Why don't you go to a third-world city like Karachi or Bangkok, I guarantee you will want cleaner air more than anything else.

I know I do after my trips to third-world cities.

 

If that happens, file a complaint. There was a fair number of complaints here in Mass. and it eventually got picked up by an undercover TV news crew, who essentially blew open the whole emissions testing system as horribly inaccurate, as well as shady testers.

Result? Formal investigation by the state, some garages fined, and more strict guidelines to be introduced.

 

:thumbs down: to all the people running catless, regardless if required by law or not. You pollute the air I and my kids breathe and the wheeny peak 5hp you gain will not even be noticeable out on the street. Get a 3" high flow cat if the 5hp is so important to you.

 

Catalytic converters were first introduced in America in the late 1970s and have been reducing smog for the last twenty years. On the other hand they have been proven to actually rearrange nitrogen-oxygen compounds and form nitrous oxide. Nitrous oxide is dangerous to global warming and is 300 times more potent than carbon dioxide.

Studies have shown that the emissions of nitrous oxide are increasing rapidly each year. Since the extinction of older cars without catalytic converters, the production of nitrous oxide has increased by nearly 50%. The increase in nitrous oxide is a result from the growth in the number of miles travelled by cars that have catalytic converters. As the efficiency of catalytic converters in dealing with smog increase, the production of nitrous oxide increases. They solved one problem, and at the same time caused another... Kind of ironic.

I also read somewhere that catalytic converters have also caused an increase in heavy metals over the same time period.

I still have mine, but have no problem getting rid of it.

 

Amen brotha!

The smog and pollution in Bangkok will actually make you sick after three days of exposure. It's amazing how much pollution all of those motos spew. You'll also realize that while somewhat misguided at times, the Clean Air Act has actually done some good.

 

I've failed smog numerous times on my 98 GSX because I was trying to pass smog w/ mods. My main reason for failing was due to faulty aftermarket high flow cats. I had two fail on me. One was a catco, and the other was a carsound. They don't seem to hold up to abuse too much, especially on a forced induction car. From my experience, the key to passing emissions is to have a good functioning factory cat.

That's a good piece of information you're passing along here. Until they come out w/ a better solution for catalyzing our exhausts, I'd take the lesser of the two evils to have cleaner air. I'm sure the environmentalists are coming out w/ more efficient ways to keep our air cleaner.

I've been to europe and have smelled the cars' emissions there and it's terrible. You can smell a car's emissions for 5 minutes after it's driven by. It made me appreciate the clean air we have here so much more when I came back.

 

I was going to put in my 2c but then I realize that this discussion is silly,
With a capitol ILLY, NOT TO SAY THAT PEOPLES OPINIONS ARE SILLY, but just way too much wasted effort in the wrong place.
I GOT IT! We will start picketing at the tracks on the weekend. You stand in the middle, I'll be over here.

But seriously
This is a very informative discussion, but not even worth the effort to work up the passion of a subject that I'm not really too concerned about.
Unfortunately no one will change anyone’s mind today nor tomorrow.
You might start a small fire in my mama’s panties, but that’s about it, but please continue.

We should start a post to see how many evo owners are environmentalists.

 

Actually as a ex-smog tech., the cat. is more or less a joke. Maybe to old cars the cat. can lower emissions, but now on the new cars which are computer controlled, the cat. maybe not needed. As an experiment, my friend had a '92 camaro and he gutted the cat. Believe it or not the damn car pass an emission test, it was still within the limits.

 

Everything is relative. The 5 HP lawnmower I cut my grass with belches out more pollution than a cat-less Evo ever will. The 25cc weedeater I trim with belches out even more. The coal fired power plant that powers my home spews a black cloud visible for a mile (thanks GW!). The 60s/70s vintage cars pollute 100 times worse than a new car (if not more).

So, if you look at it from the perspective of "what if everyone else removed their cat?" it'd be bad - but that's not going to happen. The cat-bypassers are 1 in a million (or at least 1 in a few thousand). There are far worse things going into our air these days.

 

I'd actually rank water that doesn't give you random infections slightly higher - though it's easier to filter the water than the air.

 

Just curious, does a cat do anything at wide open throttle? I'm sure they're effective at cruise and idle to reduce nuisance emissions but for some reason my gut tells me that at WOT cat efficiency is greatly reduced and possibly even negligible.

 

I personally don't think a cat does anything at WOT except pose a restriction on the free movement of exhaust gas.

However, at idle, I think it does a good job of keeping emmisions under control. I have two buddies running straight pipes on their Supras and we call them the fart cans because the belch so much junk. And their cars are tuned!! (One with AEM, and the other with a variety of piggybacks)

 

No cat, couldn't be happier. Especially @ WOT when I need to make the Neighbors down the street wet the bed.

 

Cats work...simple as that...on a well running relatively new vehicle, it should be able to pass standard emissions without a cat. A modified vehicle, especially a turbo wont have an easy time passing emissions without one. I could never pass with my turbo eclipse without a cat. Now they both have Catco units and they both pass no problem. I dont get this remove the cat deal, just buy a high flow one. They still work.

 

I will definately throw in a test pipe dynoing, but that's it. I plan on running a High-flow cat on the street. Pollution or not, I'd rather be legal than get a ticket for no cat.