Ok...who's removed their cat?

[GA1990]

I have an 88 944 Turbo S, just curious if there were any downsides to replacing my cat with a straight through pipe? Has anyone done this? Was there a noticable increase in power or turbo spool time? Any negative side effects? Anyone pass an emissions test without one?

[Pilot_951S]

My cat is there but there isn't anything inside it. Anyway I past an emmisions test for CT two years ago. However that was back when they were just doing the tailpipe sniffer, now they do the dyno thing so I have my car registered in VT. Visual inspection only.

[Lawrence Coppari]

I live in TN where there is no test so anything goes. But I wonder about this: The turbos appear to have two cats, the big one in the line that comes from the turbocharger and a much smaller one where the waste gate line joins the big line (there is an enlargment of the line there so I assume it is a kitten). What would happen if, at test time, all the exhaust gases were passed through the small cat. Would that clean them up sufficiently to pass? I have wondered about this. Perhaps someone knows the answer...

[PowerHaus944Turbo]

A straight-pipe will make your Turbo faster, and illegal in Colorado

[lm6y]

Mine's gone. I don't know if it helped the power, but it certainly makes a lot more noise!

[Dave951]

Soon after I bought my 951 a few months ago, I went to a "Porsche Shop" and had them run my emissions check. They guy told me I had no cat but said he could put one in. This really pissed me off because I was sure there was one when I bought it. Turns out, this "Porsche mechanic" was looking at the smaller pipe coming back from the wastegate and thought it was a test pipe. Luckily, that shop isn't my mechanic. It was just on the way home. Car "felt" faster when I "didn't" have a cat.

[hoff944]

I would think it would give a little bit of a power increase because it is nothing but restriction. The cat. is like a giant closely packed ceramic honeycomb.

[This message has been edited by hoff944 (edited 07-21-2000).]

[jwn]

It might make the car a tiny bit faster, but is it worth risking a $10,000 fine (that is the federal portion, states also tack on additional $'s... Texas adds $25,000 to it) on a car that isn't worth $10,000 on the market? Also, if you remove the cat and sell it later, you'd face additional penalties.

Just a thought....

[LtUSMC]

There are federal emission laws too? I thought they were only state by state. Some states don't require anything at all. How does the federal government ever get involved with it? How would they know?

[hoff944]

I am going to mount an old cat that is cut in half where mine should be. This way it will look like there is a cat there. How are they going to find out if you don't have a cat? Its not one of the things cops really check when you get pulled over for a routine traffic stop. The only way anyone could tell if I don't have a cat is to run something up the tailpipe to see if I have a cat.

[GA1990]

Actually, i was with a friend of mine and we got pulled over (granted in a very loud monte carlo) but the first thing the cop did was walk over and look under the car for a cat...luckily my friend still had his on (it was knocked out, but of course the cop couldn't tell that). This is the only time this has ever happened to me, and i'm sure it was only because of the car we were in...but it does happen. However, i'm not too worried about it.

[jwn]

Keep in mind that the emmission laws began with the federal goverment. If your state has local inspections, it was probably mandated by the federal EPA, not local (just as our gas prices here in Chicago soared due to Federal rules, not our state rules.

If you are caught or if you forget sell the car later with no cat and the new owner turns you in... either way you risk a substancial fine to remove a cat on a $4000 car...

[GA1990]

A side note, i was looking at porsche's website today, and i found this thing were people vote on their favorite porsches...and well anyways, i click on a picture of the 944 Turbo and it gives you a little description of the car...they say it was unique car because it was the first car to have the same performance with or without a cat. Don't know how true that is, but that's what porsche says!

[1.2gees]

Well, it's true...

For US, and in other countries where they sold the car with the cat, they just turned up the boost!

They might('ve) as well say "the first time in the world, a car does 0-60 in 5.0 secs, either with the 200lbs weight package, or not", and just turn up the boost, to me this goes to show how overbuilt the engine really is...

BUT without a cat, the turbo is much more responsive, and there's less lag by far. Now if you remove the cat on a US car with high(-er) boost, than you're going to have a faster car than the cars that weren't originally equipped with one.
Ahmet

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It's all the driver...

[hoff944]

You can put the cat back on for emissions testing. The chances of anyone getting caught outside of emissions tesing are very very slim to none.

[hoff944]

Watch out lm6y! He'll turn you in! He's from Chicago. Just kidding

[jwn]

I never quite understood this concept. Some people feel laws apply to everyone else but them. I would think that if you were 18 or 38 that you'd care a little bit about your enviroment and the people around you.

I personally am not one who suffers chest pain when they broadcast ozone warnings on TV here, but that doesn't mean that I'd add to the sufferings of others (and it is a national problem, the air gets worse as it go's east)

P.S. And yes, I am a Illinois EPA volunteer and I'll gladly forward this entire thread to them. For $10,000 fine per cat removed, it'll provide them with a little bit of revenue that they can use... ;-)

[hoff944]

Calm down man. I'll put two cats on my car okay! Seriously though I know of two people who have gutted cats on their 944's and they pass emissions just fine.

[cyclemike]

Hey JWN, Don't be such a dick, you little tatle-tale.

[LtUSMC]

JWN, you need to understand human psychology. Impotent threats such as your will only encourage younger drivers to do exactly what you don't want them to. Just thought I would bring it to your attention.