of pipes and swap out those for when inspection times come around. And you don't need to go crazy with the catted piece, you can just have an exhaust shop fab up some pipes with cheapo cats and plain steel.
I've seen about three different set of aftermarket catted headers blow out on supercharged applications. The mesh material comes loose and clogs the exhaust pipe. The heat builds up, spikes the EGT's, and if you're lucky, the piston rings are the only thing that fails.
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thank you!
TECH Fanatic
Joined: Sep 2005
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From: NYC
That's with ceramic cats because you can't use them with a supercharger. Kooks only sells metal core cats that never come apart.
