The "cheap" cats - did anyone try them?

[Ireland]

My car needs to be tested and the emissions test here is seriously strict.

I've ordered a set of these that were mentioned on here previously .....

http://stores.ebay.co.uk/OnlineAutomotive__W0QQ_nk...

I plan to fit them for the test (plus add a "cough bottle" to the tank before I go in) and once I've passed I'll be getting the de-cat pipes out of retirement for another 2 years .

I know these were not greeted with open arms on here as they are a 400-cell cat rather than the original 200-cell ones but I was just wondering did any of you buy any of these and, if so, what's the quality like and how did they work out for you?

Once I fit mine I'll report back and let you all know how much they actually strangle the car (or not as the case may be).

[Rufus Roughcut]

It was me that started the 'cat' thread.
After advice on here I decided to buy the 'sport cats' and weld on the fitments either end, however, I've had a leaking clutch slave seal and an incontinent steering rack to deal with first
I'll be interested to hear how you get on.

[RichV6]

Bought a cheap cat four years ago from EBAY but was twice the price of those on the link.
Have used it at MOT time twice and the car sailed through the emissions after a bit of a run out. The last two MOT's the cats or the full size number plate have remained in the boot. The pattern cat is physically not such a good fit being a different shape.

If you ge a decent result let us know as I'm thinking of refitting them as I'm starting to get a little fed up with the fumes from the car when decatted.

[Ireland]

I just got an e-mail to say they've sent them out already.

That was quick.

I might be updating sooner than I thought.

[jackal1983]

id be intested to see if you get through mot with these on!!!

Jack

[Ireland]

They arrived this evening and my first impression of them is that they are a fairly poor build quality.

One of the ends looks to be a nice bit out of line but I should be able to make it fit without too much grief.

To be continued .....

[jackal1983]

be intesting to see if they work buddy... be alright to make fit every year for the dreaded MOT

Jack

[BLUETHUNDER]

Ireland said:

They arrived this evening and my first impression of them is that they are a fairly poor build quality.

One of the ends looks to be a nice bit out of line but I should be able to make it fit without too much grief.

To be continued .....

Are they just the cat units themselves,an not the associated down pipes that come with them??.

[Ireland]

BLUETHUNDER said:

Ireland said:

They arrived this evening and my first impression of them is that they are a fairly poor build quality.

One of the ends looks to be a nice bit out of line but I should be able to make it fit without too much grief.

To be continued .....

Are they just the cat units themselves,an not the associated down pipes that come with them??.

Right, they are on the car.

The fit is not great and one of them turned out to be about 2mm longer than the other so the exhaust needed a bit of adjusting to get it sitting as well as possible.

Fitting them was simply a bolt-on job, no welding was required.

Here's a pic of the new one beside an old one .....

[Ireland]

I've just noticed the above pic makes the new one look a lot longer than the old one.

It's not.

They are pretty much the same length.

[Ireland]

Om my god, the cats get really really hot.

Is this normal?

I've run de-catted for so long I suppose I don't know how hot they should be.

I could feel the glow of heat off them and I got a temperature of close to 130*C off the RHS one using an IR thermometer.

The LHS one was a bit cooler ... is that normal or should they both be the same?

[gruffalo]

I would say that 130C is not that hot.

Cars have burnt out when parked in a field because the cats have set fire to the grass.

They should be the same temp if not then you need to take a look at how your Cerb is running.

Let us know how you get on with the emissions

[Ireland]

I've been using the car a bit today and it's driving fine (I still need to plug in a laptop to check things properly) but the smell of burning paint off the new cats was horrible.

A small price to pay I suppose.

[jackal1983]

Yeh id say that would be about right.... they do get mega hot and will work alot better when they get hotter...

When you go for MOT take it for a good run first and get them hot....if they working it should go through then.

Mates an MOT tester and he was going to look for me which side the computer tells him to stick the prope up... On some systems they have to test both pipes and take the average... Ok if your only running on one bank!!! or sometimes they will just test one side.

Jack

[Byker28i]

Ireland said:

Om my god, the cats get really really hot.

Is this normal?

Yup - that's why I took mine off.

[gruffalo]

Yup, seems like De-Cat help keep the clutch slave healthy.

[Ireland]

Once it gets it's piece of paper it'll be getting treated to it's decats again.

[Ireland]

Right, update time ..... it passed.



The cheap cats got the emissions down under the limit without even adding injector cleaner, or similar, and the cats were actually cooled down for over an hour before it went in the test lane.

A friend took it in for me and I haven't got it back yet so I don't know the exact figures but I'll post up more info once I see the sheet.

[Ireland]

The results page shows the CO at 0.06 vol % and HC 89 ppm.

So basically the results page says the "cheap" cats are indeed capable of getting an otherwise healthy Cerb through the test (well our NCT one anyhow).

Happy days