I've noticed that most people on HAN will recommend carsound cats, and tell horror stories of random tech cats breaking and such. However, on honda-tech you'll hear the exact opposite; that random technology cats are the way to go and carsound cats break etc. etc.

I'm not sure how the laws work in other states, but in CA it is illegal to replace your cat with anything else other than the stock cat, unless the stock cat is impossible to get from the factory. If the cat is carb legal then of course you'll pass smog; not sure if they really care that the cat is different from stock. I got this information from comptech; their hi-flo cats are carb legal but "not intended for highway/road use", and if you ask them why they'll give you the same explanation and quote the same law.

Shingo

 

They're never gonna know the difference between oem and aftermarket. I dont know who you've been talking to on h-t but no one likes random cats that know what they're talking about. Carsound all the way. Even if random cats were reliable, they just dont flow as well as carsounds.

 

Yea your right.. the green led light is lit up all the way on the right on Rich at all times...but theres also an orange led light that is lit up directly in the top middle that doesn't move either. So newayz i just jacked up the car and got under there and looked at the cat. That bolt that i've been talking about is exactly what it is...a bolt..i ended up getting a wrench and unscrewwing it...there was just a hole that went right into the inside of the cat. No wires at all. So i felt all over the entire thing and there is no port at all to plug that wire into and no wires whatso ever. And i don't know what brand the cat is since the previous owner installed it so no help there. Any clue as to what i should do??it'd be nice if i could get that gauge to work

 

Is your car OBDI or OBDII cause it sounds like that cat is from an OBDII vehicle and you own an OBDI motor. Just get another O2 sensor and install it there and wire it up so that it gets power but do not wire it upto the ECU.

 

my teg is a 96 so is it OBDI ???

 

Nick had that problem too.

 

No if our car is a 96 it is OBDII, what motor is in there (stock or swap? what yr?)

 

I had a high flow cat before, but I changed to a magnaflow cat with 2 1/4 in/outlets to match the rest of my exhaust and I got my backpressure back.

 

What about back pressure, will you loose too much with a high flow cat, headers and exhaust. Isn't good to have some back pressure?

 

Yes it is good to have some backpreasure and I do believe that you will lose some with all those, but also remember that our motors are not the best in the lower RPM band, the upper end is where our motors live and that is where this helps the most.