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I have a complete exhaust and was going to remove the two cats to get a scrap value for them
I believe some are quite valuable to scrap metal merchants. I was advised however that they should have a label/info on the cats themselves. Mine look as though it’s gone..
Ok, so 25160429 seems to be the reference number needed for our C5 cats. You’ll need this for someone to value one properly.
I’m in the UK so I don’t know if that number will work for companies here but I got a valuation from a US company of $140 each, so quite good. You need to send them of course.
I suspect the worst thing to do would be to take one to your local scrap yard. They’re sure to lowball you, then profit themselves. Looks to me as though recovering the precious metals from the cats is only done by specialists.
Are those on a stock exhaust? The pipes look modified, but maybe it's just me. If it's completely stock, I'm just going to throw out that many of us in emissions states often need these cats in order to be able to register our cars in general. It really sucks to see our cats being sold to scrappers lately rather than being available to fellow Corvette owners to buy when we really need them. Obviously I understand the allure of $$$, but I do get on my soap box a little when it comes to spreading the word in our "community" that some people actually need these in order to be allowed to drive their car in general. I know a lot of people live in areas where they see cats as useless junk that might be worth some money, but there are people out there that actually need them unfortunately. My car sat for a few months last year while I tried to track down an OEM catted midpipe because I couldn't pass emissions without them and I know of others that have gone through this same issue. Nobody makes CA emissions approved cats for some MY C5s, leaving our only option to find a 20 year old used OEM set that are probably blown out anyway lol.
I believe it to be a stock exhaust. I fully understand your perspective on it. From searching on this, I think it looks like the value of the cats means they can be bought for the same price as they're worth to recycle. I could be wrong but it strikes me as being unlikely anyone would cut out stock cats to then put them on another exhaust. Not particularly easy to do. My 0.5 on what you've said is that it's probably good the cats aren't ones worth a lot more. Because their value is low-ish it should mean you can get a whole system for a few hundred bucks or so.
Bear in mind because they go bad, that could be a reason some people sell them. I possibly should have advertised the whole system as I think it was fine (I bought it used) but I'm not certain it was fine, and shipping a very heavy exhaust struck me as difficult. I was happy to be able to get the money back via selling the cats.
I believe it to be a stock exhaust. I fully understand your perspective on it. From searching on this, I think it looks like the value of the cats means they can be bought for the same price as they're worth to recycle. I could be wrong but it strikes me as being unlikely anyone would cut out stock cats to then put them on another exhaust. Not particularly easy to do. My 0.5 on what you've said is that it's probably good the cats aren't ones worth a lot more. Because their value is low-ish it should mean you can get a whole system for a few hundred bucks or so.
Bear in mind because they go bad, that could be a reason some people sell them. I possibly should have advertised the whole system as I think it was fine (I bought it used) but I'm not certain it was fine, and shipping a very heavy exhaust struck me as difficult. I was happy to be able to get the money back via selling the cats.
That looks like a complete factory system. The pipes and the cans for the cats are different grades of metal, so the different colors between them is normal. I ended up scrapping my system a couple years ago because the scrap value of the cats was, at the time, the same as the value of the complete assembly on the forum. I never found any takers for the system at $150, and I got $160 or so at the scrap yard for it. The cats should be worth a little more today than they were for me two years ago.
The scrap yard I went to was able to look up a value for the cats. I can't remember if they asked year/make/model or if it was something more general like engine size, but they pulled something up in their computer to assign a value.
That looks like a complete factory system. The pipes and the cans for the cats are different grades of metal, so the different colors between them is normal. I ended up scrapping my system a couple years ago because the scrap value of the cats was, at the time, the same as the value of the complete assembly on the forum. I never found any takers for the system at $150, and I got $160 or so at the scrap yard for it. The cats should be worth a little more today than they were for me two years ago.
The scrap yard I went to was able to look up a value for the cats. I can't remember if they asked year/make/model or if it was something more general like engine size, but they pulled something up in their computer to assign a value.
Yes, your experience is similar to mine. Being in the UK though, I was possibly even less likely to find a buyer and I definitely didn’t want to try and package and send the exhaust. The exhaust was actually misdescribed to me on a certain auction site. Advertised as a Borla system with two over axle pipes. I got two over axle pipes that are not stock, but the system was. Last laugh on the seller with me paying £100 and selling for £210. £10 in scrap steel.
btw the $140 per cat offered on a US website does seem to be the current value each. My £100ea = 140 USD.
C5 Catalyst Info
