so i was wondering, how hard is it to gut the cat on the 165? i was thinking bout pulling mine off and gutting it to net a few extra ponies.
I bought a gutted cat for my 165 and it spools more quickly. Definitely recommend it. Wear proper breathing protection if you do it - the dust is very harmful. Some guys wet it down with brake fluid to minimize dust before chipping.
Well there should actually be 2 cats as far as I know. There is one in the downpipe just after the exhaust header and there should also be be one under the car. For me the one under the car was allready gutted, probably naturally. The one in the downpipe is pretty easy to gut. The hardest problem you will have is probably just removing it from the engine. After that a chisel and hammer and just start chipping away at the honeycomb like stuff inside. It shouldn't take any more than an hour to clean out the inside. I don't know what the stuff is that your chipping out so you may want to wear some sort of respirator.
Nice pics - I hope you protected your lungs! I think the cat contains some elements of platinum or other precious metals. Lately, a lot of ppl have been buying up old catalytic converters.
Yes it is platinum but I thought it was pellets in the cat under the car thats why I was unsure of what the honeycomb stuff was in the downpipe. Just wondering if you noticed a reduction in the temp of the engine bay when you did this. Cats are notorious for getting very hot to the point where they can start grass fires if you park or idle your car in a field.
^I can't say as I don't have a temperature gun to measure accurately. Unscientifically, I haven't noticed any significant temp drops.
this is true ^^ its a cat efficiency test, if outlet temp is significantly less than inlet its working, since its not there, it should be alot hotter in the exhaust.
ha ha now im all excited to do this hopefully get a little better spool. Im gonna have to buy some exhaust bolts im sure becuase i can almost guarentee they will break. Get the trac spittin some fire like it used to.
well this was probally one of the biggest pain in the ass and productive things ive done for a while. First off i find 2 bolts missing out of my downpipe(thats why i was leaking boost) so now that problem is solved. broke a bolt on the downpipe/cat so i gotta get a new one of those. took 2 hours to get off and about 10 minutes to gut it out, i just drilled a hole through the center and then punched it all out with a screw driver. I'll put her back together tomorrow and let you guys know how it worked out.
well i got here all back together, the spool time is awesome and the sound! oh man sounds like a diesel spooling up i love it. all the little 2.5 impreza kids almost shit themselves when i ripped by them a little bit ago. I still have some kind of boost problem where when i hit about 12psi my boost guage wiggles between 12 and 9psi. the car doesnt act funny or anything but im just curious about whats casusing this.
So for a 3SFE gutting the cat and adding another cat lets say toward the middle of the car and adding the 02 Sensor onto the new cat will that still pass Smog test?? :?
^Dunno about the 3SFE or if it's worth it. I did it for my 3SGTE b/c it helps the turbo spool. I have a stock secondary cat (just like the 3SFE) and I still passed smog. Hope that helps...? IIRC, the 3SFE has 2 cats just like the 3SGTE:
Some 3SFE only have one 02 sensor, on the main cat at the front- on your picture the 2nd sensor would be where my Flex pipe is.....
