I was looking through my new Summit catalog, and I see that MagnaFlow has
direct-fit (they claim no cutting or welding required) CATs for 93-95 single CAT
F-bodys at $215 bucks (plus $8 shipping fee). They also say they are smog
legal in California on 1995 and older cars. High flow CATs, ready to bolt on a
car and smog legal?? Am I dreaming? Who will give the wake up call??

Anyone had experience with these?

http://www.car-sound.com/02product/d...irectfit=93444



Tom

 

Come on ... NO ONE has replaced their CATs on this site?? I guess I will have
to be the ground breaker? I am on my second CAT on the '93.

Tom

 

i have that cat and y-pipe on my 93 trans am, my only complaint is that the y-pipe rubs against the crossmember and makes a lot of noise and it drives me nuts, also i have a leak on the passenger side where the y-pipe meets the manifold

 

Why not have high flow and smog legal in CA? That just means its been certified for CA emission, doesn't mean it will kill the HC's any better or as good as a GM stock one will. A cats effectiveness is by how much surface area it has in the honeycomb inside. Some are more dense than others so air will flow thru them at different rates. A well tuned car will pass the sniffer without a cat in some cases. If you are burning up cats then you are running too rich which will shorten the life of them..need to get that condition fixed before buying another. I have never had a cat go bad in 21 years of driving.

 

well .. it was kinda a joke, see .. USUALLY anything thats high performace in
California is not smog legal .. not a true statement, but its assumed to be. I
doubt that SANS a CAT any newer car would pass the sniffer, I had mine no
CAT for a couple months, I ended up putting one back on because I would get
dizzy in the drive through line. I have no codes, car runs fine, always passes
smog, but its also got 233,000 miles on it. I bet thats why I am on my second
CAT now, the first one lasted to around 180,000, the second one was used
off a car with 67,000 miles, and now my car has 233,000.

The pipe rubs on the cross member? In the front? That sucks. But it was a
complete assembly correct? I guess I can have the local muffler shop bend it
a little more if it doesnt clear correctly. Did you make sure you got the right
one for your car? They have quite a few available from 1993 to 1995.

Tom

 

yup i bought the correct one for my year, if i were to do it again i would have just spent the extra money and bought a factory replacement

 

OBD1 cars can run rich and never set a code. ODB2 has an O2 before and aft of the cat convertor. My '86 Monte SS had the same convertor on it its entire life, and consequently..I sold it at 233,00 miles same as your at...thats weird..
My '94 Silverado had the same cat for 100k miles...then convertoed to TPI and had lots of probs..any way, one of the shops apperently thought the cat was clogged and they hollowed it out and I never knew it...passed the smogger and tread mill test for 2 years before I discovered it had been hollowed out. My GN passes the same tread mill sniffer with no cat each year with usually less than 100 HCs out of 152 allowed. The BLMs on both cars are almost perfect at 128 at all rpms and load ranges.

 

Regardless of how it might run without a CAT, I know that it was annoyingly
loud, smelly and I dont like it. I contacted Dal, and was quoted close to $500
for the GM replacement, plus a core charge. Ouch! I was hoping that it was
at least CLOSE to the price of a Magnaflow. Looks like I will have to try the
MagnaFlow, I just can not afford the GM replacement.

Tom

 

The cost of the stock replacement is ridiculous. Digging through the recents of y car from the previous owner, he paid around 650 through the dealer for the new cat and pipe. Magnaflow has always had a good reputation for making good catalysts at an affordable price.

 

a majority of magnaflow cats are just cats w/ a brand name. dont be surprised.i use them a lot. from toyota to ford.its just a cat