Nacho_ZR1

Just curious since I am getting the Jeal headers installed and I won't have any use for them. My car made 342 RWHP with these so I know they are in good working order.

What do ya'll think?

8388

I think that you're going to regret selling them in the future.

mike100

1) people will need those who live in CA
2) nobody makes a non oem CA-approved cat for the ZR-1
3) oem doesn't make them any more either.

xlr8nflorida

$400

I wouldn't sell them.

illenema

Hold on to them. Never know, have the option to switch back to them in future. or keep for spares. Those are nice pieces.

Polo-1

I sold mine for $175

ZRWHAT

Nacho,

If you read in the general direction of the answers you're getting, they may be worth way more to you just to keep them, this is a item that is starting to "dry up" so to speak, 5 years from now what do you think it might cost to replace them if you wanted to or had to replace them!

Laws change all the time and if you get caught behind the 8 ball, it's gonna cost you dearly.

I'd say just keep them, you're not gonna get rich by selling them and they are not that big of an item where you can't stash them away somewhere.

Good luck,

Gibby

Nacho_ZR1

Well spoken, sir Sounds to me like I will stash them away in my garage and wait a few years. They are probably a better investment than my 401K at the moment I've been meaning to clean up the garage anyway.

Zrxmax

Not to be a contrarian... I sold mine for $440. Do I wish I had kept them? Yes... but the price was fair and the money was welcome.

The one aspect that probably won't change is GM producing manifolds and cats for our beloved ZR-1s. Having said that, what will be the alternative? Will Mid America or some other supplier buy the rights and produce the manifolds for our aging car? I believe that for some period of time you will be able to run legal by putting cats on your car and having your smog system operational. That is what has happened for me and a few others I know here in California.
My fear is the possibility that some CARB legislation will be passed that outlaws the installation of aftermarket cats behind the headers even though they get the Z to pass the test. Since the Smog ****'s are always on a mission here in California it would not suprise me if I end up going to Nevada to register my car one day.

glk330

Bigvmaxx
How did you install the after market cats.? Did you replace the original ones or add the new ones in series. I need to do something like that.

Thanks

A1990

He is running after market cats with headers. Not stock exhaust manifolds with cats replaced with after market. Probably running Stainless Works headers with Random Tech cats...or similar...

Zrxmax

Since my car came with a custom exhaust system I decided to build my own system. I purchased 3" pipe and 3 bolt flanges and built my own system with cats purchased from Summit. I couldn't tell you what brand the cats were. I welded flanges to the headers and a flange at each end of the cats. I also built replacement pipes to fit where the cats are positioned in case I want to run without cats. I also installed 18" bullet mufflers in the center section to lower the tone ( knocks out some of the higher sound frequencies ) of the exhaust. Also used Flowmaster 40s to complete the system at the rear with another set of flanges at the differential. This makes each side of the exhaust system a 3 piece system. I can also remove the mufflers and just run some turn down pipes at the differential. Having built this system allows me to take the cats out and the mufflers off. All of this was done so I could run ORRs and not burn out the cats. Having the mufflers off and turn downs installed should produce real good audio for the on board camera the next time I get to run an ORR. After completing the project I ran the car for a few weeks without the Flowmasters on... it was fun while it lasted! I knew I would eventually get stopped for loud exhaust so I put the mufflers back on.

glk330

Bigvmaxx

Thanks for the reply. Three quick questions, what year is your car? Have you passed a California Smog inspection with your new system in place? If so could you provide the CO, HC and NO numbers for 15 and 25 MPH?

My 90 will not currently pass as they lowered the CO, HC and numbers numbers sometime in 2010. It passed fine with the previous numbers. FYI here are the current specifications:
http://www.smogcheck.ca.gov/pubwebqu.../ShowMake.aspx

Gary

Zrxmax

1. My Z is a 91
2. I have passed twice by a thin margin
3. I don't have the print out from the last test.

I am able to pass the visual because my airtubes are welded to my headers. Beyond that my guy only cares that the car passes the sniffer specs. The real challenge is getting the cats hot enough to get me legal. Last time we tested ( over 2 years ago ) I put the thermo temp gun on the cats and getting them to 400 + degrees was hard to do. He said they need to get to 500 degrees to work as they were intended and I agree. Before these test I also made some mesh spacers and placed them at the tail end of the cats to create more back pressure inside the cats. My thinking was it would raise the temperature in the cats and get them to work like I need them to. From what I have seen it really has not helped. I don't have any way to compare with and without mesh inserts either unless I want to test it twice. The cats are getting old now so it is probably time to change them out. I also have a tuner prom in the car and it has always been in place whenever I tested for smog levels.

I know now my Z won't pass with the lowered and revised emmission levels so I haven't bothered to take the test and bring my registration current. I am gonna have to take a page from JVD off the ZR-1 net registry and start a movement to get CARB's silly rules revised. If you don't have JVD's statement about how to deal with this smog stuff just send me your e mail and I will send it to you.

On a brighter note one of the ZR-1 owners here got his car tuned to the point it would pass the new standards for emmission here. The problem with that is the car runs to lean so the revised prom he uses is just for taking the test. What a hassle !