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I installed Kooks Headers last year and removed the cats and replaced them with Dynomaxx Bullets. The car sounds great but the smell and the mess on the back of my car is awfull.(The car is white) You cannot drive the car withour smelling like exhaust. Are the aftermarket cats worth the money and will they eliminate the smell or should i just put the stock cats back on. I know i will loose some hp with the stock cats. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
The early 2 cat system really wasn't that restrictive. On my heads/cam Y2k I dyno'd open headers @ 425 rwhp, with the stock cats, x pipe, and Corsa Indys I made 413. Of that 12 hp loss how much is due to the cats? I'd guess 2/3, but don't know for sure. If so, and if after market cats will give most of that back, is it worth it HP/$? Either way, we aren't talking big losses here, on a car making less rwhp, the cats won't cost as much hp as mine did. Your call.
I don't understand what all the griping is about the smell of a catless car. Back in the era of the muscle car, nobody ever heard of a catalytic converter, and nobody complained about smelly exhaust. Besides, I love the smell of my catless 427 in the morning; it smells like victory!
The smell may not be the cats, but the fuel that is used. High sulfer fuels tend to smell badly. Does not matter what brand. Shell fuels had high sulfer on the east coast last summer. So even though it was a high grade fuel, it still smelled.
Try changing the fuel that you are using for a few tank fulls and see ( smell ) if that makes a difference.
I don't understand what all the griping is about the smell of a catless car. Back in the era of the muscle car, nobody ever heard of a catalytic converter, and nobody complained about smelly exhaust. Besides, I love the smell of my catless 427 in the morning; it smells like victory!
people used to not bath every day too, and didn't think they smelled bad either. It all depends on what you are used to
I am running about the same exhaust you are, except I have high flow cats. I have very little smell. It is mostly when the car is cold. After it warms up, no smell. Also, the smell you are refering to is the unburnt fuel smell and NOT sulphur am I correct? If so, some of that can be tuned out.