GHL aftermarket cat??

DarinB · 05-22-2005, 08:28 PM

I am new to this board due to the recent purchase of a 1985 Targa. I have been reading posts about the premuffler and sport muffler upgrades which sound like a good way to go. I've also read that the new aftermarket cats will flow almost as much air as a premuffler with similar performance improvements. Does anyone have any experience with these? I see that pelican has a GHL for $440. I would really like to upgrade the factory exhaust system, but it would be ideal to still be able to pass the smog tests (A little bit more money for this benefit would be worth it to me.) I would also be upgrading to a SW chip.
Thanks in advance for any info.
Darin

Emission · Emission's Garage

Welcome to the board.

I think most around here would just dump the CAT and put it back on every other year for testing.

DarinB · 05-23-2005, 06:09 AM

Thanks.
Anybody else with any experience with these? It doesn't seem like too popular of an option.

esmith904 · 05-27-2005, 05:51 PM

If you really want a sport cat, go with the latest german sport metal cats that use stainless steel honeycomb catalyst. I use a Lenz PowerKat. It's not cheap at $850, but its probably one of the best. I don't know much about the GHL cat since there wasn't much about it on their website when I was cat shopping. Here's a post I replied to with some pics and info on the Lenz.

sport cat, free-flowing cat

Cheers,

DarinB · 05-27-2005, 06:10 PM

Thanks for the reply. Whew, that's pricey.
I'm surprised that GHL doesn't have more on their website about theirs. I'm gonna keep on trying to find more info about the subject.

porschenut · 05-27-2005, 06:49 PM

I have the GHL sport cat and muffler on my 86 carrera. The GHL sport cat is the metal honeycomb design and it is excellent IMO. The two together added just the right amount of volume and a really nice sound. With the bypass pipe it would have been too loud.

edit: I forgot to add, the throttle response is significantly improved with these mods alone. I have a Wong chip but it's not installed yet.

DarinB · 05-30-2005, 06:42 PM

Thanks porschenut. Doesn't seem like there is too many of us here that want to keep the cat. How was the install on the Cat? Will the factory heat shield work or did it come with its own??

porschenut · 05-30-2005, 06:49 PM

It wasn't necessary to keep the heat shield and the GHL cat didn't come with one. Installation was a snap because I had the shop do it

. I would have done it myself but the car was in there for a bunch of other stuff and I didn't want to wrestle with stuck hardware.

I wanted to keep the cat for emissions testing and sound attenuation. The resulting sound is perfect and this way I don't have to bother with swapping the cat in for periodic testing.

DarinB · 05-31-2005, 09:59 AM

Cool. Sounds like what I am looking for. My mouth has also been watering a little for the complete header/cat/muffler combo from GHL that is supposed to be CARB certified for 50 states, but $2500 is a lot to spend for something that isn't tried and true.

Drago · Drago's Garage

I'm running a GHL cat bypass pipe w/ an o2 sensor bung and can pass WA State emissions easily.